[HPforGrownups] Re: Percy

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 166099

Eggplant:
Percy is not immoral he
is amoral. I can see Percy pretending to be sorrowful and apologize to
his family so they will not be on their guard around him and then when
Harry isn't looking Percy would stun him in the back and turn him over
to the Death Eaters. [snip]

And then I think Percy is entirely capable of turning around walking
away without another word and sleeping soundly the next night.

Debbie:
::splutter::  Nooooo!

Here's a clue to whether Percy could sleep soundly after betraying Harry, or
his family.  From HBP ch. 16 (A Very Frosty Christmas):

"Rufus Scrimgeour paused in the doorway . . . 'Percy and I were in the
vicinity -- working, you know -- and he couldn't resist dropping in and
seeing you all.'  But Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the
rest of the family.  He stood, poker-straight and awkward-looking, and
stared over everybody else's heads.  Mr Weasley, Fred and George were all
observing him, stony-faced."

What this tells me is that Percy cares what his family think.  A person who
could betray Harry and sleep soundly would be able to look at his family
defiantly.  Percy is embarrassed at Scrimgeour's excuse, and he knows his
family knows it's not true.  He can't look them in the eye; his pain is
apparent.

Eggplant:

Would you say that if he had another last name? Just as good people can come
from bad
families (Serious Black), bad people can come from good families.

Debbie:
Yes.  I have a great deal of sympathy for Percy.  JKR uses him as a comic
straight man in every book (that letter in OOP, with it's reference to the
delightful Umbridge, was so god-awfully over the top it was comical, but the
joke was on him).  In the Christmas scene in HBP, Fred, George, or Ginny (or
maybe all three) dealt with Percy's discomfort by flinging mashed parsnip at
him until he stormed from the house.  Well, I'd storm out, too, if I was
subjected to that kind of abuse, particularly if they had been heaping that
kind of humiliation upon him throughout his life.  This is one reason Fred &
George are my least favorite Weasleys and my prime candidates for Dark
Weasleys, though I agree with Betsy that it ain't gonna happen.  JKR loves
them, and their humor, too much.

It would be a shame if JKR does not have time to write the redemption of
Percy into DH, because she's set the stage for it very well, not only be
creating a very believable, though damaging family dynamic and then showing
how much Percy cares about his family and their opinion of him, even a year
and a half after his estrangement.

There's one other clue I see in the Very Frosty Christmas:  Ron did not join
Fred, George and Ginny in the parsnip toss.  I think this is significant.
Ron is actually a lot like Percy; both are very sensitive and the twins'
antics had a significant effect on both of them.  Percy's response was to
overachieve, and Ron (with the benefit of Percy's example) opted for
underachievement.  Both are capable of poor judgment.  And both are loyal
(though Percy's loyalties are misplaced at times).  Despite his comment
later, in which Ron merely echoes the sentiments of the Parsnip Trio (whose
good side he wants to be on), I think Ron does have sympathy for Percy.  And
Percy must have noticed where the attack was (and was not) coming from.

Houyhnhnm:
I like Bart's analysis of Percy as someone who is so
enamoured of the rules that he cannot make good moral
judgements. This is another way of going wrong.
Rowling gives us, in Crouch, Sr. and Umbridge, a couple
of examples of adults who do wrong and advance the
cause of evil even though they are not on the dark
side. Percy is a youthful character whom we get to
see in the developmental stages of becoming an Umbridge.
That is his second function.

Debbie:
I would rephrase that to say that Percy is a youthful character we see in
the developmental stages that would lead to becoming another Crouch Sr.  He,
like Percy, was overly focused on adherence to the rules, and was widely
reputed to have sacrificed his family for his career.  Yet, in the end, he
sacrificed everything to save his unworthy son.


Houyhnhnm:
Given the way Percy has turned out, it seems strange that Rowling had
him be the most enthusiastic supporter of Dumbledore that Harry
encountered on his first night at Hogwarts.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world!
But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

Surely it is significant. Rowling could just as easily have put those
words in the mouth of either Fred or George.

Debbie:
Perhaps this is simply our first illustration of Percy's approach to
loyalty.  When he says this, he is a 5th year student, and Dumbledore is his
headmaster.  As he does later under Crouch Sr., under Umbridge and
(presumably) under Scrimgeour, Percy grants his leader unswerving admiration
and obedience.  Thus, when his current boss tells him his former headmaster
is a dangerous element, Percy sees this as new information which, together
with his understanding of Dumbledore as a mad genius, allows him to give
credence to Umbridge's odious insinuations.

Perhaps Percy's dash into the lake may also be foreshadowing.  Ron may be in
significant danger in DH, and Percy may be in a position to do something
about it.  I think that family loyalty will ultimately prevail, just as it
did with Crouch Sr., and Percy may sacrifice everything to save his family.

Debbie
who's too overwhelmed with RL to post much now, but couldn't resist
discussing Percy, who remains one of her favorite characters


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