House Choice doesn't Equal Personality for Life

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 85236

First Joj wrote:
>  
> >   I commented this morning about Percy being in Gryffindor and 
not 
> >   Slytherin.  What I was saying was that so far, all we have 
seen 
> >   is Percy's Slytherin quality (ambition), but we haven't seen 
his 
> >   Gryffindor bravery yet.  He is in Gryffindor, so it should 
follow 
> >   that he's at least somewhat brave.  

Jen: Joj, I wasn't targeting your comment--your post was the 
catalyst for mine because you *did* make a distinction between the 
characteristics of the houses rather than a generalization about the 
houses themselves. It made me think about how infrequently that 
distinction is made.

doliesl:
> Percy display bravery by standing up against his own family and 
> Dumbledore for what he truely believes in (that Fudge is right, 
> climbing the political ladder is the right way to improve life for 
> the better). What he did is not different from Sirius's running 
away 
> from his family for his disagreement with their beliefs. That 
takes 
> courage, and very Gryffindor of Percy. My point is: A courgeous 
person can still make a very bad decision 
> based on his Gryffindor qualities. Bravery can be used in a wrong 
> cause. 

Jen R.: This is an extremely good point. I've been on several Percy 
threads recently and don't recall reading about his family defection 
from this POV. 

Percy left his good Gryffindor family, i.e. 'he's bad', whereas 
Sirius is seen as noble and courageous for turning his back on his 
evil Slytherin family.  Of course, you could argue the Weasleys 
don't hold the extreme views the Blacks did, so Percy's choice to 
leave doesn't hold the same weight or courage. In some ways though, 
Sirius's choice was an easier one to make--the dark part of his 
family was *so* dark, whereas with Percy, how could he turn his back 
on loving parents with a noble mission?

I'm not totally convinved Percy isn't spying for DD, and has to play 
along with the subterfuge for that reason. But your idea that 
bravery can be used to make wrong decisions would fit in better with 
JKR's Choice Theory (and is also supported by Harry's brave, yet 
mistaken, decision to go help Sirius). This idea also fits in with 
the shades-of-gray theme regarding ethical decision-making in OOTP--
no character can be seen as purely good or purely evil anymore 
(except LV, and I'm not 100% sure there won't be more to his story).