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roxannelinton! May your day be filled with fish and improv!! I would dedicate this essay to you, but it seems kind of lame. Well, if you want it, it's yours. (Cue Elton John song: “And you can tell everybody this is your poooost, it might be quiiiiite boring but, now that it’s up….” Hey, it’s better than Goodbye English Rose, right?)
I've been thinking about courage lately--I think there's a couple of things that put it in my mind. First the amusing fact that I came up half-Gryffindor on that "What mix of houses" are you quiz. Second was the PS/SS re-read, which is now up to The Forbidden Forest.
I've always been pretty vocal about *not* believing courage was a good basis for a moral system myself, and I still don’t (compassion—yay!), but that quiz made me realize (or reminded me) that I do still value it a lot. In the re-read it was brought up that Draco's behavior in the forest is often used as evidence he's a coward-in OotP Harry, too, remembers that Malfoy had “not being very brave then.” People pointed out that really, what's so cowardly?black_dog said:
I agree, and love how this echoes the words of the Wizard of Oz to that most famous of cowards, The Cowardly Lion, at the end of that movie:
There are times in the books where the characters sorted for courage seem to suffer from the same disorganized thinking. Gryffindor, by offering us a lot of different people with this same dominant strength, can show us both its value and its folly. When Sirius says he'd welcome a Dementor attack to brighten his day, he's not being courageous, he's just a person who needs this kind of excitement. He "pales" when the twins bring up the fact that he's "not out risking his life" because that criticism strikes home. In fact, Gryffindors use that type of insult a lot when they want to get each other to do something (and Snape uses it to get to Sirius as well, probably having learned how well it works). This is a natural downside to putting too much value on the ideal of courage, or of having too limited a view of what courage is. Courage does not have to mean throwing yourself into physical fights.
The thing about the word "coward" is that, in my experience, it has nothing to do with whether or not one feels or shows fear. It is a judgment on a person's behavior--a negative one. For instance, after 9/11 there were a lot of references to the terrorists being cowards. Other people then responded that dude, *they* would be terrified to fly a plane into a building and die. Isn't it more cowardly to be dropping bombs from the air and then flying away?
In HP Draco can’t be considered cowardly just because he shows fear. Neville shows more fear in the forest, yet he is a character associated with exceptional bravery. But why is he associated with bravery? Is it because Neville has been known to pick fights with people bigger than he is, even when outnumbered? I don't think it's just that, because the thing is, Draco does that too. Despite the fanon perception that Draco only antagonizes people from a position of total safety behind Crabbe and Goyle, they are not always present when he’s mouthing off and even when they are, they often don’t act.
The reason Malfoy is the coward, imo, is due to the way he deals with his fear, or just what he does in general. In the forest, he retreats into snobbery ("We're not supposed to be doing this--it's servant stuff") and teasing (jumping out and scaring Neville). These methods are do make human sense and he uses them through the series--he feels more in control through these things. (There's a phrase "to understand is to forgive," but that doesn't seem to apply here. Well, it does for me, but not to some of the characters or some other readers.) The other trouble with Draco, I think, is that he ultimately does do what Phinneas says is a Slytherin trait: maybe he's got some courage, but when it comes down to it he always decides to save his skin. So when faced with Harry on a broom the first time, he throws the Rememberall rather than hand it over (which a Gryffindor would not have done either) or fight for it (which the Gryff probably would have done). The sense that he threw the Rememberall not because he thought it was funny but at least partially to save himself, makes him cowardly.
None of these incidents make me think COWARD in a way that makes me angry, but since I do value courage and aspire to it (as best I can) there probably have been times where I thought badly for a person for something I perceived as cowardice. I think for me it comes more in the form of cowardly arguments. I don't think of it in terms of soldiers getting cold feet in battle or bullies (since I would be scared to try to bully anyone, it's hard for me to relate to bullying as an act of cowardice even when it is).
I think what I do is attach it more to ideas or attitudes especially, I think, anybody claiming victim status. I hate seeing any of the following, for instance:
I don't necessarily think cowardice is at the heart of all these arguments- maybe it isn’t. Because, like I said, calling someone a coward doesn’t necessarily mean you have correctly identified "ignoble fear in the face of danger or pain." It just means that their behavior strikes you as ignobly self-protective. When I hear/see someone using these arguments what I see in my mind is a big man in a diaper with a lollipop bawling like a baby. Ironically, there are times where I feel this sort of thing creeping into canon or discussions of canon—it’s not incompatible with having courage in other areas. Just as any courage I might have wouldn’t mean I couldn’t come across like a coward to others.
When I first got on the Internet it was harder to post, especially if I knew I was disagreeing with people. I am rather scared of flames or people getting angry. I don't enjoy fights at all. When I started posting places I remember being very aware of posting on the 'net as almost an exercise in courage, as stupid as that sounds, and I actually think it did have an impact on my personality in general. It was just probably a good way to get me used to sharing an opinion, especially one that meant something to me, and putting it out there and arguing it. My opinions usually do mean something to me, something beyond which characters I like or what’s in one set of books.
That's probably just my version of courage--I don't go for the swashbuckler so much as the person speaking the truth even if it's dangerous. I'm not saying I *am* that person, obviously-that's just my ideal, as opposed to someone else's ideal of the person protecting a weaker person from an attacker, for instance. I love characters that look truth in the face even when it’s scary or gets them in trouble. In fact, that's probably another reason I can't stand the fake!oppressed people; they want to claim courage in speaking the truth in the face of oppression when really they a)don’t speak truth and b)are so sensitive and spoiled the mere existence of another point of view is a threat.
I guess really that's what gets one named a coward. Not that one is scared, but that one is laying claim to the exact form of courage one doesn't have.
roxannelinton! May your day be filled with fish and improv!! I would dedicate this essay to you, but it seems kind of lame. Well, if you want it, it's yours. (Cue Elton John song: “And you can tell everybody this is your poooost, it might be quiiiiite boring but, now that it’s up….” Hey, it’s better than Goodbye English Rose, right?)I've been thinking about courage lately--I think there's a couple of things that put it in my mind. First the amusing fact that I came up half-Gryffindor on that "What mix of houses" are you quiz. Second was the PS/SS re-read, which is now up to The Forbidden Forest.
I've always been pretty vocal about *not* believing courage was a good basis for a moral system myself, and I still don’t (compassion—yay!), but that quiz made me realize (or reminded me) that I do still value it a lot. In the re-read it was brought up that Draco's behavior in the forest is often used as evidence he's a coward-in OotP Harry, too, remembers that Malfoy had “not being very brave then.” People pointed out that really, what's so cowardly?
black_dog said:It's interesting that Draco doesn't actually get terrified until he sees the figure sucking unicorn blood. In fact, when Draco and Neville are left alone, it's Draco who thinks it would be fun to jump up behind Neville and frighten him as a joke, and when Hagrid leaves him alone with Harry, he privately tells Harry that at least he won't fall for Draco's tricks. That doesn't sound, to me, like Draco has been reduced to a helpless puddle of cowardly goo, just by being in the forest. It's true that Draco isn't enthusiastic about going into the forest, but for all the alleged panic Harry "hears" in his voice, he seems mostly indignant, assertive of his rights, and fairly levelheaded in asking whether they should worry about whatever hurt the unicorns "finding us first." He's reasonably scared, but he keeps his head until he's actually confronted with a mysterious hooded bloodsucking creature that advances on him. Sounds pretty reasonable to me!
I agree, and love how this echoes the words of the Wizard of Oz to that most famous of cowards, The Cowardly Lion, at the end of that movie:
”As for you, my fine friend— you're a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger, you have no courage. You're confusing courage with wisdom.”
There are times in the books where the characters sorted for courage seem to suffer from the same disorganized thinking. Gryffindor, by offering us a lot of different people with this same dominant strength, can show us both its value and its folly. When Sirius says he'd welcome a Dementor attack to brighten his day, he's not being courageous, he's just a person who needs this kind of excitement. He "pales" when the twins bring up the fact that he's "not out risking his life" because that criticism strikes home. In fact, Gryffindors use that type of insult a lot when they want to get each other to do something (and Snape uses it to get to Sirius as well, probably having learned how well it works). This is a natural downside to putting too much value on the ideal of courage, or of having too limited a view of what courage is. Courage does not have to mean throwing yourself into physical fights.
The thing about the word "coward" is that, in my experience, it has nothing to do with whether or not one feels or shows fear. It is a judgment on a person's behavior--a negative one. For instance, after 9/11 there were a lot of references to the terrorists being cowards. Other people then responded that dude, *they* would be terrified to fly a plane into a building and die. Isn't it more cowardly to be dropping bombs from the air and then flying away?
In HP Draco can’t be considered cowardly just because he shows fear. Neville shows more fear in the forest, yet he is a character associated with exceptional bravery. But why is he associated with bravery? Is it because Neville has been known to pick fights with people bigger than he is, even when outnumbered? I don't think it's just that, because the thing is, Draco does that too. Despite the fanon perception that Draco only antagonizes people from a position of total safety behind Crabbe and Goyle, they are not always present when he’s mouthing off and even when they are, they often don’t act.
The reason Malfoy is the coward, imo, is due to the way he deals with his fear, or just what he does in general. In the forest, he retreats into snobbery ("We're not supposed to be doing this--it's servant stuff") and teasing (jumping out and scaring Neville). These methods are do make human sense and he uses them through the series--he feels more in control through these things. (There's a phrase "to understand is to forgive," but that doesn't seem to apply here. Well, it does for me, but not to some of the characters or some other readers.) The other trouble with Draco, I think, is that he ultimately does do what Phinneas says is a Slytherin trait: maybe he's got some courage, but when it comes down to it he always decides to save his skin. So when faced with Harry on a broom the first time, he throws the Rememberall rather than hand it over (which a Gryffindor would not have done either) or fight for it (which the Gryff probably would have done). The sense that he threw the Rememberall not because he thought it was funny but at least partially to save himself, makes him cowardly.
None of these incidents make me think COWARD in a way that makes me angry, but since I do value courage and aspire to it (as best I can) there probably have been times where I thought badly for a person for something I perceived as cowardice. I think for me it comes more in the form of cowardly arguments. I don't think of it in terms of soldiers getting cold feet in battle or bullies (since I would be scared to try to bully anyone, it's hard for me to relate to bullying as an act of cowardice even when it is).
I think what I do is attach it more to ideas or attitudes especially, I think, anybody claiming victim status. I hate seeing any of the following, for instance:
*The only people you're allowed to be intolerant toward nowadays are [insert group to which I belong that’s no longer exclusively catered to but still wields plenty of power].
*Disagreeing with me is the same as censoring me!
*Respecting my beliefs means never challenging anything I say, no matter how illogical.
*Anybody who disagrees with the stupid thing I'm about to say, no matter how politely, will just be flaming me to prove my point that I'm unfairly victimized.
*I said something really stupid and more than one person spoke up to disagree--they are a mob ganging up on me. I must be superior and right!"
*I have plenty of facts to back myself up but I’m not going to post them because you won’t listen because you’re so angry.
*I get to insult, tell lies and promote discrimination against whatever you are and you have to be my friend while I do it—cause that’s what tolerance means and you’re the one who’s supposed to be tolerant!
I don't necessarily think cowardice is at the heart of all these arguments- maybe it isn’t. Because, like I said, calling someone a coward doesn’t necessarily mean you have correctly identified "ignoble fear in the face of danger or pain." It just means that their behavior strikes you as ignobly self-protective. When I hear/see someone using these arguments what I see in my mind is a big man in a diaper with a lollipop bawling like a baby. Ironically, there are times where I feel this sort of thing creeping into canon or discussions of canon—it’s not incompatible with having courage in other areas. Just as any courage I might have wouldn’t mean I couldn’t come across like a coward to others.
When I first got on the Internet it was harder to post, especially if I knew I was disagreeing with people. I am rather scared of flames or people getting angry. I don't enjoy fights at all. When I started posting places I remember being very aware of posting on the 'net as almost an exercise in courage, as stupid as that sounds, and I actually think it did have an impact on my personality in general. It was just probably a good way to get me used to sharing an opinion, especially one that meant something to me, and putting it out there and arguing it. My opinions usually do mean something to me, something beyond which characters I like or what’s in one set of books.
That's probably just my version of courage--I don't go for the swashbuckler so much as the person speaking the truth even if it's dangerous. I'm not saying I *am* that person, obviously-that's just my ideal, as opposed to someone else's ideal of the person protecting a weaker person from an attacker, for instance. I love characters that look truth in the face even when it’s scary or gets them in trouble. In fact, that's probably another reason I can't stand the fake!oppressed people; they want to claim courage in speaking the truth in the face of oppression when really they a)don’t speak truth and b)are so sensitive and spoiled the mere existence of another point of view is a threat.
I guess really that's what gets one named a coward. Not that one is scared, but that one is laying claim to the exact form of courage one doesn't have.
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