Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Goblet of Fire/Chapter 8
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 8 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Quidditch World Cup
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, the Twins, Percy, Charlie, Bill, and Mr. Weasley make their way through the woods. After a twenty-minute walk, they reach the stadium. It is large enough to hold one hundred thousand spectators. Taking a full year to construct, every inch is charmed to be Muggle-repelling. Their tickets are for the Top Box, as high as they can go. They are the first there, except for a single house-elf. Harry thinks it is Dobby, but the elf identifies itself as Winky, belonging to the Crouch family. Winky knows Dobby, and says he is having a hard time because he wants to be paid for his work. "House-elves are not for paying, sir." Winky says she is holding a seat for Mr. Crouch, although she is afraid of heights.
People are filing into the Top Box: the Bulgarian dignitaries, the Minister for Magic, and finally Lucius Malfoy, with his wife Narcissa and son Draco. Mr. Malfoy has just made a large donation to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and is there as Cornelius Fudge's guest.
The team mascots perform before the game starts. First up are the Bulgarians. Beautiful Veela, infinitely alluring women, dance on the pitch. Every male is seized by a temptation to do something to show off. Harry decides that a swan dive from the Top Box to the field would be a reasonable way to ensure them noticing him. Luckily, Hermione and Mr. Weasley (who has seen them before), manage to restrain him and Ron, who apparently has the same urge. Next, the Irish mascots perform. Leprechauns fly in showering the stands with gold coins and forming green Irish symbols in the sky. Ron gathers up a fistful of fallen Galleons and gives them to Harry to pay for the Omnioculars.
With the mascots arrayed on the sidelines, the Bulgarian team enters to applause and dancing. Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker and one of Ron's heroes, receives special note. The Irish team enters, and the game is on. The action is so fast that Ludo Bagman, who is announcing, can barely name the player holding the Quaffle before it is passed or stolen. Even Harry, with his Omnioculars set on Slow, is having trouble following the action. It is a very instructional game for Harry, watching every move the Seekers make and watching the Chasers as they work like three parts of a single machine. In the end, an injured Krum beats the Irish Seeker to grab the Snitch, making the final score Ireland 170, Bulgaria 160. After the presentation of the Cup and the victory laps (spectators give Krum the loudest applause of all), the Twins brace Ludo Bagman for their winnings.
[edit] Analysis
Harry and Ron's budding sexuality is hinted at here when both become deeply affected by the beautiful and alluring Veela women. Their initial interest in the opposite sex continually develops throughout the series, as does that of their peers at school, with both humorous and poignant outcomes. Harry and Ron have not yet learned the difference between true love and mere infatuation, or how jealousy and sexual politics further complicates relationships. Also, although Harry, Ron, and virtually every other male in the stands are deeply affected by the seductive Veela, Harry is shocked when he later sees that their true physical form is actually unattractive, sporting angular bird-like facial features and scaly wings. Harry is gradually learning that outer beauty is not only superficial, but it can also mask an uglier reality.
Ron's insistence on paying Harry for the Omnioculars, even though Harry gave them as a gift, is a matter of deep pride to Ron, whose family can barely afford minimal necessities. Ron must often do without even the smallest luxuries or extras that most take for granted. Now he feels somewhat vindicated that, for once, he is able to pay his own way with the gold the Leprechauns tossed into the stands. But even though Ron is often resentful that he must often go without, it has actually shaped his character in a positive way. As Ron matures, he will never feel that life owes him anything; he will accept that if he wants anything, he must earn it himself. This is a stark contrast to many Slytherins who believe they are entitled to whatever they want based solely on what they consider is their superior lineage, social rank, and wealth, rather than through talent, ability, and hard work. Readers will recall that Draco Malfoy became the Slytherin Seeker (in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) after his father, Lucius Malfoy, bought the team new broomsticks, and apparently not because Draco earned the position on his abilities.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why does Ron insist on paying Harry for the Omnioculars, even though Harry gave them as a gift?
- How did Harry's freeing Dobby from the Malfoys' service (in Chamber of Secrets) change Dobby's life, and is he better or worse off than before?
- Why are Harry, Ron, and many other males so affected by the Veela women?
- What is Harry's reaction when he sees the Veelas' true appearance?
[edit] Further Study
- How are Fred and George able to correctly (and so precisely) predict the World Cup's final outcome?
- Being that Mr. Crouch is a Ministry official who is helping present the World Cup, why does his saved seat in the grandstand remain empty?
[edit] Greater Picture
The gold Ron gives Harry to pay for the Omnioculars is actually Leprechaun gold, which, unknown to either Ron and Harry, soon vanishes. In Chapter 28, Ron is upset when he learns it disappeared, and angry that Harry never even noticed that it was gone, showing, from Ron's perspective at least, how few concerns Harry has regarding money while Ron has many. The Weasley family's strained financial situation is an ongoing embarrassment to Ron, especially compared to Harry's wealth, although Harry spends relatively little on himself and collects few material possessions. Ron's comparisons are rather faulty, however. While Harry has money, which he cares little about, he lacks the loving, supportive family life Ron takes for granted, and which Harry would probably gladly give up his wealth in exchange for.
Quidditch champion Viktor Krum, is introduced here, and although Krum is Ron's "hero", Ron will soon feel quite differently about him in upcoming chapters.
Winky will have a large role to play in the next few chapters. Mr. Crouch has been hiding a secret, with Winky's active help, for many years at this point, and that secret has nearly escaped. That near-escape will be why Winky is dismissed from service. Winky's dismissal will actually prove instrumental in that secret's final and complete escape. Much of the book's remainder involves that escape's aftermath.
The episodes with the Veela in this and the following chapters highlight Harry and Ron's budding sexuality, as noted above. Ron will, in the next chapter, be more susceptible to the Veela's charms than Harry; this will also result in his being infatuated with Fleur Delacour, a character who is later revealed to be one-quarter Veela.
The series' strong writing is reflected in the realistic romantic entanglements our heroes experience. Ron, clearly less emotionally mature than either Harry or Hermione, has difficulty distinguishing love from infatuation, even after the effects of Fleur's close proximity are shaken off. Harry shows equal immaturity after a crush that ignites in this book blossoms into romance in the next; he becomes infatuated with Cho Chang, a relationship that will ultimately be doomed by Harry's youthful inexperience and his inability to comprehend Cho's fragile emotional state. Every reader has either undergone similar toils, or knows someone who has. In a book that emphasizes adventure and conflict, it is easy to expect that romance and the characters' similar maturation will be secondary to the plot and are only hinted at rather than written about. To the author's great credit, she realizes just how central romance is to a young man's life, whether Wizard or Muggle. By showing Harry's romantic life, along with Ron's and Hermione's, the author brings the characters properly alive, causing us to care even more about them.
Ludo Bagman's wagers have gone disastrously wrong, although like any good bookmaker he puts on a good face to keep his clients happy. He comments that the game's outcome was totally unexpected and one that will be talked about for years (although that outcome seems to have been less surprising to the Twins). Finding himself deeply in the red, Ludo uses extreme measures to pay off bettors. It is revealed in Chapter 37 that he pays off the Twins with Leprechaun gold, which, as noted above, soon vanishes. He also owes a large sum to high-ranking Goblins. In Chapter 9, as Harry wanders through the forest, he passes Goblins who are counting their gold and chuckling; this is presumably winnings from Bagman. It turns out, however, that at least part of what Bagman owed to the Goblins was also paid off in Leprechaun gold. Throughout the book, Bagman can often be seen negotiating with Goblins about this debt and also avoiding Fred and George, who are attempting to recoup their winnings.
