Percy - Pansy - Strong women

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 14968

Penny wrote:

>My belief is that Percy will be very sorely challenged.  He'll want 
to
>believe for awhile that he can have it both ways: an upwardly mobile
>career in Fudge's MoM and a mutually supportive & caring relationship
>with his family members.  I think he'll struggle, but when tested, 
he'll
>make the right decision & side with his family.

This scenario resonates with me. Also, this is not a struggle between 
the Good Guys and the Bad Guys, but between the Good Guys and the 
Good but Fooled by their Own Wishful Thinking Guys, i.e. Fudge.  
Fudge may turn out to be a baddie, but so far he is on the right 
side, not at all pro-Voldemort.  If Percy fails the Dumbledore side, 
it will be in this way, IMO.

Suzanne wrote:

>He is physically attractive, appears to have had no trouble finding 
a pretty girlfriend

Rita describes her as pretty; the narration describes her as 
resembling a pug! We know Harry's POV is biased, but I still think 
the latter is more accurate.  Rita calls her pretty to give her more 
credibility in her Hermione-bashing.

However, I agree with your basic point—Draco seems to be popular 
among the Slytherins.  

Penny wrote:

>I think McGonagall does qualify as a strong female character
>(not as strong by any means as Hermione but then again, Harry 
interacts
>with Hermione considerably more than he does with McGonagall so ...)

I really like McGonagall, and I think she's an excellent character—
more well-rounded, on a close reading, than the "strict spinster with 
the heart of gold" stereotype.  She definitely qualifies as a strong 
female character, IMO (and, Susan, I'll defend her in the Dementor-
Kissing-Crouch-Jr. scene—those Dementors can move fast when they want 
to, and Snape, who was there too, was equally powerless to stop it).  
We just don't see nearly as much of her as I would like.  This may 
change


I do wonder whether women's increased prominence in QTA indicates 
that JKR has been influenced by this question.  Quidditch has always 
been the place where her feminism shows up most clearly, I would say—
just to conceive of a sport that has mixed-gender teams at all (=and= 
women actually get onto, and can be stars of, the teams) is a leap 
beyond the way things are in our world.  

As for Lily:  I think that Lily's secondary status is almost entirely 
a fan creation; I don't think it's in the books...much.  It's true 
that we hear more about James, esp. in PoA of course, so there's a 
page-time discrepancy, but all in all I think they're pretty even.  
Fans tend to assume that James was the better wizard; that's reading 
quite a lot into a passing statement that Sirius and James were two 
of the most brilliant students.  And if I read one more fanfic with 
quiet, lovely little Lily gazing, Nancy Reagan-like, up at James 
while he does exciting, rambunctious, brilliant things with the 
boys . . . come on!  The woman came out of a Muggle family and became 
head girl and "one of the best" (something like that—Hagrid, 
PS/SS).   She was clearly a powerful witch.  She stood up to 
=Voldemort= at the tender age of 21.  There is no reason to think she 
is any less feisty than her very spirited kid (or his friend 
Hermione, the other Muggle-born girl we know who's top of her class), 
other than our own assumptions about what women are like.

JKR can definitely create strong female characters when she wants 
to.  Let's have lots more!  

Amy Z
looking forward to that female DADA teacher—I wouldn't even mind if 
it were Fleur