Percy Weasley and his ambitions

[linnet323 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 30513

<<
   From: "Eric Oppen" <oppen at cnsinternet.com>
Subject: Percy Weasley and his ambitions

I would bet that there were Death Eaters from all the houses, as
well...otherwise investigation would have been much easier; just go after
all the Slytherin alumni and investigate them.  (I can see a wizarding
version of Senator Joe McCarthy yelling "Are you now, or have you ever
been...a SLYTHERIN?")>>


 
I don't know what will happen to Percy, if anything, but the arguments that 
"he's a Gryffindor or he's a Weasley so he couldn't possibly..." come across 
as invitations to JKR to stand those expectations on their heads.  Of course, 
it's equally likely that she's setting Percy up as a red herring 
younger-generation false-DE for future books & he'll really save the day.

Although Slytherin has turned out more dark wizards than any other house, the 
other houses have some capability in that regard (Pettigrew).  No one thinks 
Sirius couldn't have been a LV supporter since he was a Gryffindor.   And as 
for family, Percy could be our prototypical black sheep.  Anyone who gets 
deeply immersed in small and deeply boring books called Prefects Who Gained 
Power  [CoS] bears watching.  Maybe the courage that the Sorting Hat (TSH)  
detected has been subsumed by ambition; maybe Percy and TSH  had a similar 
coversation to Harry's with TSH and Percy begged TSH to put him in Bill & 
Charlie's house. 

The series has been setting up a tension is between those who believe lineage 
is all (Lucius) vs. those who believe we all have important choices 
(Dumbledore) that determine our destinies.  The books, though, tread a middle 
ground [so far]: that there is a point where a character has made enough 
choices that he/she is firmly launched on one path or the other & there's no 
turning back.  The exception is Quirrel meeting up w/LV in Albania.  [Snape 
is an impenetrable mystery; I'm convinced that any prediction I make would be 
wrong.] Other than Quirrel, so far, the characters seem pretty set, and even 
when it appears that someone has changed paths, it turns out to be all a Big 
Mistake (Sirius, Madeye), and they've still got their Hearts in the Right (or 
wrong) Place.  

That's a reassuring message for a children's series -- for an adult, it would 
be interesting to see someone really change direction since I'm not sure 3 
more books of  mistaken identities (Quirrel/Snape, Riddle/Hagrid, 
Sirius/Pettigrew, Moody/Crouch, Jr.) will hold me, vs. my 9yo daughter.  
Short of a major shift in a strong character's orientation toward evil, I 
think JKR will play with her ambivalent characters (Percy and/or Ludo and/or 
Draco and, of course, Peter) to deepen the books without losing her core 
audience.

All that said, I do think old Perce is a red herring who seems to be flirting 
w/ ambition but will turn out okay, based on his white-facedness when Ron is 
rescued for task #2.  

-- Linnet




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