[HPforGrownups] Re: Ron is like Percy (plus more Weasley thoughts)

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 89217

I wrote:

> > Fred and George are written in OOP in such a way to suggest that 
> > JKR approves of them very much.  She seems to have a taste for 
> > slapstick humor, and for those who engage in it, even when it's 
> > hurtful to others.
> 
Del replied:
> 
> Ha, but is it JKR or *Harry* who likes that kind of humour ? For some 
> reason, the twins always seemed to like Harry, so he never got to 
> experience their humour first-hand. And most people they made fun of, 
> Harry doesn't care much about. In his eyes, it's quite obvious that 
> for example the twins are "right" and Percy is "wrong". But I'm 
> wondering if this is not just a set-up for Harry to learn a big 
> lesson : that he shouldn't judge people before he truly gets to know 
> them, and that apparently nice and cool people are not 
> necessarily "right". 

I'm hoping this is the case, because otherwise Percy and the twins are just cartoons.  

I think if you examine the books carefully, there are signs that we as readers should not be too captivated by the twins' obvious charisma, but they are few and far between, especially in OOP.  George's comment that they're "well shot of Percy" and the uncharacteristically ugly look that accompanies it may be the only hint in OOP, which otherwise showcases how their lawlessness can be made to work for the side of good.  I didn't care much for the Skiving Snackboxes, or the way they used the first-years as test subjects, but even I have to admit that they were put to very good use against Umbridge. 

Another sign that I noticed yesterday appears in PoA.  Everyone except Molly and Percy (Harry included) laughed at the twins' Humongous Bighead joke.  But later, when the twins show Harry the Head Boy badge that they had "improved" to read "Bighead Boy" the text states that Harry's laugh was forced.  But a phrase like this is easy to miss, especially when OOP states explicitly that Harry liked Percy less than the rest of the Weasleys. 

We also should ask why the twins treat Percy as they do.  They seem to hold back with Ron -- after the second Quidditch game they decided they didn't have the heart to take the Mickey out of him -- but did not hold back with Percy.  Why?  In the early books, Molly lavished praise on Percy while scolding the twins.  Is there something about this dynamic behind the twins' treatment of Percy?  Also, recall Molly's obviously untrue comment that 'everyone in the family' had been a prefect.  Has she simply written off the twins as hopeless cases?  It can't be that she doesn't care about them or she wouldn't have been so distressed when the family returned from the Quidditch World Cup ("What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s?  Oh Fred . . . George . . .")   But I don't want to suggest that Fred and George bear all the blame for Percy's estrangement.  There's a much more complicated family dynamic at work, and probably everyone has contributed to the current state of affairs.

I'll stop rambling now, before I suggest that the Weasley family is really Ever So Evil.

Debbie

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