[HPforGrownups] Re: Why did Barty Crouch Jr join Voldemort?

[Shelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 189761


> June:
> I don't believe Barty Jr was evil. He didn't get recognition from his 
> father and really wanted it but his father was too busy with his work 
> to bother with Jr so Jr joinned the death eaters to get attention. Bad 
> attention is better than no attention to some people.

I don't think Barty Jr was evil, either. I think he comes from an 
intelligent family, one who knows power and how to manipulate. You have 
a dad who is overbearing and unpleased, and a son who is determined to 
succeed. Denied the opportunity to succeed at something "good", he finds 
another opportunity to succeed. He's not thinking "I want to go the evil 
route", rather he's thinking how he can be somebody and throws himself 
fully into that job, just as his dad does his own job at the ministry. I 
see a parallel between him and his dad, and given a "no Voldemort" 
world, they both would have been politicians and people-manipulators, 
each justifying their means by the ends produced. The mom is a checking 
force- telling Barty Sr that he's going too far in condemning their son, 
but in reality he's been going to far for quite some time before that 
without being checked on it. People "allow" it out of fear of Voldemort. 
(Dumbledore sees the problem in going too far, and is a voice of reason, 
but he's overlooked.) True to form for a manipulator, Barty Sr thinks he 
can just keep controlling his son forever. He fails to realize that his 
son has every bit as much as inner strength as he does, and moreover, 
has a stronger reason to persist- desire to get his own free will back. 
Like dad, like son- not evil but corruptible in their desire for power 
and drive to make happen what they think should happen, even if other 
people pay for it. In this story, I almost hate the dad more, and for 
Barty Jr I have great sympathy. The dad could have steered him right had 
he not been blinded by his own drive and ambition.

Shelley