Undercover Percy: who notified Dumbledore?

[digger]

No: HPFGUIDX 81062

Deirdre F Woodward wrote:
> I think the Percy-is-a-git theme has been building since
> Book One.  He's made out to be a laughing stock almost every time he comes
> into the book.  I was very satisfied with his portrayal in OoP because it
> seemed the next logical step in his development as a character.   He's
> young, impressionable, pretentious, ambitious, and naive -- the perfect
> person to get sucked into Fudge's moronic plan to ignore/foil Dumbledore.
> 
> I thought the letter to Ron about Harry was pure Percy.  It showed all of
> his vanities and weaknesses in the worst possible light.  I don't think the
> letter was soley for us to hate Percy.  I think it has a specific purpose --
> Percy needs a crisis of faith, and his split with his family opens up that
> occasion.  He will need to examine why he was so ready to sacrifice friends
> and family for career, and he will be forced to either accept his character
> and move on (a future Umbridge) or face his character and change (a future
> member of the OoP, perhaps?).
> 
> I don't think Percy is under any curse or spell, nor do I think Percy was
> acting under orders from someone else.  *aims canon towards the PINESAP ship
> and another others in the bay*
> 
> Deirdre who is beginning to realize she's a killjoy
> 

digger writes:

I agree with the above. I think Percy's moral choices so far are totally
in keeping with his character developement.  Percy is acting in a
ruthless manner for his own good, ie his future career, wealth and
power, and the consequences of his actions on the wizarding community
don't appear to come into his calculations. His ruthlessness could be
seen as a Slytherin trait, but I see it as a example of courage used in
a negative way. Going for what is good for you, at the expense of
alienating your family, is selfish and short-sighted, but it is also a
consequence of growing up in a large family. As a "good boy" he would
have needed far less attention from Mrs Weasley, than the twins, his
immediate sibling rivals, who must have needed watching closely at all
times. I see those two as getting up to mischief from the day they could
crawl!
Percy's character and actions are a means for JKR to illustrate a
meta-theme: the sad consequences of selfish actions, and how acting
selfessly and with compassion, for the good of society rather than the
individual, is best, but not easy.

"digger"