appreciation for the unsympathetic

[sarah]

Well, perhaps that's not the right word for Megan Jones; perhaps 'flawed' is more what I mean, but I quite liked how it was her desperate, distasteful, but all together too-human attempt to prove her loyalty that led to Sarah's confrontation with Umbridge and escape. Megan is certainly an awful little toady who alternately makes me want to roll my eyes and just slap her, but she's only doing what many people would do (have done) when at the mercy of a horrible person who wields a great deal of power: she's desperately trying to play by the rules and save herself from suffering.

It's not working, and it's not heroic, but it's a very real response to the situation at Hogwarts/in the Protectorate.

Comments

[lapin_agile]

I completely agree. Megan has wholly internalized her society's devaluation of halfbloods from her guardian and from daily life in the Protectorate. And her strategy for getting along in the face of Umbridge's tyranny makes perfect sense. She is without honor, but from her position honor offers little in return.

[teceler]

Yeah. Thinking it was a trap, and trying to protect herself--I don't think I would have felt very sorry for her if she'd taken it to Umbridge thinking someone really was trying to help her, even if she was sure they'd be caught, but the way things played out...

I'm kind of curious about her reaction to all of this. It's probably to much to hope she'll realize Sarah was trying to help her and rework her viewpoint, but I would think she would at least be confused by the chain of events. I'm hoping we'll see some of what she's thinking at the moment as they ISS tries to work out what to do about her. (Or from Hydra, if I was reading what she said last night correctly. Which... is another thing I'm curious about, in the aftermath of all this. I don't think she'd said anything today at all.)

Anyway, another interesting thing about Megan is that it isn't even really working. Megan may even be suffering more from trying to make Umbridge like her. (I don't know. Sally-Anne's having issues, Umbridge having taken an especial dislike to her, but if Megan had just tried to play by the rules and stay out of sight...)
Maybe it's good that it isn't, or it would seem more like a viable survival strategy. But it's a little sad that she's trying so hard to be good by the standards of the system she knows, and is just getting chewed up for her trouble.

[synecdochic]

Oh my God, this thread with Megan and Harry is utterly goddamn heartbreaking.

[teceler]

Yeah.

She just sounds so sad and broken. And--

I wish--I don't know. There's no way they could let her know Sarah's alive, not really.

I guess I hope this catalyzes some change in the way she sees things, especially if she keeps talking with Harry and with Susan. Not they're likely to really trust her after this.

Maybe when Umbridge is gone, she can be more than she is now.

[elisem]

Megan must have been thinking about that conversation since, because she quoted Harry in the last line here.