OVERANALYZING THE TEXT

You know, the thing that always amuses me about these conversations which focus so very strongly on the word "redeemable" when it comes to Draco Malfoy is that they almost invariably lead me to wonder precisely what a "redemption" subplot for Draco would have to look like, at this point in the story.

Draco Malfoy repents his wicked ways. He sees the light and seeks to atone for his terrible, terrible sins. And so...uh...

So he apologizes to Neville for cursing him in the corridors, and to Ron, Harry and Hermione for saying all those nasty things to them all the time, with a particularly grovelling apology to Hermione for the racist comments, and a particularly bashful one to Harry for the stupid "dressing up like Dementors" stunt, which could have caused serious damage. He then apologizes to Hagrid for getting Buckbeak into all that trouble that one time and maybe tries to make amends by volunteering some help with the flobberworms or something. And finally, he makes a public apology-cum-recantation to the entire school for having proclaimed wickedly racist sentiments back in his second year, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened and he was twelve.

And then he goes his way and sins no more.

::stifles yawn::

Oh. Oh, sorry. Just came over all...sleepy there, for some reason.

You know, when it comes right down to it, Talk Is Cheap. Redeeming oneself from having said rotten things therefore does not require all that much in the way of atonement.

Actions, now. Actions are a different matter. Evil is as Evil does.

Sadly, when it comes right down to it, Draco Malfoy has not really done very much of anything.

I really like redemption subplots, but I think that in order for a reformed Draco Malfoy to qualify as one, he really needs to do something first -- and something a heckuva lot more dire than mouthing vile rhetoric, saying rotten things, and bullying weaker students by hexing them in the corridors. I mean, really. He's not a nice kid, but his crimes to date are hardly in the same category as rape, torture or murder, are they? He's not a Snape, or a Peter Pettigrew. Those are guys who actually have things to atone for. Serious things. Things like murder. Things like torture. Things like betrayal. Draco, in comparison, just doesn't have all that much of a rap sheet. His attitude is perfectly dreadful, yes, but mainly, he's all talk. The things that he needs to "redeem himself for" are still quite easily affordable, and would require not even a long-term payment plan.

I don't know if I'd even consider a plotline in which a teenager mends his wicked ways by distancing himself from his history of schoolyard bullying, racism, vile political rhetoric, and nasty verbal taunts a "redemption subplot" at all. To my mind, that would be more a coming of age drama serving to parallel and to double Harry's own. For it to be a redemption plotline, I'd expect to see the character first do something seriously dire. Murder, torture, betrayal...even accepting the Dark Mark would suffice. But nasty words, schoolyard bullying, and lip service to a vile political agenda?

I dunno. If that's what's being set forth as the basis of a redemption subplot for Draco Malfoy, then I have to say that I think it rather boring. What little moral debt Draco has incurred over the course of the past four volumes really does strike me as far too easily paid for to carry all that much punch.

—Elkins