House elves and holidays

[dasienko at email.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16717

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., meboriqua at a... wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > claire :)
> > 
> > ps. From what age do you think little house elves start work?
> > And I wonder how long they live?
> 
> What I'd like to know is why most house elves seem to enjoy what 
they 
.  Why do they take such pride in 
> being owned?  And, if they are so magical, why do they not defend 
> themselves more often?  These questions have been bothering me 
quite a 
> lot.

I think of The House elves as being attached to a family rather than 
owned by a family. The model for their realtionship is probably 
closer to the English "UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS"  servant/family 
realtionship than slavery. 
IF indeed the elves are very powerful magical creatures, then there 
must be something in their  History that made them want to rein in 
their powers and direct them somehow.  
It was once mentioned that the language patterns of elves are slave- 
like. I see the language of the elves being closer to Elizabethean 
English. Dobby and Winky sometimes seem like they just walked out of 
Arden forest. HMMM, maybe I'll go back and re-read THE TEMPEST and A 
MIDSUMMER"S NIGHT DREAM. I'm starting to get glimmers of parallels.