On Percy...
Jul. 27th, 2003 12:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusFuton mentioned that he's very disappointed with the OotP Percy.
I'm disappointed in Percy as a person right now, but not in his characterization, which has made him interestingly complex.
I think Percy is doing a classic rebellion against his parents. What is he, 19?
He is a social riser, we already knew that (look at how he wouldn't admit to Penny that he didn't have the Galleons to match her bet), and I'll bet the subtext is he's not being accepted by that upper class. So, rather than blame himself (which would put a wrench in his ambitions), or blame the poor character of the uppercrust (which would deflate his ambition to be one of them) he blames his parents, particularly his father.
Most parents of teenagers have gone through the same.
His mother has also been pretty clingy -- he was her perfect Percy after all -- and now Percy is (rather ruthlessly) cutting the apron strings.
If you think about it, even though Arthur Weasley was right about Percy being used, to Percy it sounded as if his father was questioning his ability to be an adult and judge for himself. Of course he rebelled against that!
But Percy isn't really quite ready to be an adult (his poor judgement proves that - heh, parents are often right even when their kids won't listen), and he has fixated on Fudge as almost a surrogate parent. A 'better' example than his father.
He's being a kiss-ass, but he's also following Fudge around like a lost puppy. This is a typical pattern for him (look at how he idolized Mr Crouch) to look for role models that are more like himself.
His mother really pumped up his ambitions and his ego by holding him out as an example to the other boys. But she also set him up to be picked on and torn down by Fred, George and Ron for that very same reason.
Percy has felt alienated from his family for a very long time. We just haven't noticed it because Harry thinks of the Weasleys as the perfect family. The Weasleys, though loving and well-meaning, are not by any means perfect -- not even towards Ron.
What did Percy use as his defense against his brothers' criticism?
That they were less than him, and he staked his self-worth on his achievements. Now is it such a surprise that he's still doing the same thing, and that it has expanded to include his father, when Arthur criticised him in exactly the same way Percy's brothers have?
Unfortunately, Percy is going to get burned by his surrogate 'father' and role model, and the socialite replacement 'family' he's tried to create for himself. It's just a matter of how badly.
He's so certain he's right that he'll likely copy Fudge's new attitude towards Arthur (whatever that will be) and be stunned that he's not immediately forgiven (and surprised that he even needs to be forgiven).
I really like Percy because he's so human.
I'm disappointed in Percy as a person right now, but not in his characterization, which has made him interestingly complex.
I think Percy is doing a classic rebellion against his parents. What is he, 19?
He is a social riser, we already knew that (look at how he wouldn't admit to Penny that he didn't have the Galleons to match her bet), and I'll bet the subtext is he's not being accepted by that upper class. So, rather than blame himself (which would put a wrench in his ambitions), or blame the poor character of the uppercrust (which would deflate his ambition to be one of them) he blames his parents, particularly his father.
Most parents of teenagers have gone through the same.
His mother has also been pretty clingy -- he was her perfect Percy after all -- and now Percy is (rather ruthlessly) cutting the apron strings.
If you think about it, even though Arthur Weasley was right about Percy being used, to Percy it sounded as if his father was questioning his ability to be an adult and judge for himself. Of course he rebelled against that!
But Percy isn't really quite ready to be an adult (his poor judgement proves that - heh, parents are often right even when their kids won't listen), and he has fixated on Fudge as almost a surrogate parent. A 'better' example than his father.
He's being a kiss-ass, but he's also following Fudge around like a lost puppy. This is a typical pattern for him (look at how he idolized Mr Crouch) to look for role models that are more like himself.
His mother really pumped up his ambitions and his ego by holding him out as an example to the other boys. But she also set him up to be picked on and torn down by Fred, George and Ron for that very same reason.
Percy has felt alienated from his family for a very long time. We just haven't noticed it because Harry thinks of the Weasleys as the perfect family. The Weasleys, though loving and well-meaning, are not by any means perfect -- not even towards Ron.
What did Percy use as his defense against his brothers' criticism?
That they were less than him, and he staked his self-worth on his achievements. Now is it such a surprise that he's still doing the same thing, and that it has expanded to include his father, when Arthur criticised him in exactly the same way Percy's brothers have?
Unfortunately, Percy is going to get burned by his surrogate 'father' and role model, and the socialite replacement 'family' he's tried to create for himself. It's just a matter of how badly.
He's so certain he's right that he'll likely copy Fudge's new attitude towards Arthur (whatever that will be) and be stunned that he's not immediately forgiven (and surprised that he even needs to be forgiven).
I really like Percy because he's so human.
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Date: 2003-07-28 01:20 am (UTC)We have to think then, what is Percy's role in the books? If we were writing the series, what would he represent, what side of the story is he showing us?
If I were writing the books, I have to admit that Percy would be there to give us a three-dimensional look at the bad guys; show us how someone with perfectly ordinary motivations (not that evil villain rubbing his hands together 'and now Mr. Bond I will show you the Death Ray and my plan for world domination!') would end up on the wrong side and do perfectly awful things.
As soon as people really hated him, I would have him do something unexpectedly good -- to keep him in a grey zone -- but still have him on the wrong side of the fight, unaware he's on the wrong side. He would be my barometer of the banality of evil, give people insight to show that the 'bad guys' are really very ordinary, selfish people. Not horrid in why they do things, but horrid in what they do. I've seen this over and over in the corporate world.
And, I hate to say this, I would never redeem him, nor would I have him realise his role in the mess even after Voldemort is defeated. In addition, I would make him very successful after the defeat of Voldemort, too, go on to great things... while the good guys are heralded for their role and then forgotten. Just to make the point that just because people win doesn't mean they're in the right.
Icarus