draco debate | for

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𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘

𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨!

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hello you wonderful people! it’s

kenzie here. today i have an entry

for the #FamilyValuesDebate ! i

think this is my first ever debate

blog on the hpa, but i was just so

intrigued by the idea of familial

allegiance/responsibility that i felt

like i couldn’t on the oppur-

tunity. anyways, without further

ado, let’s get right into the blog!

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𝐌𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: 𝐅𝐎𝐑

when it came to deciding whether or not i believed draco’s actions were entirely dependent on his family’s beliefs, i considered a few different factors- his family’s treatment towards him, different examples he had in his lives, and whether or not he was in a position to reject his family’s values as a child. when i factored those in, i decided that he may be responsible for what he did, but that because it was mainly the product of his upbringing, he deserves the opportunity to redeem himself.

i will cover a few different areas in this blog that explain why i believe this, but the primary ones are as follows: the pressure placed upon draco from a young age, the influences that surround him, and the theme of family in the harry potter series. of course, this blog doesn’t mean that i find draco to be a good person- it just highlights the idea that his family was the primary cause for his behavior.

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𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒

first, i’d like to start with the idea that draco, growing up, was constantly surrounded by horrible examples of behavior. his parents and aunt were extreme blood supremacists and former death eaters, and his two best friends, crabbe and goyle, were both children of former death eaters. being around them, he was consistently being enforced to live with prejudice against non- pureblood wizards. in an environment where every person he is close to, and any person he looked up to as a child, is hateful and cruel, it makes sense that he would eventually perpetuate those ideas as well.

as well as this, the only ‘good’ models of behavior and belief were the ones that his family shunned or made enemies with. for example- sirius and andromeda black. although they are family to draco (andromeda being his aunt and sirius being his cousin) and they both learned to stray from the black’s rigid values to do what they viewed as right, they were heavily disowned and shamed because of it. as a kid, draco was likely taught to never end up like them (or at least was afraid to rebel because of it) which only furthered the pressure of maintaining his family’s ideals. and, of course, characters like harry potter, the weasleys, and dumbledore wouldn’t be able to influence him either. enemies to his family or beliefs, such as those above, would especially further his cruel behavior. if he dislikes them, and they have an entirely different moral system than draco, then of course he would believe his own was right. that hatred for those who went against his beliefs only made his parents seem more correct, furthering their horrible influence.

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𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄

another crucial factor to draco’s behavior throughout the series comes from the immense amount of pressure that was placed upon him as a child. although it is not explicitly mentioned in the first few books, draco from a young age had been dealt a great amount of responsibility. his father had trusted him to keep the secret of his remaining loyalty to voldemort, and he was expected to follow the same path as his family- be sorted into slytherin, make friends with purebloods in his house, and carry out the will of his father. this amount of pressure was a primary factor in nearly all of his actions, especially during the later years of his schooling. he had been taught that he must do everything the “right” way, and if he didn’t, he would face disappointing his father.

by the time that death eaters had returned, draco had clearly been knowledgeable of their plans and expected to them one day. he had known about the attack at the quidditch world cup, became upset that harry had imprisoned his father in azkaban after the battle of the department of mysteries, and then replaced his father as a death eater. this led him to having to perform an incredibly difficult task- killing dumbledore. as readers know, he did not go through with it (which, in my opinion, also shows he deserves redemption), and this set him on a sort of path to at least recognize the wrongs he was doing. he even lied to the death eaters, saying he did not recognize harry potter when he was brought to the manor. overall, his career as a death eater was solely due to the amount of pressure he received from his father. by the time he was recruited, rebelling against the death eaters would have meant death for him and (likely) punishment for his family. i don’t blame him for preferring to keep his life- especially because he had been raised with the idea that what he was doing wasn’t wrong. honestly, if he had died it would have been for nothing, because he wouldn’t have had time afterwards to make up for all that he had done in the past.

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𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐏

finally, it’s important to consider how j.k rowling used family as a recurring theme in the series. the use of familial love is used to both become an explanation to the protection of characters but also show their own motivations and behavior.

the primary hero characters in harry potter are shown to have good relationships with their families. harry dedicated his life to making james and lily proud, ron grew up in a lively, loving household, and hermione is shown to have ive (though slightly confused, since they are muggles) parents. this is in stark contrast, however, to the villain characters. voldemort himself had parents who had only shared an obsessive love brought upon by love potion and murdered his father’s side of the family. and, as an enemy to harry through the series, draco also experienced a poor family relationship. as a child, draco did not grow up in a particularly great household. his parents spoiled instead of nurtured him, he had a lot to live up to (as shared above) and, although not explicitly mentioned, lucius was speculated to be harsh towards his son, especially when it came to ‘keeping him in line’ and portraying their family image. although his parents did show a small level of (such as buying brooms for his quidditch team), it was only for what THEY wanted for draco and to reinforce their own status. i believe that this played into his own sense of character and how he viewed the world. if draco had been raised in a loving household, such as the weasleys, his entire belief system (and therefore his actions) would be completely altered. or, if his parents had given him the freedom to make his own choices and grow into his own person, he would have a much greater opportunity to break from his family’s belief system.

in conclusion, although draco consciously made his own decisions, the reason he did so was entirely due to his family. even though the idea of personal responsibility is important, and he should be kept able, his upbringing was much too great of a factor to ignore when deciding the redemption that draco deserves. therefore, it is crucial to recognize that draco himself was not the one who wanted to do these things, but that it was the values and influence of his family that led him to those actions.

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𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘿𝙄𝙏𝙎

images: pinterest

psd: fairy of shampoo bby bbysuri

filter: vorfreude by secrefltrs

source used: malfoy wiki

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                            𝙈.𝙄𝙎𝘾𝙃’𝙄𝙀𝙁 𝙈𝘼𝙉𝘼𝙂𝙀𝘿 𖧧

                         ⌇𖦹⁾⁾ u t r o! :cloud:

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                             I guess that’s it for today!

                             I hope you enjoyed this

                              blog. I actually had a lot

                             of fun writing this. i think

                             that this debate was inte-

                             resting because i didn’t

                              immediately gravitate to

                             one side of the argument.

                             there’s valid points in both,

                             but as someone who very

                             rarely sides with/ defends

                             any character, i figured th

                             at i would go outside my

                              comfort zone a little. thank

                             you for reading and i hope

                             you have a wonderful day!

                                              — kenzie

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