OoP - Hermione & Elves (was: The Elf Problem)

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 67123

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, B Arrowsmith <arrowsmithbt at b...> 
wrote some excellent thoughts on Elves, including:
 
> Who can put their hand on their heart (or wallet) and declare that 
their conception of Elves has not been influenced by LotR?>

Me:
I can!  I solemnly swear that my perception of Elves in HP is not in 
any way influenced by LotR.  In fact, I only read the first book and 
hated it.

> Back to the Elves. Where do they come from? Anyone seen or heard of 
an Elf child? No, neither have I, though the Blacks seem to have had a 
succession of genetically similar Elves.>

Me again:
Is there any evidence of Elf sexuality?  Elves seem to live not in 
groups, as they do at Hogwarts, but alone in manors.  Are they bred, 
like dogs?  They are owned, after all, and must obey their masters.  
That's a sick thought, I know, but how do they reproduce?

>the Elves working at Hogwarts are happy, co-operative and contented. 
They refuse Hermiones gifts of clothing as an insult, as if it would 
be an affront to their dignity. They even stop cleaning Gryffindor 
Tower as a reprisal. What is going on?>

I say:
This is also something that bothered me, but not about the Elves.  In 
GoF I had nothing but empathy for Hermione's plans to help free Elves.  
I was a proud badge-wearing S.P.E.W. member!  However, in OoP, 
Hermione refuses to acknowledge that the Elves from Hogwarts *don't 
want to be freed*.  She never asked them, even in GoF, if they were 
happy, but encouraged them to speak of freedom while ignoring how they 
shied away from her, and from Dobby.  I hated how she tried to trick 
them into freedom.  What a rotten thing to do.  Besides, we did find 
out that once an Elf receives clothes, life isn't so great.  The WW in 
general is not so open to helping Elves by hiring them for pay and the 
Elves themselves see clothes as a humiliation and reason to shun a 
clothed Elf.  Hermione never takes this into consideration, nor does 
she think about helping establish ways to ensure Elf success once 
free.  She simply wants to free them.

One last thing I want to point out is that JKR only discusses House 
Elves.  Are there other kinds of Elves?  Are they free?

I still believe that House Elves are, in fact, enslaved and are 
clearly completely influenced by their masters.  It must be very hard 
for the rare Elf, like Dobby, who craves freedom when it is looked 
down upon the way it is.  How can House Elves appreciate freedom when 
they do not even know what it is and they are completely defined by 
the ones who own them?  My heart goes out to them, but Hermione seems 
to have missed this point and therefore is not doing anything truly 
good for them.

--jenny from ravenclaw ***********