Fathers (was: A message?)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 178971

Kemper wrote:
> Even though we only have CrouchJr's words of his father, the words
> that we do have /to/ his father is suggestive of the relationship he
> had with his father.  You already provided some of the text, but right
> before it, there's:
> "Father... Father... please..."
> Then:
> "Father, I didn't!  I didn't, I swear it, Father, ...--"
> 
> Using 'Father', seems formal, cold, and distant to me.  Though,
> perhaps JKR was using 'father' to suggest a different, upper(?) class.
<snip>

Carol responds:
I can't comment on the use of "Father" except to note that once and
only once, Draco speaks of "my dad" and the rest of the time it's "my
father," in contrast to Ron and Muggle-born Hermione, who speak of "my
mum and dad," so maybe it's an indicator of social class, maybe of
family closeness. Doesn't Child!James call his father "my dad," yet
he's a rich pure-blood and consequently as upper-class as the Malfoys
and the Crouches?

But with regard to the Crouches specifically, Barty Jr. *was*
apparently guilty of helping to Crucio the Longbottoms into insanity,
and his father did, against his better judgment, rescue his DE son
from Azkaban, after which he could not let him run free to Crucio more
people or try to find Voldemort. It appears from the brief glimpse we
get in "The Madness of Mr. Crouch" that Crouch Sr. did at one point
love his son and have high hopes for him. He speaks of celebrating his
son's twelve OWLs and tells the imaginary "Weatherby" that he's "very
proud indeed" (GoF Am. ed. 556). 

Something happened between the end of Barty Jr.'s fifth year and the
Crucioing of the Longbottoms when he was about nineteen to tempt this
obviously talented and intelligent boy to join the Death Eaters and,
in contrast to Snape and Regulus, become a fanatical follower willing
to engage in horrific acts to find information on his missing master.
It's no coincidence, IMO, that his attitude and even his words
resemble Bellatrix's. They shared a fascination with and devotion to
the greatest Dark Wizard for a hundred years (or so he's viewed in the
British WW).

At any rate, Mr. Crouch ends up penitent, resisting his son's Imperius
Curse in a futile effort to confess his sins and errors to Dumbledore.
His son participates in a plot to kidnap and murder Harry, murders his
own father, Imperios Krum to Crucio Cedric, celebrates the
resurrection of Voldemort which he helped bring about, and intends to
kill Harry himself when Harry escapes from Voldemort.

Whatever Mr. Crouch's failings (an I'm not forgetting his suppression
of civil rights or his authorizing the Aurors to use Unforgiveables),
he is not, sirius to the contrary, as ruthless as Voldemort or as
cold-hearted as his fanatical (and probably mad) Death Eater son.

Did bad fathering create Barty Jr., changing him from a talented boy
with a bright future into a monster? Or did Barty Jr. choose the DEs
thinking that he would find glory and scope for his talents there
despite knowing that his father opposed Dark Magic and was authorizing
his DEs to use every available weapon against Voldemort? Did those
stringent measures arise *because* Barty Sr. suspected that his son
had joined the DEs against his will? Or did the bad fathering occur
*after* the father foolishly rescued the son (as the result of the
boy's mother's pleas) rather than letting him die in Azkaban?

"I've done . . . stupid . . . thing," he says, spittle dripping down
his chin. "Must . . . tell . .  Dumbledore" 555). And a bit later, "I
. . . escaped . . . must warn . . . must tell . . . see Dumbledore . .
. All my fault . . . my son . . . all my fault [...]" (556).

Mr. Crouch acknowledges responsibility for his son's role in the plot
to kidnap Harry and restore Voldemort to power. Even Bertha's death is
"all my fault." Whether he sees himself as a bad father before that is
unclear. It seems to me that he loved his son and was proud of him,
but maybe that love and pride weren't apparent to his son. Even when
the boy was home for the holidays, his father would have spent most of
his time at the Ministry. Maybe his joining the DEs was an act of
rebellion. We cn only speculate. But if a father can prevent a son
from going wrong, a debateable proposition at best, then Mr. Crouch
certainly failed. 

At any rate, he ought not to have been made to try and sentence his
own son, whether or not he knew him to be guilty. That evil, at least,
might have been prevented if the WW had a better form of government.
And certainly, rescuing his son was a mistake, however painful (and
guilt-inducing) it would have been to allow him to die in Azkaban. Had
Barty jr. died rather than having his mother take his place (she would
have died anyway, apparently), neither Mr. Crouch nor his son would
have used the Imperius Curse on the other, and Barty Sr. would have
survived--cold, efficient, unhappy, guilt-ridden, and lonely. There's
no happy outcome for their story, regardless, but his mistake in
rescuing his son was worse than whatever he might have done to
contribute to his son's becoming a Death Eater. Voldemort and Wormtail
would have had to hatch some other plan, and both Bertha and Cedric
would probably have survived.

Carol, who pities the mad Mr. Crouch and wishes that he had lived to
tell his story to DD