Hermione's politics and tactics (was Re: Rowling's politics)

[persephone_kore]

No: HPFGUIDX 84455

Melanie Black <princessmelabela at y...> wrote:

> On the other hand, I personally love Hermione and her campaign 
against SPEW.  I personally believe without a doubt that no person 
should be held under anyone else's power on the basis of who they 
are.  That is what they are doing to the house elves, which are 
clearly a homage to slavery. 

PK: 

I'm not sure it /is/ entirely clear, or at least, that the analogy 
holds beyond a certain point. It's beyond doubt that the system as it 
stands is very sorely abused and that a number of problems -- to both 
sides, in fact -- stem from the fact that the power over whether to 
end the association is entirely in the hands of the wizards. 

I've also, however, found quotes where Rowling confirmed that she 
based the house elves on brownies -- on the folkloric elves who did 
housework and left if you gave them clothes -- and depending on which 
stories and particularly how far she takes it, the dynamic once the 
current state of things is resolved (which I've little doubt it will 
be -- it's very clear that the wizard-elf interrelations are one 
aspect of a major problem that needs addressing, and I can't imagine 
it'll just be dropped) could be... interesting. There's a fair amount 
of variation in the folklore, but one thing that's pretty constant is 
that the association is at the whim of the /elves/. It's entirely 
possible that house elves in HP used to sort of adopt human 
households as a variety of pet and look after them, and wizards 
eventually took advantage of their helpfulness and good nature to get 
control -- why does this sound all of a sudden like all the talk 
about cats ruling the world? 

Of course, it's entirely possible she isn't using that part. :) 

Melanie Black wrote:

> One of the things that I find the most poingnant is Hermione 
believes in education, and I personally agree as well, education is 
the key to starting social reform.  Maybe I'm a little crazy and 
alone here but I still maintain that these issues are ones that are 
appropriate for the books and I see no problem with them being in the 
books.

PK: 

I agree that the issues are fine for the books -- I just have to 
confess that I think Hermione is in serious need of doing more 
research, probably of the "talk to people and actually listen" 
variety since she complained in GoF of the limited references in 
books. Her S.P.E.W. campaign in OotP left me feeling worried and 
rather lost; her tactics don't seem to make any sense. Unless there's 
something about Hogwarts students counting as employers, for one 
thing, I can't figure out how her knitted offerings are even supposed 
to accomplish anything. She also seems to have completely forgotten 
that she was once absolutely furious at Crouch Sr. for freeing Winky 
with no regard to her feelings on the matter. 

I suppose it /could/ be argued that getting the elves mad enough to 
conduct a quiet strike and stop cleaning Gryffindor tower is progress 
of a sort, but I don't think it's quite what Hermione had in mind. 
Besides, if Winky had the initiative to argue for Barty Jr.'s getting 
to attend the Quidditch World Cup, it strikes me that this level of 
assertiveness is not unusual enough to qualify. And, well... I would 
not want /one/ house elf mad at me, much less a hundred of them. It's 
a scary thought. 

In short, I think that /some/ of Hermione's views are seriously in 
need of adjustment, namely the ones where she thinks she knows enough 
to be going on with (because there has GOT to be more going on with 
the elves than meets the eye; definitely more than we know and I 
suspect more than most wizards know, and Hermione's studies so far 
are not leading her to be terribly effective) and where she thinks 
tricking them is a good idea (because I seriously doubt that on both 
a moral and a practical level). But I wouldn't dispute for a moment 
that this setup where elves serve entirely at the wizards' whim is 
unjust -- and dangerous! 

PK