Wizarding Caste System [was: In Defense of Hermione]

[borg3892000 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26719

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., foxmoth at q... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Rowena Grunnion-Ffitch 
> <rowena_grunnion_ffitch at y...> wrote:
> 
> 	That's my point.  Winky's case clearly shows that House Elves 
> also  form emotional and spiritual bonds with their wizard 
> families which are very important to them.  Putting things on a 
> cash basis will disrupt that, just as it would in marriage.
> 	  It  wasn't too long ago that wives  were considered chattel 
also:
> vowed to obey, disenfranchised, forbidden to inherit property or 
> dispose of it without their husbands' permission,and "clothes", I 
> mean divorce, was regarded as the ultimate disgrace. Those 
> were legal and social practices not in some reactionary 
> dictatorship  but in the USA and the British Isles. Things have 
> changed.
> 	Perhaps  the House Elf/wizard relationship will evolve in a 
> similar direction, one in which the partnership becomes more 
> equal, without  putting it on an employee/employer basis?
> 		

Interesting idea.  Although most people form some kind of bond with 
their employers.  Not always a pleasant one, however.

But you have a point.  We really don't know what house elves get out 
of the deal.  My cat is sitting in my lap as I write this.  I feed 
her, clean her chamberpot (litterbox, I think the muggles call them), 
provide her with entertainment, and brush her regularly.  She 
certainly doesn't pay me, provide me with vacations or benefits, nor 
offer a substitute (god forbid) if I decide to take a day off.  Yet I 
receive a certain benefit out of the relationship with this cat.

This, naturally, begs the question "are wizards merely the pets of 
house elves?"

Even more to the point, in my master/pet relationship with my cat, 
which am I?  The master or the pet?  No true cat owner has ever been 
able to answer that.

** wondering how powerful a borg wizard would be **