Post by Lolua on Jun 17, 2004 0:44:55 GMT -5
MuggleNet's got a new editorial on Percy Weasley. There are a few small problems with the author's research, but I think it builds an excellent web of reasoning for why Percy has acted the way that he has. It's one of the few Percy essays out there that does (esp. since PercyWeasley.com got taken down for a server upgrade).
"Percy's Perspective" by Joshua Bradshaw
www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-joshua1.shtml
Some high points:
On his birth order and life philosophy:
On the conflict of family and the law:
Makes you wonder what will happen to Fred and George if Percy continues to stay high up in the Ministry.
On why Percy set himself against his family, Dumbledore, and Harry:
On Percy's letter to Ron, OotP Chapter 14:
"Percy's Perspective" by Joshua Bradshaw
www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-joshua1.shtml
Some high points:
On his birth order and life philosophy:
If we take a slice of Percy's life when he's around seven or eight years old, he has two older brothers that are not perfect angels but who have carved solid niches for themselves to garner parental approval. Then there are the twins who, by all accounts, would be on their way to becoming proper hellions, and Ron and Ginny. To be honest, Molly Weasley deserves a medal for raising this herd of red-heads, but it seems clear she wasn't alone. With the oldest pair probably already in school by this time, Percy was undoubtedly recruited into supervising his rambunctious siblings. Lo and behold, Percy has found his niche - he is the "good son." Thus Percy has learned from an early age that strict adherence to the rules and enforcing them in the absence of his elders will result in parental approval.
On the conflict of family and the law:
Let's take a quick look at Percy's idol, Mr. Crouch. He follows the same philosophy that Percy does - that following the rules, doing what's proper and being an upstanding pillar of the community will invariably lead to approval, respect and the rewards they crave. Mr. Crouch followed the rules so vehemently that he put his son in Azkaban. The error Mr. Crouch made was the result of conflicting "rules": the letter of the law versus the law of family. Faced with the prospect of losing his son in prison and his wife to illness he chose to save what he could. In so doing, he released an extremely dangerous criminal. That's the problem with defining "right" as "rules."
Makes you wonder what will happen to Fred and George if Percy continues to stay high up in the Ministry.
On why Percy set himself against his family, Dumbledore, and Harry:
Looking through Percy's eyes at the opposition we see a certain pattern emerge. His father does not follow Percy's philosophy - he is not ambitious and does not seek to climb the ladder. Closely affiliated with his father and directly opposed to Fudge is Dumbledore, who is at the very least highly eccentric. He is anything but the embodiment of following rules. Right below that you have Harry Potter, a young boy who is constantly getting more attention than Percy and who seems to go out of his way to find rules to break. These people are doing things the "wrong way" according to Percy's philosophy.
On Percy's letter to Ron, OotP Chapter 14:
This letter is simply nothing more than a transparent attempt to win Ron over to his way of thinking, reinforcing Percy's sense of self-importance and self-righteousness. Furthermore, if he can win Ron over it will help prove himself to his parents. One son might be wrong, but two might change their minds. Or at least that's what he hoped. Even if that didn't work, Percy (I believe) fervently hoped that Ron would see things his way if only because Percy never for a moment doubted that he was in the right. If Percy was in the right, he had a responsibility to help those he perceived as being "wrong."