Potter as a Social Commentary?

[naama_gat at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14714

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Doreen" <nera at r...> wrote:
> I've spoken to people who really don't like JKR getting into the 
whole
> racism thing, and that she is treading on thin ice there.  I'm not
> sure I agree - I kind of like how she approached the topic of racism
> and injustice.  We all want Dobby and other elves to be free and 
well
> treated, and we as adults realize the connection between slaves and
> elves, but children may not.  It is a nice introduction for children
> to start to think about how unfairly some people are treated in our
> world.  I'm very curious, though to see where JKR will take the 
idea -
> the elves we've seen generally do NOT want freedom.  Should they be
> convinced?  Or are they really creatures who, in the magical world,
> relish being owned and serving their masters?
> 
> I did not care for the manner of speech that JKR gave to the house-
elves. If
> this was an effort to make them sound "cute" ... maybe it works for 
the
> school children reading HP ... but it reminded me too much of the 
demeaning
> dialects depicted in stories such as Gone With the Wind and all 
those slave
> books.  For example: "Massuh" or "I'se doan know nuthin'  'bout 
birthin' no
> baby."
> 
> As for the elves relishing being owned and serving their masters, 
this was a
> statement widely used by slave owners in their defense for keeping 
human
> beings in bondage. I truly do hope that JKR rectifies this 
situation in
> future books. I was hoping that since she brought it up in GoF so 
strongly,
> that she would solve it there too, rather than giving people over a 
year to
> dwell on it.
> 

There is an important difference between human slavery and elvish 
bondage, and it is that elves are *magically bound* to their masters. 
Whether an elf relishes his service or not, he cannot leave his 
master unless his master frees him (by presenting him with clothes). 
OTOH, however much a human slave may feel loyal to his master, there 
is no inherent dominance bond between them. Who is the master of whom 
is a matter of contigent economic, political, cultural circumstances.
That's why, to my mind, the whole elvish issue is not really a racist 
issue. 

Naama