There are a lot of things J.K. Rowling did right in her
writing of the Harry Potter series. She encompasses the fear of the unknown accurately
and makes that an overlying theme throughout all seven books. However, she also
portrays character growth in a way that many books and series do not. Instead of
having characters grow from events only, she has their personalities and
experiences affect how they grow as well. This is especially important in her
books, as they primarily follow teenagers, who, as everyone knows, change the
most in a small amount of time. Most of these changes are not expected when first
read, however, looking back on how that character has grown, the end result
could not have been anything else. One of these cases is the character of Percy
Weasley.
Percy was always one to follow the rules. When first met, he
is named “Percy the Prefect” by Harry when he first learns his name (SS p. 96).
This above all else that Rowling mentions about him really shows his character.
Already, the book shows how he places his duties of following orders and
keeping peace above everything else. He is always shown speaking with an airy, pompous
attitude which makes his character growth that much more unsurprising when
thought about.
After he graduates, he goes on to get a job at the Ministry
of Magic, seeing his dream come true of being the ultimate upholder of the law
(sort of). Even during his new job, he always placed family high on his priorities.
However, this changed during Order of the Phoenix, when he left his family in
silence in order to follow the Ministry blindly. This change of character took
me by surprise when I was first reading the series, how could a Weasley, one of
the most tolerable and kind wizarding families, disown the rest of the family
and become a pencil pusher? However, looking back on everything Percy has said
and done throughout the series, it does not come at a surprise.
His growth as an ambitious, rule-following character could
only have led to what he became in the fifth book. His growth makes sense, as does every
other character in the series as the readers have gotten to know them. His story shows how much personality can have
an effect on a person’s growth. Percy shows how ambition can be blind someone
to the truth and not always as beneficial as it is made out to be.
I think that it is so interesting that you decided to focus on Percy and how his character development has portrayed him in a negative light thus far. I agree that it seems so hard for me to wrap my mind around the concept of someone who grew up at the Burrow with the wonderful Weasley family growing up and becoming Percy. Yes, I always expected him to do well at work since he always had such a strong work ethic, but I thought that his personal ethics instilled at home would be much stronger than they ended up becoming. I feel like even though Percy the prefect was so caught up in obeying authority and rules, he actually would have made a good Slytherin because he ends up placing more value on his own ambition rather than valuing the love of his friends and family. I agree that his behavior and development was both believable and unexpected which makes it seem expertly crafted by Rowling in her theme of paying close attention to developmental psychology.
ReplyDelete-Tiffany Harmon, Slytherin House