House elves

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 58066

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" <bard7696 at a...>
wrote:
> ...edited...
> > 
> 
> ffred followed:
> > I'm not sure that canon actually establishes that house elves are
slaves,
> > despite what Hermione might think.
> 
> 
> Well... they are servants not being paid and they are forbidden from
> leaving to find a job that does pay. Unlike indentured servants, 
> there appears to be no time limit on how long they must serve before
> being freed.
> 
> Granted, we could be discussing a cultural difference, but the sure 
> spells slavery to me.
> 
>   ...edited...
> 
> Darrin


bboy_mn:

I don't think house-elves are slave, but everyone including their
owner DO think they are slave and that they are owned by their
masters, but when you think about it, the only thing binding a
house-elve to his master is house-elves honor.

The house-elf has made a commitment to serve a family because that is
what house-elves dol. The elf pledges his service and his allegiance
to his master, and in doing so also pledges the service and allegiance
of his decendants in perpetuity or for as long as their is a master to
be served. In the case, of Crouch, the family line has died out, Bary
Jr. was the last. That leaves the house-elf bound to no one.

I think if a house-elf chooses to not honor that commitment, there is
no legal precedent binding him to his master. Without a legally
binding precedent, his former master is powerless to do anything to
compell the house-elf to return.

So what we have is a form of Voluntary Servitude. A voluntary
arrangement that most master routinely abuse because they know as
elf's honor is the thing the elf holds in highest regard. So the elf
will take any amount of abue without limit, rather than dishonor
him/herself. 

But at the very heart of it, there is nothing binding an elf, but his
own decision to stay.

I predict that at some point in the future, Hermione will realize this
and use it as a means of functionally freeing the house-elves. In a
sense, she will force elf holding wizards to either admit to slavery
or acknowledge that the elves are free to do as they choose. Even in
the somewhat backward wizard world, I don't think true slavery is an
acceptable or politically correct thing to do. Right now, elf holding
wizards have rationalized the system by saying the the elves like it
and are happy, but they avoid slavery issue completely.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn