Brief thought about Harry Potter
Jul. 20th, 2005 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thalia_seawoodI've realized that family bonds play an important part in that book.
Cut because of spoilers. (Edited to add some thoughts.)
It's noteworthy that we Tom Riddle as someone who has no ties to his family.
He doesn't seem to care for his mother.
He kills his father and his grandparents on his father's side without any remorse.
He also has no respect for his maternal grandfather even though he's an heir to Slytherin as well. Instead he makes him believe that he killed his father and other grandparents and doesn't mind at all that he has to end his days in Azkaban.
As an opposite to Tom Riddle we get the Malfoys. We know they are on Voldemort's side, but still they are much less ruthless and feel bound by family.
Bellatrix who we only saw before as a very creepy with close to madness we now see as Narcissa's sister - and Bellatrix obviously cares for her. E.g. she doesn't retaliate when Narcissa hexes her. And she's willing to go along with Narcissa even though she doesn't agree with her plan which is absolutely remarkable considering how dedicated she is to Voldemort.
We see that Narcissa loves her son and goes to some lengths to protect him. She's willing to tell Snape about Voldemort's secret plan even though this would go against Voldemort's command.
(Narcissa's love for Draco's might equal Lily's for Harry.)
And Draco Malfoy works very hard to protect his family. He no longer has time for teasing Harry and his friends, he no longer has time for coming up with stupid jokes, he no longer has the time to play Quidditch. Every second he has he uses for his big plan in order to keep his family safe.
So book VI makes it clear, IMO, that the Malfoys are not evil on the same level as Voldemort.
Now many criminals have been very fond of their families, but otherwise have committed awful deeds. So being loyal to family is not necessarily a redeeming feature.
So Rowlings goes one step further, at least with Draco. She shows us that he is not a murderer, in the last consequence he's unable to kill another person even though this endangers the life of his family. So Draco clearly is shown to have a conscience. He tries to silence it, of course, but it's too strong for this to happen.
Cut because of spoilers. (Edited to add some thoughts.)
It's noteworthy that we Tom Riddle as someone who has no ties to his family.
He doesn't seem to care for his mother.
He kills his father and his grandparents on his father's side without any remorse.
He also has no respect for his maternal grandfather even though he's an heir to Slytherin as well. Instead he makes him believe that he killed his father and other grandparents and doesn't mind at all that he has to end his days in Azkaban.
As an opposite to Tom Riddle we get the Malfoys. We know they are on Voldemort's side, but still they are much less ruthless and feel bound by family.
Bellatrix who we only saw before as a very creepy with close to madness we now see as Narcissa's sister - and Bellatrix obviously cares for her. E.g. she doesn't retaliate when Narcissa hexes her. And she's willing to go along with Narcissa even though she doesn't agree with her plan which is absolutely remarkable considering how dedicated she is to Voldemort.
We see that Narcissa loves her son and goes to some lengths to protect him. She's willing to tell Snape about Voldemort's secret plan even though this would go against Voldemort's command.
(Narcissa's love for Draco's might equal Lily's for Harry.)
And Draco Malfoy works very hard to protect his family. He no longer has time for teasing Harry and his friends, he no longer has time for coming up with stupid jokes, he no longer has the time to play Quidditch. Every second he has he uses for his big plan in order to keep his family safe.
So book VI makes it clear, IMO, that the Malfoys are not evil on the same level as Voldemort.
Now many criminals have been very fond of their families, but otherwise have committed awful deeds. So being loyal to family is not necessarily a redeeming feature.
So Rowlings goes one step further, at least with Draco. She shows us that he is not a murderer, in the last consequence he's unable to kill another person even though this endangers the life of his family. So Draco clearly is shown to have a conscience. He tries to silence it, of course, but it's too strong for this to happen.
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Date: 2005-07-20 04:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 07:58 pm (UTC)The Weasleys are probably the happy family of the series, though they have problems with Percy. The Blacks seem to be the bad example, dysfunctional and horrible (and it did have a bad effect on Sirius). I wonder what more we'll learn about Snape's family in the book 7!
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Date: 2005-07-20 08:05 pm (UTC)I also noticed that Narcissa's love for Draco's might equal Lily's for Harry.
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Date: 2005-07-20 11:18 pm (UTC)