Percy's motivations (Was : Re: [HPforGrownups] Harry's ethics and behavior)

[Firebolt]

No: HPFGUIDX 17977

dragonsbloodmoon at aol.com wrote:

> You have to keep in mind that the Harry Potter books are first and
> foremost a
> medium of entertainment. A child who lives strictly by the rules, and
> never
> has any adventures would be a boring child to read about. Could you
> imagine
> reading a book series about Percy Weasly's days at Hogwarts? BOR-ING!
> Instead
> of having meaningful chapters like the House Elf Liberation Front in
> GoF,
> you'd have "Harry, Ron and Hermione Do Their Homework." YAWN. No
> thanks.
>
> Secondly, all children break rules. I would worry about a child who
> simply
> does what he's told all the time and never challenges the rules.
> Children
> need to explore their world and do more than homework. I'm glad Harry
> and his
> friends are rebellious. Makes them seem more like real children.

And that gives me an opening for what I've been thinking about for the
past couple of days...why is Percy so determined to be Perfect? He's
constantly surrounded by more 'maverick-type' role models and family
members, like Arthur who finds loopholes in laws he helps enforce, Bill
with his leather and earrings, Charlie and his dragons, to say nothing
of Ron or the twins (no comment on Ginny because we don't know much
about her away-from-Harry behavior except that she talks a lot). None of
them seem to be the type to put rules above all else as Percy seems to
be veering dangerously close to doing - even Molly, the one who's always
upbraiding the twins or commenting on Arthur or Bill's eccentricities,
seems to be just the one trying to keep a *little* bit of sanity in her
household, not an actual stickler at heart. So, I'm wondering what you
all think Percy's thinking in that little red head of his.

There's the variation on Ron theory, of course, that Percy tried to be
'perfect' so he could match his older brothers in their accomplishments.
But Bill was a Head Boy and seems to have a fairly steady - and
interesting - job, and he's the one that Harry thinks is 'cool'. There's
also the - this one's popular in the few Percy-past fanfics out there -
idea that something *bad* happened to Percy once when he was breaking
the rules (death of a Weasley between Charlie and Percy, kidnap by Death
Eaters, etc.), and he blamed himself, and made himself stick firmly to
the rules so that it won't happen again. And then he could just be
ambitious, a bit embarrassed about the state of the family finances, and
having determined that a lot of it is due to Arthur's eccentricities
(like his Muggle-loving, which apparently set him back at the Ministry),
he sets out to make himself the model son/student/employee, to make up
for it.

Those are the possibilities I've come up with so far...what do you guys
think?

- Firebolt

PS I hope there wasn't a Percy Weasley discussion that I missed during
my frequent disappearances, and I'm not repeating old material...


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