Chapter Discussion: Chapter Sixteen, Goblet of Fire: The Goblet of Fire

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192244


> 
> Questions.
> 
> 1. What do you think are the different reasons driving the boys and
> girls to want to get autographs of Krum or to get him to sit at their table?
> 

Pippin:
I'm not sure there is a difference. The magic of celebrity is at work on both sexes, though it takes different forms. It is, as Dumbledore said of music, "a magic beyond all we do here."


> 2. (a) Looking at the interactions between Karkaroff and the Durmstrang
> students, give your impression of what you deduced about teacher-pupil
> attitudes and also about the general ethos of the school.
> (b) Do a similar analysis of the relations between Madame Maxine and
> the Beauxbatons students. Would you consider some of these students
> to be wimps?

Pippin
Though Karkaroff seems more fearsome, the Beauxbatons students treat their headmistress with greater respect, standing when she passes. I don't know that I'd call the Beauxbatons students wimps. Kvetches (Yiddish for always complaining), sure. Though that's mostly Fleur. 

> 
> 3. (a) When you first read this chapter, how did you feel about
> Dumbledore's outline of their testing: magical prowess; daring; deduction
> and coping with danger?
> (b) Again, when you first read this chapter, what were your feelings
> about the entry being a binding, magical contract?

Pippin:
Those do seem to be the qualities that the WW admires in a wizard -- interestingly, Dumbledore does not mention '"moral fibre" though he makes that the deciding factor in one of the contests. 

It was obvious to me that Harry was going to be roped into the contest somehow despite Dumbledore's obvious efforts to make him ineligible. 

What happens to someone who attempts to violate a binding magical contract was not clear to me at the time. But I'd guess now  that once your name comes out of the goblet, you're under an unbreakable vow to compete. 

Since neither Madame Maxime nor Professor Karkaroff could come up with a way to keep Harry out once he had been chosen, it doesn't seem as if there was anything Dumbledore could have done. 

> 
> 4. What do you make of Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch as
> personalities?

Pippin:
We're not seeing the authentic Bartemius here, since he's being controlled by the Imperius Curse.  Both Dumbledore and Harry sense that something is wrong, though neither guesses what it is. I wonder whether the "real" Barty would have said that "Willoughby" (Percy Weasley) was a little too enthusiastic, or whether that was Barty Jr's irritation coming through. 

As for Bagman, his enthusiasm for Harry was grating (rather like Lockhart's.) 


> 5. When you first read this, what did you make of the interchange
> between Moody and Karkaroff at the Hall doors?

Pippin:
Obviously they had some history, but I couldn't have guessed what.
> 
> 6. Hermione and Hagrid take up opposing stances on house elf welfare.
> Is one of them right or do you believe that the answer lies somewhere
> between? Do you agree with his dismissal of Dobby as a "weirdo"?

Pippin:
They're both right -- and they're both wrong. Hermione's moral outrage does her credit, but her campaign is ill-conceived, both naive and unworkable. 

Hagrid's concern for the Elves seems genuine but his argument -- that it's the nature of House Elves to look after humans--doesn't make sense. 

If it was the nature of the Elves to look after humans whatever the circumstances, they wouldn't have to be magically coerced into doing it.  Neither Hagrid nor Hermione appear to have considered  what the Elves actually want in return for their service -- it's not wages and pensions, but neither is it  solely the satisfaction of obeying their nature. What they want  is kindness and respect. Of course Humans, even those with good intentions generally, find that difficult to deliver. Thus the House Elves' enslavement.

Even Harry thinks Dobby is weird. He's an outlier, to put it politely.

> 
> 7. (a) Were you surprised by any of the Goblet's "official" choices of
> candidate?
> (b) And when Harry's name came out?

Pipping:

I think the only surprise was Cedric Diggory. 

Thanks for the questions, Geoff! 

Here's mine.  IIRC, no Durmstrang witches are ever mentioned. Do you think there were any witches in the Durmstrang delegation? (We know there are Beauxbaton males, though they aren't mentioned till later.)

 Is Durmstrang meant to be an all boys school (as in the movie) or do you see this as an oversight on Rowling's part? Or is it, like the sneaky gender references in the World Cup match, an attempt to expose the reader's unconscious bias?

Pippin