Wizarding Caste System [was: In Defense of Hermione]

[foxmoth at qnet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26637

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Ebony" <ebonyink at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Rowena Grunnion-Ffitch 
> <rowena_grunnion_ffitch at y...> wrote:
> >     My poin is House-Elves can't be validly compared
> > to low caste Hindus or African slaves or any other
> > Human group.
> 
> Yet this fictional work was not composed in isolation, was it?  It 
> may contain magic, but speculative fiction is often a 
commentary on 
> contemporary life and times, and the best literary works shed 
light 
> on some of the many facets of human nature.  
<snip>  Such relativist rhetoric bothers me a 
> great deal, especially when JKR has stated that she is 
exploring RL  issues through her created world.  She may not be 
commenting on humans as capital or a caste system; she might 
be making a point about the British class system.  Nevertheless, 
she IS making a  point.  
>snip>
> I don't care if House-Elves *aren't* human.  They are sentient 
> beings, and as such, deserve all the applicable rights, 
privileges, 
> etc. given to the sentient.  

I agree that the purpose of alien/mythical beings in speculative 
fiction is to tell us something about ourselves. The author  holds 
up a funhouse mirror to humanity, enlarging some traits and 
diminishing others.
    Thus JKR might show us sentient beings who prefer slavery to 
freedom, not because she thinks we should ever accept slavery, 
but to get us to ask ourselves whether, in some ways, we 
already do.   Suggesting that House *wives* ought to receive 
salaries, pensions and time off in return for their domestic 
labors would earn a derisive smile in all but the most radical 
circles, no?
  
	Pippin
Amazed that no one else ever picks up on this (to me) 
screamingly obvious paralell.