[HPforGrownups] Chapter Discussion: Chapter Fourteen, Goblet of Fire: The Unforgivable Curses

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 192200

On 8/18/2012 11:06 PM, annemehr wrote:
> 6. What do you think of the name S.P.E.W. and Hermione sticking with it after
> Harry's and Ron's immediate reactions?
>

Bart:
     One thing of interest: radical activists frequently do not have a 
sense of humor (or work hard not to; back in the Yippie era, some of the 
leaders like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin went to see Marx Brothers 
movies so they could practice not laughing, often accompanied by 
self-styled troubadour Phil Ochs who had a grand old time trying to get 
them to laugh). I believe that this is what JKR was making fun of with 
S.P.E.W.; that Hermione refuses to see the irony.

     I have seen this sort of thing happen in real life, but being too 
specific would bring up off topic political argument. So, to be 
sufficiently vague, a few years back a protestor was accidentally 
crushed to death in an accident during a protest. A large and widely 
publicized fundraiser was later held in that protestor's honor: a 
pancake breakfast. And they weren't kidding.

     Bart