Re: Hmmm... Part 2midnitemaraud_rAugust 30 2005, 00:43:38 UTC
I don't think either listened to the true points the other made.
I don't either. This was the impression I got, and you'll have to forgive me for cutting and pasting from another reply:
Because Percy doesn't question authority, and by insinuating that Fudge had ulterior motives, I don't think Arthur was initially saying that Percy wasn't qualified or capable, but that Percy refused to believe that Fudge could/would do anything wrong, and took it [his father's questioning of his promotion] as a personal affront. And it all went downhill from there and tempers flared. And really, we all say things we don't really mean, or we don't articulate them well, when we've got our dander up - it happens often enough in discussions like this one on LJ, yeah? People are always taking offense even when none was meant. :) Does that make sense?
I don't hate Percy, despite how it appears. :) I'm frustrated with him, really. I don't think Molly shows favoritism towards the twins - she chastises them constantly. Do they get more attention than percy? Yes, but they are overt attention seekers. She 'mothers' them - and she does the same with Ginny - and Ron to a lesser extent. And she mothers Harry because, well, Harry doesn't HAVE a mother. With Harry, it's a mixture of affection, sympathy and perhaps even pity. Molly is rather melodramatic to begin with.
But my impression is that she pays less attention (from what we can see at any rate) to Percy because she doesn't have to scrutinize his every move. He's a model child to her - she's proud of him and she trusts him. Perhaps you're right and Percy doesn't see it as such - that he sees it as a form of 'neglect' in a sense. I'm not Percy, so i can't really say, but it's apparent to me that Percy, despite his intelligence and achievements, is insecure in a lot of ways. And Ron, too, is insecure in other ways. I do agree with you about Ron's insight to Percy, because I think their respective insecurities have a lot to do with it. Bill, Charlie and the twins don't strike me as suffering from insecurities at all.
I don't think Percy is "bad". He's not evil, and I don't even think he's intentionally cruel. I think he has a hard time admitting when he's wrong or when he makes a mistake - mostly because he really prides himself on his intelligence - and he's not very good at being humble. And he really does blindly trust authority. It didn't bother me that he was pompous, or that he was even portrayed as pompous. What frustrated me most (my final straw, so to speak) was that he became so sycophantic in OotP with his 'blind trust', and it even carried over a bit into HBP. He seemed so wrapped up in "me me me", he took everything so personally, that he never considered any other perspective but his own.
Re: Hmmm... Part 2sistermagpieAugust 30 2005, 04:10:11 UTC
OH yes, I agree. And I don't think Molly favors the twins either--in fact, it seems like the twins and Percy feed off each other with resentment from Molly. She praises Percy for getting things like Head Boy and tells the twins to be more like him, but then also to Percy probably seems to let them get away with stuff and take him for granted or something. As you said, the twins are just attention-grabbers--it's what they do.
Actually, I think Percy and Ron both probably feel a bit insecure because of the twins. I don't mean to make it seem like it's nothing to do with their own personalities, but the twins are very intimidating and there's two of them, so the other person is always outnumbered. The older two are old enough that they would have been completely safe from them. Ginny is a girl and all the Weasleys have a bit of a traditional protectiveness about the only daughter. I don't think it's a coincidence that Ron and Percy are the two who sometimes seem to try to hard or get oversensitive--beyond it just being more in their personalities, I mean.
that he never considered any other perspective but his own.
Or sadly more like any other perspective than the person he's adopted. I can see Percy completely glomming on to someone he thinks finally represents his values--he may have spent his whole life thinking he'd just have to find the people who'd appreciate him. So he's ripe for manipulation and falls right for it.
I don't either. This was the impression I got, and you'll have to forgive me for cutting and pasting from another reply:
Because Percy doesn't question authority, and by insinuating that Fudge had ulterior motives, I don't think Arthur was initially saying that Percy wasn't qualified or capable, but that Percy refused to believe that Fudge could/would do anything wrong, and took it [his father's questioning of his promotion] as a personal affront. And it all went downhill from there and tempers flared. And really, we all say things we don't really mean, or we don't articulate them well, when we've got our dander up - it happens often enough in discussions like this one on LJ, yeah? People are always taking offense even when none was meant. :) Does that make sense?
I don't hate Percy, despite how it appears. :) I'm frustrated with him, really. I don't think Molly shows favoritism towards the twins - she chastises them constantly. Do they get more attention than percy? Yes, but they are overt attention seekers. She 'mothers' them - and she does the same with Ginny - and Ron to a lesser extent. And she mothers Harry because, well, Harry doesn't HAVE a mother. With Harry, it's a mixture of affection, sympathy and perhaps even pity. Molly is rather melodramatic to begin with.
But my impression is that she pays less attention (from what we can see at any rate) to Percy because she doesn't have to scrutinize his every move. He's a model child to her - she's proud of him and she trusts him. Perhaps you're right and Percy doesn't see it as such - that he sees it as a form of 'neglect' in a sense. I'm not Percy, so i can't really say, but it's apparent to me that Percy, despite his intelligence and achievements, is insecure in a lot of ways. And Ron, too, is insecure in other ways. I do agree with you about Ron's insight to Percy, because I think their respective insecurities have a lot to do with it. Bill, Charlie and the twins don't strike me as suffering from insecurities at all.
I don't think Percy is "bad". He's not evil, and I don't even think he's intentionally cruel. I think he has a hard time admitting when he's wrong or when he makes a mistake - mostly because he really prides himself on his intelligence - and he's not very good at being humble. And he really does blindly trust authority. It didn't bother me that he was pompous, or that he was even portrayed as pompous. What frustrated me most (my final straw, so to speak) was that he became so sycophantic in OotP with his 'blind trust', and it even carried over a bit into HBP. He seemed so wrapped up in "me me me", he took everything so personally, that he never considered any other perspective but his own.
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Actually, I think Percy and Ron both probably feel a bit insecure because of the twins. I don't mean to make it seem like it's nothing to do with their own personalities, but the twins are very intimidating and there's two of them, so the other person is always outnumbered. The older two are old enough that they would have been completely safe from them. Ginny is a girl and all the Weasleys have a bit of a traditional protectiveness about the only daughter. I don't think it's a coincidence that Ron and Percy are the two who sometimes seem to try to hard or get oversensitive--beyond it just being more in their personalities, I mean.
that he never considered any other perspective but his own.
Or sadly more like any other perspective than the person he's adopted. I can see Percy completely glomming on to someone he thinks finally represents his values--he may have spent his whole life thinking he'd just have to find the people who'd appreciate him. So he's ripe for manipulation and falls right for it.
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