[HPforGrownups] Re: House Elves & Hermione

[Doreen]

No: HPFGUIDX 14808

We all see the story through our own lenses, and
> anti-racism is a lens I try to use a lot.  When Amos Diggory
> says "Elf!" with that terrible disdain, I hear echoes of white men
> calling black men "Boy!" just because they can.
>
> Amy Z

The more I think about it, the more I think Amy is right.

(Mercedes Lackey does something similar in her books...is it the
Hertasi who serve humans, unobtrusively doing laundry, cooking, etc.?
It's nice to fantasize about that kind of personal service and not
feel guilty).

I think Rowlings IS making analogies to how we treat other people
when she discusses the treatment of House Elves. The mudblood,
pureblood issue is just one of the issues she brings up in the book.
There's the issue about Giants. After all, they are not "human"
either. Is it okay the way Hagrid was treated?
After all, he's not human any more than Winky is..he's half Giant.
Then there's Lupin..look at the prejudice against him..he's a
werewolf, and quite dangerous, really.

Susan


The scene with Winky in the GoF is horrible. I wouldn't treat a dog
or a cat the way Amos Diggory treats the House Elf.

Susan
* * * * * *
JKR states, in more than one interview, that she wrote the books for
herself. Perhaps she is writing about the mistreatment of one group of
people by another by recalling her own feelings. This was a single mother,
on welfare, who had been married to a man from another country. Was JKR
discriminated against? Did her husband's family treat her like an inferior?
Did the working class people make her feel unworthy?

Something or someone led her into a pit of depression, at some time, that
allowed her to create  the Dementors ... and then later compare the
Dementors to depression. They are some deep dark characters. I thought they
were scary enough without her comparison. When I read her analogy, it was as
if a light went on. I am no stranger to occasional bouts of depression,  and
the Dementors are the most accurate description of depression that I have
ever read. If the Dementors suck the happiness out of a place ... and that
is depression, perhaps the Dementor's Kiss ... is total despair.

Perhaps it was a feeling of worthlessness brought on by someone else's
prejudices, whether careless or intentional,  which caused her to address
prejudice and injustice  in so many interesting ways.

Just an idea
Doreen