Kreacher and SPEW

[David]

No: HPFGUIDX 71949

I have argued in the past that there is canon evidence that, while 
her methods are ham-fisted, Hermione is fundamentally correct in her 
assessment of the condition of the House-elves.

It's interesting to see how OOP adds to this.

Hermione doesn't seem to realise that in fact Kreacher strengthens 
her position considerably, and continually undermines her own 
position by trying to excuse him, and by failing to pay attention to 
Sirius' much more accurate estimate of his character.

The general pattern is that Sirius makes some off-hand comment about 
Kreacher's unpleasantness and his motives; Hermione, incorrectly 
reading anti-House-elf prejudice into this, bridles and tries to 
suggest that Kreacher would turn much nicer if only he were treated 
better.

In fact both Hermione and Sirius have preconceptions about House-
elves that hinder them in dealing with Kreacher, Sirius tragically 
so.  Sirius simply underestimates Kreacher's ability (like Dobby's) 
to to what he wants to while acting within the confines of his 
magical enslavement.  Hermione, on the other hand, does Kreacher the 
disservice of assuming that his nastiness is purely the consequence 
of the way Sirius treats him during the period of the story.  I 
think this means that she in fact is buying into the WW perception 
of House-elves as less than fully human, because she denies that 
Kreacher is a free moral agent.  IOW, she does not, unlike Sirius, 
accept that Kreacher is responsible for his choices.

I think that the fact that the House-elves can throw up a Kreacher 
is one of the strongest arguments for the wrongness of their magical 
enslavement, and for their essential humanity, and Hermione doesn't 
recognise it.  Sirius might, but is too wrapped up in his immediate 
personal dislike to do so.

I think her introduction of a character like Kreacher shows JKR has 
a very sure grasp of her subject here, and shows that she intends to 
keep the theme of liberation and its rationale at the forefront of 
the series.

David