There is a much more fundamental disagreement here between us than whether Draco is “part of the plot to move forward.” The best way I can summarize it is I disagree that there even is a “main plot-thread that things center around.” In the interest of time, I’ll quote another important part of Alexander Wales’s review:
The undeniable climax of Methods happens when Quirrell has been unmasked as Voldemort and gives Harry sixty seconds to surrender information prior to his death. Harry then kills the arrayed Death Eaters and incapacitates Voldemort, and everything after that is wrapping up loose threads. The climax of the work is then in Ch 113 and Ch 114.
Yet the plot of Methods is not about Quirrell as Voldemort fighting with Harry. Prior to Ch 88, Voldemort has no intentions of killing Harry. Voldemort’s plan, as laid out in a language that doesn’t allow lies, is to make Harry into the ruler of magical Britain. Harry’s plan is to figure out how science works and revolutionize magical Britain. Dumbledore has two primary plans. The first is to trap Voldemort beyond time, which Dumbledore is unsuccessful at; this happens almost entirely off-screen. The second is to thread the needle of prophecy, which Dumbledore presumably has succeeded at when the novel ends; this also happens almost entirely off-screen, and the parts of it that we do see are incomprehensible.
Do you see the problem here? Prior to Ch 88, the plot hasn’t actually begun. Harry and Voldemort share largely the same goals until that point, though they likely differ in how they would achieve them, and of course have obvious moral differences, but this is not what drives them into conflict in the climax
Draco doesn’t proactively move the plot forward because he does not change the structure/environment/ethos of the story through any of his actions. Same for Harry, same for Hermione; they are reactive and go along with the flow instead of changing anything. Dumbledore changes stuff, but that’s all prior to the start of the story and it happens in a way he doesn’t himself understand (after viewing the Halls of Prophecy, he serves a conduit for Fate as opposed to an agent optimizing for his own goals). Quirrell, on the other hand, is the one that actually acts intentionally to change the structure of what’s going on.
Also note that even if I granted you everything you wrote in your comment (which I don’t), the fact that Draco would be part of the plot to move forward wouldn’t even imply Draco is a character moving the plot forward. The example you’ve given is of stuff happening to Draco, as opposed to by Draco.
I agree Draco wasn’t moving the plot forward much by himself, but I was going with the focus of the comment you were replying to, in which this is Harry moving a part of the plot forward—the plot-point being that people like Draco can have their beliefs challenged and learn, that people are products of their environment to varying degrees but that doesn’t mean you should ignore them, and also showing off the various ways people react to differences in belief.
That is, while this doesn’t have huge effects in story, though I disagree that it has none, it was a core plot point with a specific message it was trying to extol. And so Harry pushing this through does affect things.
There is a much more fundamental disagreement here between us than whether Draco is “part of the plot to move forward.” The best way I can summarize it is I disagree that there even is a “main plot-thread that things center around.” In the interest of time, I’ll quote another important part of Alexander Wales’s review:
Draco doesn’t proactively move the plot forward because he does not change the structure/environment/ethos of the story through any of his actions. Same for Harry, same for Hermione; they are reactive and go along with the flow instead of changing anything. Dumbledore changes stuff, but that’s all prior to the start of the story and it happens in a way he doesn’t himself understand (after viewing the Halls of Prophecy, he serves a conduit for Fate as opposed to an agent optimizing for his own goals). Quirrell, on the other hand, is the one that actually acts intentionally to change the structure of what’s going on.
Also note that even if I granted you everything you wrote in your comment (which I don’t), the fact that Draco would be part of the plot to move forward wouldn’t even imply Draco is a character moving the plot forward. The example you’ve given is of stuff happening to Draco, as opposed to by Draco.
I agree Draco wasn’t moving the plot forward much by himself, but I was going with the focus of the comment you were replying to, in which this is Harry moving a part of the plot forward—the plot-point being that people like Draco can have their beliefs challenged and learn, that people are products of their environment to varying degrees but that doesn’t mean you should ignore them, and also showing off the various ways people react to differences in belief.
That is, while this doesn’t have huge effects in story, though I disagree that it has none, it was a core plot point with a specific message it was trying to extol. And so Harry pushing this through does affect things.