treating House Elves like vermin

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 74985

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)"
<catlady at w...> wrote:

> 
> Steve bboy_mn wrote:
> 
> << Remember what Dobby said, that in the heyday of Voldemort's first 
> reign, house-elves were treated like vermin. ... In that vein, I can
> see wizards elf hunting or for target practice while they learn 
> spells or torturing them just for the sport of it. That's what it 
> means to be treated like vermin. >>


> CatLady:
> 
> I've had a problem with that statement from Dobby for years. It 
> seems to me that wizards who aren't sadists and/or don't have extra 
> House Elves compared to the amount of work that needs doing wouldn't 
> torture and kill their House Elves just because it was 'legal' 'or 
> 'socially accepted' or 'fashionable' -- LV was never so DEEP IN 
> POWER that he passed a law making it COMPULSORY to torture and kill 
> House Elves ... 

bboy_mn:
I seriously doubt that many people read Dobby's reference to being
treated as vermin, as a compulsory requirement. This isn't an issue of
law or fashion, it's a matter of power. 

Voldemort, speaking through Quirrel, said it himself-

"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those to weak to
seek it."

...more importantly, those too weak to wield it. 

Voldemort rules his followers by the application of power. You know
you have an evil dictator when he tortures his enemy, but sweet mother
of Merlin, what have you got when a dictator tortures is friend,
allies, and followers? Voldemort, that's what you have, the very
essence of evil and moral corruption.

Everything related to Voldemort is about power; who has power over who
and what. Just like in real life where the abused become the abusers,
the Death Eater's go home after a long hard day of being torture by
Voldemort for the slightest mistake, and they are eager to apply their
twisted mindset of power. So they torture their house-elves, both to
remind themselves that they have power, to purge there feeling over
being tortured by Voldemort, and to remind the elves that they have
power over them. It's the classic illusion of appearing to lift
yourself up by pushing others down. 

The Death Eaters are playing out Voldemort's role in their own little
mini-dictatorship. That's the same reason they torture muggles, first
so they can have somebody to blame for all the problems they
themselves have created, and to convince themselves that they are
powerful by torturing someone who appears to be more helpless than
they are. That's the same reason the playground bully picks on the
geeks and the nerds, because they are the people against whom they can
exert power with the least fear of retaliation. Notice that bullies
never bully other bullies, that's far too risky.

So Death Eaters are simply playing out their sadistic misguided
philosophy that power is everything. To have, exert, and weild power
ruthlessly is the very essence of proving to the world that you are
right and they are wrong.

I've brought this theory up before, and one of the common responses
has been, why would you destroy your own property? Why would you
torture or kill a house-elf thereby diminishing or destroying
something that belongs to you. That sort of like running over a
$10,000 Rolex watch with you car, just for the fun of it.

Here in lies the rub. House-elves are free; that is, they don't cost
anything. You never value something you get for free as much as
something you obtain using you own time and talent. That's why most
lottery winners are bankrupt within a few short years. The money means
so much less when it's free. 

I don't think there is a shortage of house-elves, they are there and
they are ready, willing, and eager to work. So getting a replacement
is not such a big deal. 

I will acknowledge that there must be some limitation to the
availability of house-elves. They seem to prefer to serve a large,
well respected (read: rich) families. To some extent I think it is a
matter of self-worth (pure speculation). If you are a house-elf that
serves a poor family, then you must be a poor house-elf. 

So, while free and available, I wouldn't go so far as to say
house-elves are plentiful.

Sorry, I really didn't plan on rambling on that long.

bboy_mn