House-Elfs and Slavery Again

[linda_mccabe]

No: HPFGUIDX 38150

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., ladjables <ladjables at y...> wrote:
1) Dobby's voice: Dobby's and Winky's speech patterns
in GoF are extremely similar to the Black American
English of the 19th century, if there are any
linguists on the list.  Really, all we need is a "yes,
massa" and we're set.  Dobby's quasi-Gullah dialect is
more notably pronounced in GoF than in CoS.  It's
interesting that in creating a voice for Dobby JKR
would use an idiom wich such strong connotations.  Did
anyone else spot this?  

Athena:

Ohhhhh yes.  It's very obvious that she was trying to affect a slave 
dialect.  I do have to quibble with you on one point that you made 
and that was when you wrote:

"Darwin's Origin of the Species isn't published till a
quarter century after the aboliton of slavery, and
public acceptance isn't immediate."

Which country are you hailing from when you say this?  Slavery 
wasn't abolished in the US until 1865 and Darwin's masterpiece was 
published in November 1857.  There was a great deal of scientific 
racism during the Victorian era and there was a hierarchy of races.  
The Victorian British were the penultimate while other races such as 
The Irish, Africans and Australian Aborigines were competing to be 
the lowest races.  (At least of course by those in England who did 
the ranking.  I'm sure the French and German scientists would 
quibble about the English being at the top most branch on the tree.)


Back to HP verse, I do believe that JKR will be bringing us back to 
the concept of racial injustice and using the Giants, werewolves, 
house elves, (and maybe vampires?) to show that negative attitudes 
towards entire people are just plain wrong.  Also that you should 
treat everyone with dignity and respect.  Many in the WW simply do 
not do that.  For example, Amos Diggory's questioning of Winky where 
he never once asked her what her name was.  He simply referred to 
her as "Elf."  That's like the Good Old Boys down in the Deep South 
of the US that would refer to any black male as "boy" even if he 
were an octogenarian simply to insult him because of his race and 
therefore attempt to reassert him into an inferior station in life.

She needs to finish this topic and work toward the full emancipation 
of all magic peoples before this series is through.  She can't just 
leave it as Hermione's SPEW buttons in their fourth year which had 
little or no impact on anyone.

Athena