[HPforGrownups] Re: House elves

[Melanie L Ellis]

No: HPFGUIDX 58080

Steve wrote:
>>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.

Then Darrin said:
>I don't know. I don't see that Dobby wanted to be with the Malfoys any
longer, but he was bound to him >until Lucius was tricked into giving him
clothes. 
 
>Dobby went to all the trouble to warn Harry, and had to bang his head
into walls and stuff to try and spit it >out. If he could willingly give
up the committment, it seems like that would have been much easier.'

Now me, Melanie:

I agree with Darrin. While probably most elves are willing servants, I
think that they are, nonetheless, bound to them no matter what. It was
just Dobby's bad luck that he got stuck with the Malfoys. While willing
servitude has historical precedent (such as the Old Testament Jewish laws
concerning a slave who wishes to remain a slave for a particular master
beyond their normal period of servitude) I don't think that elf service
is *totally* willing, or up to them, or Dobby, as strong-willed as he is,
would have left the Malfoys long ago.

Now, as to the future of the elves, I hate to say it, but I really feel
that the whole S.P.E.W. thing was a machination for GoF, and we won't
hear much if anything more about it. I hope I'm wrong, but I really felt
that the whole thing was nothing more than a plot element used to get HHR
into the kitchens to find out about Winky - and Dobby, too, of course. 

Melanie
Who thinks that "Egomaniacal Megalomaniacs" would make a great band name.


Melanie Ellis
Alabama Homeschool Message Board
http://pub77.ezboard.com/balabamahomeschoolmessageboard

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