Cockroach cluster

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 126526


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:
 
> bboyminn:
  
> I looked for the reference to Lupin, Boggarts, and cockroachs and
> couldn't find it, but I would speculate that part of what makes the
> anti-Boggart charm effective is not the humor in the converted 
shape,
> but in the contrast. The humor in turning a big woolly bear into a
> cockroach, is in turning something large and fierce into something
> small and helpless. Ok, it's not a big laugh, but to each his own.
> 
> So, again, it's not cockroachs themselves that are funny but the
> context and contrast in which they are applied in the story.

Geoff:

Just for reference:

'Ron leapt forward.
Crack!
Quite a few people screamed. A giant spider, six feet tall and 
covered in hair, was advancing on Ron, clicking its pincers 
menacingly. For a moment Harry though Ron had frozen. Then - 
"Riddikulus!" bellowed Ron and the spider's legs vanished. It rolled 
over and over; Lavender Brown squealed and ran out of its way and it 
came to a halt at Harry's feet. He raised his wand ready but - 
"Here!" shouted Professor Lupin suddenly, hurrying forward.
Crack!
The legless spider had vanished. For a second, everyone looked wildly 
around to see where it was. Then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging 
in the air in front of Lupin who said "Riddikulus!" almos lazily. 
Crack!
"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the Boggart 
landed on the floor as a cockroach.'

(POA "The Boggart in the Wardrobe" pp.104-105 UK edition)

Interesting thought there is: Whose fears provoked the appearance of 
the cockroach?