Percy- a little odd? and the Wonderful Weasleys

Mon Dec 30 21:31:04 UTC 2002

No: HPFGUIDX 48996

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve <bboy_mn at y...>" 
<bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, srsiriusblack at a... wrote:
> > In a message dated 29/12/2002 17:26:44 Eastern Standard Time,
> alicit at a... writes:
> > > But I Love Percy!!! *g*  Actually, I think that Perce really 
does
> > > fit in with his family.  His family is full of Rebels, but they 
> > > all rebel together.  
> > > ...edited...
> > >Alicit
> > 
> > 
> > Snuffles: 
> > 
> > Hee hee. I don't mean in any way that Percy is bad, ... ... ... 
> > 
> > But, Percy just isn't like the rest of them... ... ... He does 
stick 
> > out. 
> > 
> > And, I do so love the Weasleys, too ;)
> > 
> > -Snuffles
> 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> We all have roles we play in our family dynamic. Percy plays the 
role
> of 'The Good Boy'.  And he does rebel, when you are in a family of
> rebels, you rebel by being a conformist. 
> 
> The Good Boy Syndrome-
> Percy is determined to be a 'good boy'; to do everything right, to
> make his mother proud, to not be a burden on her, to not cause her 
any
> trouble or grief, to show his brothers how a decent person acts.
> 
> But at the same time he is desperately seeking approval. He wants
> people to notice him, to see that he is being good, that he is doing
> everything right. When he doesn't get that approval especially from
> his brothers whom he desperately wants to acknowledge him, he
> redoubles his efforts and tries even harder to be perfect and to be
> acknowledge for doing things good and right. 

Me:
I agree with you to a degree however I don't see him wanting approval 
from his brothers as much as he wants it from his Dad.
As I read through the books and the interactions within the family I 
notice that Percy seems to get the less attention from his Dad.
In COS when the Twins and Ron fly the car the get a positive response 
from their Dad he is interested in how well the car flew and is less 
than secretly pleased in a way with them.
However we never see him being proud of Percy or praising Percy.
In POA in the leaky cauldron we see Molly being actively pleased that 
Percy's been made head boy but we get no such feelings from Arthur. 
In fact he laughs at a joke that the twins make about Percy being 
made head boy.(POA CH4)When Percy re-asks why they are getting cars 
from the ministry to drive them to the station and after this event 
he re-asks the question - here he is trying to be adult and to make 
his father reply to him as a mature person he is actively seeking his 
fathers approval. 

Yet in GOF we see Percy giving Crouch this kind of attention and 
ignoring his Dad. I got the feeling over the world cup aftermath 
episode that Percy had kind of given up seeking his fathers approval 
and was now trying to get Crouch's approval, in fact he openly 
disagrees with his Dad about this and openly says thing against his 
father, seems to me that Percy was in some way rebelling against his 
father after all if he can't get his fathers attention by 
agreeing/doing the right things maybe he can get it by openly defying 
him...

I don't personally see Percy as a weak character in fact I see him as 
a strong character an example of this is in COS when he confronts Ron 
about not only being in a Girls Bathroom but about being in an Out Of 
Order girls bathroom. I've always seen this as Percy 1) doing his 
jobs (prefects at my school had to make sure no one was misbehaving 
in the toilets) and 2) worried that Ron will get into more trouble 
and get himself expelled.
He certainly isn't a coward - by the way he helped his older brothers 
and Dad get the muggles from the Death Eaters.
I don't believe that Percy will willingly join the Death Eaters or 
willing help them.
I believe that Percy will do what he believes is right no matter what 
the circumstances/payment/Consequences, As for whether he'll choose 
Fudge or Dumbledore? I believe that it will be Percy's respect of 
Dumbledore that will keep him on Dumbledores side.

Michelle