[HPforGrownups] Re: Is Dobby a good house elf?

[kellybroughton at netscape.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 36844

Grey Wolf writes:

"Whatever gave you the idea that Dobby is a good house-elf? He's 
probably the worst house-elf ever, mainly because there is something 
appart from air or fluff between his ears."

In my defense, I was going on a tangent posted in message 36763 by finwitch(?), dealing with the possibility that Dobby *may* have been the Potters' house-elf. When I read that, it just made sense to me somehow, because ever since I learned that Dobby belonged(?) to the Malfoys, I have wondered why Dobby would go to Harry with what he knows. I understand house-elves to be so devoted to their owners to the degree that they pretty much think the same way their masters do/believe everything their masters say (my only reference to this is how Winky reacts when Bagman is mentioned; she vehemently states that "Mr Bagman is a very bad wizard!" Not sure if she is simply regurgitating what Crouch says/believes, or if she truly does have some magical knowledge or psychic ability to judge ppl's characters), and the fact that Dobby's behavior is the total opposite of what everyone in the wizarding community would expect of a good house-elf when he goes to Harry without his current owners' knowledge, tells me that he might have belonged to the Potters.  

Anna(?) writes in message 36776:

"On a side note, I think Dobby is being completely honest
when he says Harry is a beacon of hope; there's really
nothing in the books to suggest that Dobby knew Harry
before he met him that first time. In fact, house elves
don't seem to be good liars, so unless Dobby is
exceptional in that regard, too, I can't buy the
previous owner theory."

My reasoning explains this due to the fact that Harry was only a baby when the adult Potters got killed; as far as I'm concerned, it takes longer than just the first year of life to actually develop a full personality to be known by. Therefore, Dobby would know more *of* Harry (thanks to the Malfoys, and maybe, the "house-elf network") than actually personally *knowing* Harry himself.


"Dobby is a very strange elf, as we all know. He expects to be payed, 
for one thing, and actually LIKES being free. Whatever his reasons may 
be, they nevertheless imply that he has thought long and hard about his 
condition, both before and after his liberation from the Malfoy family. 
He has reflected on how he was treated and concluded he disliked it, 
and prefered striking out on his own. Normally, an elf's reaction would 
be the traditional "whatever the problem is, it's my fault" which is 
the one Winky takes on every occasion. This second option is the 
easiest for an elf because it needs no thinking, but Dobby refuses to 
take it, thus making him very bad at the job of slave (one of the 
curses of intelligence)."

I think I can refute this by going back to the possibility that he used to be owned by the Potters: he remembers how they (maybe) used to treat him, and is able to compare that with how he is currently being treated by his present (substitute) family, and being an intelligent being, has stated a preference. But then again, if he was originally the Potters' house elf, he really CANNOT state a preference and then act on it: to me, he is still kinda acting like he belongs to the Potters (for want of a better description). Knowing that Harry is still alive, and is now in some real danger if he goes back to Hogwarts, he is compelled to do what he can to protect his true master, even though, being so young or whatever, Harry does not truly own Dobby.


"In conclussion: Dobby was a very bad slave, and helped Harry as a form 
of rebellion against his owners (choosing Harry because he had 
insider's information on which to work and beacuase, being intelligent, 
he knew Harry was the one to help)."

Believe it or not, this is similar to my way of thinking. It does make sense when you think along the lines of Dobby once belonging to the Potters. He IS a very bad slave, as far as the Malfoys are concerned, but if the Potters once owned him, how would they view his behavior? See my above statement, and/or feel free to keep questioning me if you're still confused.

 "Once liberated, however, he 
discovers freedom and the horrible danger it brings with it: boredom. 
thus, he looks for a job, and finds out that, being free, he enjoys 
what he had been doing all along, except for the slave part, so he gets 
a job at being a servant but where he doesn't have to put up with being 
ultimately faithful to his employer. To understand this, think: Would 
Dobby feel any remorse about telling Harry secrets of Hogwarts 
(location of rooms, secret passages, etc)? I think not, because 
Dumbledore it's not his master, just his employer, and there is a 
radical difference between them." 

If Dobby did once belong to the Potters, then of course Dobby wouldn't hesitate to tell Harry everything he knew about the workings of Hogwarts, bc he'd be acting like a Potter house-elf. :) Maybe Dumbledore has no problems with treating Dobby like a regular employee bc he knows that Dobby used to belong to the Potters, and therefore, Dobby would want to be as close to Harry as he could get; since Harry is still too young(?) to own a house-elf, this is the best Dobby can do to in order to fulfill his duty, and Dumbledore might want Dobby close to Harry as well, bc of the "beholdened to one family, forever" thing. Because of that, he himself will never truly own Dobby, but to keep him close to Harry, he goes ahead and hires him, agreeing to Dobby's preferences.

But didn't the Malfoys own Dobby? Well, maybe they thought they did, but Dobby's always messing up along with his rather open act of 'rebellion' in CoS suggests to me that as far as HE was concerned, they were simply a subtitute or host family, until Harry was old enough to take him on.

Please keep in mind that I may be totally wrong about this whole thing. Maybe Grey Wolf is right, or maybe we're both wrong and there's a whole other explanation altogether.



PD: All this post is based on the idea that a good house-elf is the one 
that is faithful to his master. 

True. I am just wondering who Dobby's master truly is.

-kel

-- 





__________________________________________________________________
Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop at Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/

Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]