[HPforGrownups] Re: "Freedom is slavery..."

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 43713


>Carol re: house-elves:
>
> > Here's my thinking on this: if one is a slave, they don't have to
> > think about what to do.  They are simply told.  They don't need
> > to agonize over any moral decisions (generally speaking).
> > Therefore, in a sense they are free.  On the other hand, if one
> > is free, they have to constantly make decisions and figure out
> > what to do.

Amy Z replied:
>I think this fits very well with Imperius, which is described as a
>blissful state.  No decisions, no worries, physical pains disappear,
>one can even forget that one is about to be murdered . . . She could
>have written the curse as something that hurts, but in fact it feels
>wonderful; it only hurts if you try to fight it off.  It's thinking
>for oneself that's hard.

Carol (me) again:
That's a really good point.  It might be a stretch, but I can see a 
connection to this and the idea of knowledge/book learning in the books. 
Book learning alone doesn't necessarily lead to independent thinking.  It's 
not until one thinks about that learning that it becomes true knowledge, 
knowledge that can lead to independent thought and "practical" use.  For 
example, Quirrell was fine before he went out into the world to get a bit 
of experience.  He had only book learning, and since one can know 
everything in a book and still not be much of a thinking (just a good 
memorizer), perhaps that is what led him to come under V's influence.  I 
hope I'm making sense.  I don't think I'm explaining this well.  Lockhart, 
too, fits in here since he doesn't seem to have done much independent 
thinking.  Hermione, on the other, hand, not only has book learning, but 
she thinks about what she learns.  It's the thinking about it that makes 
her knowledge useful to the trio.  One can blindly accept what one learns 
or one can question it and think independently.  The trio often questions 
what they are learning, particularly Hermione.  While Trelawny's class 
seems to be very popular, the trio considers it rubbish.  Hermione, the 
quintessential student, refuses to participate any longer in the 
class.  She clearly does not accept all learning at face value, but 
independently evaluates it.

Amy Z again:
>This theme also comes up in Dumbledore's all-too-true warning that
>what is easy is not always what is right.  JKR knows that freedom
>from moral decisions is a very tempting state of being, and it looks
>to me as if she's very interested in exploring what makes it possible
>for some people to shun it and take responsibility (it's in the eyes,
>that's where you see it).  I remember this realization being a very
>important part of my adolescence, so I'm delighted to think of
>adolescents discovering it through HP.

I agree. It is difficult to make these kinds of decisions.  The fact that 
this theme comes up in more than one place in more than one way makes me 
think that the concept of choice is going to be a very important one in the 
denouement of the story.

Amy Z:
>House-elves are a different take on the issue, but I agree, they're
>another kind of illustration of the fact that freedom hurts--in their
>case, because their enslavement literally requires them to punish
>themselves for free acts.

I hadn't thought about that aspect, but you're right.  All of this helps me 
make more sense of the whole house-elf business in the books.  It seemed an 
awfully elaborate subplot to have just stuck in the books for plot 
development alone.  The plot could have been advanced with house-elves who 
were not quite so enslaved or without Hermione and her S.P.E.W.  (an 
interesting choice for an acronym.  I wonder what JKR was trying to tell us 
with that one!)

Thanks for the additional food for thought.

Carol Bainbridge
(kaityf at jorsm.com)

http://www.lcag.org