Dobby

[joym999 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18880

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Starling" <starling823 at y...> wrote:
> I am studying for my history final tomorrow (Modern and Contempoary 
US History) and came upon a very interesting tidbit while reviewing 
my notes on McCarthyism, which i somehow overlooked before.
> 
> in 1970, a young lawyer named Doris Brin Walker was elected the 
first female president of the National Lawyers Guild, a leftist 
group.  She had trouble over the years finding jobs because of her 
leftist activities and support of unions, and ended up being fired 
from her position as a label clerk at a plant for Cutter Labs in 
Berkley, due to her attempt to organize a union.
> Her nickname:  Dobby.
> 
> hmmm.. <g>  I saw that nickname and started frantically reading.  I 
think there's a whole section of the Bartle Library that wants me 
strangled now ;-).  I know the odds of JKR having encountered a 
reference to Ms. Walker is rather slim, but then again, she has so 
many puns and references in HP that I would not at all be surprised.
> 
Hmmmm.  I had never heard of Doris Brin Walker before, but it is 
possible, IMO, that JKR might know of her.  After all, JKRs mentor 
was Jessica Mitford, after whom she named her daughter.  I have no 
idea if Jessica Mitford had any relationship with Ms. Walker or the 
NLG, but it is possible.  Mitford, although British, lived most of 
her adult life in the U.S. and was a famous left-wing author and 
member of the Communist Party USA.  Perhaps Ms. Walker considered 
Jessica Mitford her mentor as well.

I doubt JKR ever met Jessica Mitford, who died sometime in the early 
1990s I think but she (JKR) has probably studied a lot about her.  
So, your theory, at least IMO, is pretty good.  At least as good as 
some of my nutty theories, which I will spare you from for the time 
being.

--Joywitch