Defending Percy ( was Percy Weasley )

[sophierom]

No: HPFGUIDX 105034

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> Katie wrote :
> > I see JKR setting Percy up as the classic "collaborator" figure- 
> > someone who will follow the rules and try to please those in 
> > authority even when it becomes obvious that the rules are wrong.
> 
> Del replies :
> But it is NOT obvious that the rules are wrong ! Fudge knew what he
> was doing when he refused to follow DD, but Percy and the rest of 
the
> WW don't know that. Percy hasn't met neither Harry nor DD since 
LV's
> return, he wasn't there at the parting of the ways. He's aked to
> follow Harry, DD and his parents *blindly*, even when *everything*
> points to the fact that they are crack-heads having collective
> hallucinations ! What's so wrong in refusing to do that ??
 

Sophierom:

This is a really interesting debate.  Del asks a very valid 
question: what is wrong with following the rules, so long as you 
think the rules are right? But I don't think Percy is thinking about 
who's right or wrong.  I agree with Katie on this one, and here's 
why:
 
As far as we know, Percy did not accept or reject the idea that LV 
returned; what we know is that Percy rejected his father's 
admittedly rude implications that he had only been promoted in order 
to serve as a spy of sorts.  Here are a few interesting passage from 
OotP:
*******
[Weasly children and Harry discussing Percy's promotion and break 
from family]:

"Yeah, we were all surprised," said George [of the 
promotion], "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, 
there was an inquiry and everything.  They said Percy ought to have 
realized Crouch was off his rokcer and informed a superior.  But you 
know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to 
complain ..." [OotP, U.S. edition, 71]
********

George is suggesting that there was actually a some time in 
between the return of LV and Percy's promotion.  If there was time 
for an inquiry, a time for reprimand, this means that Percy had some 
amount of time to find out about the return of LV from one of his 
parents or Ron. They are all living together, and Ron's home for the 
summer.  I find it hard to believe that, with his parents and 
siblings running around trying to gather the Order, he, an 
intelligent guy, hasn't picked up on the fact that something's 
changed, that something big is going down. And, though there's no 
canon, I bet his dad told him of LV's return, in only to keep Percy 
aware and to help explain why Harry ended up in the hospital at the 
end of GoF. Yet, Percy didn't move out until he and his dad argued 
about his promotion:

*********
Fred or George (not sure which): "Dad recoks Fudge only wants Percy 
in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family - and 
Dumbledore." ....

Ron: "He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that 
Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down 
with him, and that he - PErcy - knew where his loyalty lay and it 
was with the ministry.  If Mum and Dad were going to become traitors 
to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't 
belong to our family anymore." [OotP, US, 72]

**********

What these quotes suggest to me is that Percy did not break with his 
parents because he said to himself: "Why should we follow 
Dumbledore? Is Dumbledore really right?" 
He broke with his parents because of pride, hurt, 
resentment, anger.  And, perhaps worst of all, he broke with his 
parents because he believed greater power lay with the Ministry than 
with the Order.  I argued in an earlier post that PErcy is other-
directed, that he seeks to please the people around him, 
particularly people with more power.  Now that PErcy is an adult, 
his parents are no longer the authority figures they once were; 
instead, the Ministry is the authority figure in his life, and, he's 
just been reprimanded by this authority figure for not following the 
chain of command. So, when his Dad confronts him, basically forcing 
him to choose between his family and Fudge, Percy chooses Fudge 
because he believes Fudge has more authority over him.  Percy is not 
acting courageously, he's not acting because he believes Fudge over 
his parents.  He's acting this way because Fudge holds more power 
over him, and he wants to please that authority figure in his life.  
We've seen this shift in loyalties before OotP; throughout GoF, 
Percy's behavior has suggested that he's found a new "father" figure 
in Crouch.  Unfortunately, he doesn't learn the lesson he should 
from the Crouch incident.  He doesn't learn that the Ministry is not 
his family.  INstead, the punishment, followed by a swift promotion 
(which must have felt doubly good after a reprimand and inquiry), 
convince Percy that he must work even harder to please his new 
authority figures.  

Sophierom