[HPforGrownups] Chapter Discussion: Goblet of Fire Ch. 7: Bagman and Crouch

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 191756

On 1/15/2012 5:19 PM, annemehr wrote:
> 1. Mr Roberts asked a lot of questions about all the strange things he was
> noticing. Did you think he was nosey, or just reasonably curious? How did you
> feel when the Ministry wizard Obliviated him?
Bart:
     I felt that it was reasonable curiosity. My feeling about the 
obliviation, or at least the relative lack of concern as to what it was 
doing to Mr. Roberts' brain, is a wonderful example of why Morty managed 
to get control of the Ministry later on. I was concerned as to whether 
or not JKR felt the same way.

annemehr:
> 2. Mr Weasley mentioned that Ludo Bagman has always been a bit lax about
> security. Does this have any bearing on your opinion of whether Ludo knew
> Rookwood was a Death Eater when he passed information to him?
Bart:
     It contributed to the concept of Bagman as a screwup.

annemehr:
> 3. Archie, who likes a healthy breeze, apparently never wears trousers. Do you
> think he is typical of wizards or not?
Bart:
     In that wizards seem to have a point of view, possibly making fun 
by analogy of Western postmodernists, that any standard is valid except 
Muggle standards, which are ridiculous and incomprehensible.

annemehr:
> 4. Barty Crouch obviously knows Arthur Weasley quite well. And yet he does not
> know Percy as Arthur's son though he must have been introduced as such. Does
> this show something about Crouch's character, or is "Weatherby" just a joke?
Bart (no relation):
     This is a standard literary meme in English and American fiction; a 
shorthand of showing either that the boss is so into himself that he 
knows nothing about his employees, that the employee is so 
inconsequential that his boss doesn't even know his name, or, most 
frequently, both.

annemehr:
> 5. Ali Bashir wants to sell flying carpets in Britain, but Arthur explained to
> him that the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects lists carpets as a Muggle
> Artefact. Given that Muggles have brooms too, do you think the carpet ban is
> just politics? What do you think of Arthur's part in this?
Bart:
I hadn't thought of that, but, given the question, I would say, 
"grandfather clause"; that the use of brooms for flying in Britain 
predated the RPCO, but flying carpets, not being in general use in 
Britain, is considered to be something new.

annemehr:
> 6. When you first read about the exciting event to take place at Hogwarts, did
> you think of any possibilities? What were they?
>

Bart:
I made the mistake of reading the cover jacket.

     Bart