[HPforGrownups] CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 15 (The Hogwarts High Inquis...

[rayheuer3 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 94445

elfundeb at comcast.net writes:

e> 2. The Daily Prophet quotes Percy Wesley extensively.  How 
e> enthusiastic do you think his support really is?  Does he honestly 
e> believe what he says, is he doing it to get ahead of the Ministry, 
e> or does he really think he owes unquestioning obedience to his 
e> superiors?  How does the Percy we see here square with the Percy we 
e> saw in PS/SS who admired Dumbledore's brilliance?

This ties three things together, first - reporters (even wizard reporters)
have X column inches to fill and will fill them with whatever they can
uncover.  If you can find a source in the "halls of power", it doesn't
matter how junior they are - it can be an unpaid intern, a janitor, or a
stenographer trying trying to feel important.
Second, we have my "Blundering Dunderhead - The Next Generation".
Percy, like Fudge, is not evil, just wrong-headed and completely closed 
to opinions that differ with his own.  Some of this is, of course, born out
of a desire to get ahead, but mostly, he does it because he believes
that he and Fudge (et al) are right, and his family and Dumbledore (et al)
are wrong.  He will tell anyone, including the odd reporter how brilliant
Fudge is, because it reassures him that he is brilliant to see the "truth"
Finally, Percy's admiration of Dumbledore shows that he was always
prone to be a sycophant.  DD's choice of Percy as Prefect (remember
how priggish he was about *that*?) showed that they recognize his
(Percy's) brilliance, and therefore, they must also be brilliant.

  --  Ray


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