House-Elves and the Weasleys

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 47839

Acire ("ats_fhc3") wrote:

> <snip> house-elves don't need to be paid <snip> So why couldn't the
> Weasleys pick up an elf that had been dismissed?

Now me:

Good question about why only rich wizards have house-elves when house-
elves are unpaid!  It could be that having an elf is being presented 
to us by JKR as a status symbol:  you are rich, you have an elf.  You 
are not rich, you do not have an elf.

JKR may also be using the elves as a way of characterizing the rich - 
they're in a different social strata, so they're somehow "entitled" 
to have an unpaid servant while those less fortunate in the monetary 
department are stuck with ghouls.

And as you point out, the elves that we know of have been with the 
same family for eons.  We haven't heard of a family obtaining an elf 
when they've never had one before.  Dobby tells Harry during their 
first meeting "Dobby is a house-elf - bound to serve one house and 
one family for ever...Dobby will serve the family until he dies, 
sir..." (Ch. 2 CoS, p. 16 UK edition).  Which suggests to me that 
there is a magical bond that keeps the elf with a certain family 
(unless that elf is presented with clothes and freed, of course).  So 
the only elves that would be shopping around for a job would be those 
who have been freed, of which we only know of two - Dobby and Winky.  
Based on the series so far, it appears as if it's relatively rare for 
an elf to be freed.  Dobby tells us in GoF that he's been looking for 
paid work, which no one wanted to give him since elves usually come 
for free.  Winky doesn't appear to have been looking for work - it's 
Dobby who brings her to Hogwarts (she probably would have just sat 
around crying otherwise).

Acire again:

> Also, how many house-elves would a family have? 

Me again:

Once again, we have only the Malfoys, the Crouches and Hogwarts to go 
on.  Since it appears that the Malfoys only had Dobby and the 
Crouches only had Winky, while Hogwarts has numerous house-elves, 
perhaps it's a function of the number of persons who need to be 
served in a given location (since the Malfoy and Crouch families were 
only families of 3 while Hogwarts has a large number of students).

Acire again:

> Lastly, how do...um...we get baby house-elves? 

Me again:

In attempting to formulate an answer to this question, I am conjuring 
the most unpleasant mental images, so I think I'll leave it at that!

Acire again:

> If that's true, I'm going to start thinking of joining S.P.E.W. 

Me again:

Well, there is the "Free Dobby" movement going on in New York City if 
you're interested...

~Phyllis