House Elves' Magic and Freedom

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 83206

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
> > Granny again responds:
> > 
> > ... I'm still curious about the reason for Winky's extreme 
> > unhappiness and alcoholism.  She's still in servitude 
> > at Hogwarts. I suspect that something is on her conscious.
> 

> Grey Wolf:
>
> 
> I don't go that far, though. Winky is crushed because she's been 
> thrown away from her family. I don't see consciense problems, more 
> like deep worrying. ...edited...
> 
> At any rate, IMO, Winky's alcoholism comes from a depression caused 
> when she was cut away from her family, the family she was bound to 
> serve and that had come to love and certainly felt deeply about.
> 


bboy_mn:

I think Grey Wolf is on the right track here. In general, a
house-elf's purpose is to serve, but in Winky's specific case there is
a far more specific reason behind what we see. Winky's family had
served the Crouchs for many many generations. Her grandmother and
mother brought her up in the service of this family. That made the
Crouch family far more than a job to Winky, they were part of the very
essense of her being; they were part of her self-identity. She wasn't
just a house-elf, the was a Crouch house-elf. Now that sense of
identity has been take away from her.

Winky is profoundly sad and grieving. She is not just mourning the
loss of her family in the sense of no longer serving them, but she is
mourning the total loss of the Crouch family line under tragic
circumstances. Circumstances to which I'm sure she feels a great deal
of blame and shame.

Winky's purpose wasn't to serve; by birthright, it was to serve the
house of Crouch; a house which no longer exists, and in Winky's eyes,
she too no longer has a reason to exist. That's a bitter pill for
anyone to swallow.



> > Grey Wolf (originally said):
> > 
> > "...I see Dobby as the great Elf exception..."
> > 
> > Granny responded:
> > 
> > No, I have to disagree.  We saw in Book 4 (kitchen scene with 
> > Harry, Ron, Hermione) that Dobby's not proud of his "freedom".

> Now Grey Wolf responds:
> 
> I disagree. Dobby is very proud of his freedom, and he demonstrates 
> it clearly by keeping his clothes perfectly clean and buying more 
> with his pay. 


bboy_mn:

There is a small element of truth in Granny's statement, but I think
it is slightly mis-interpreted.

Dobby does show a definite fondness for freedom as Grey Wolf pointed
out, but he does express some hesitation in discussing it in the
Kitchen when H/R/H visit. However, I take that hesitation as his
reluctance to flaunt is freedom in front of the other house-elves.
They obviously are not as thrilled by Dobby's freedom, and think it a
very improper thing for a house-elf. 

So I take this hesitance that I assume Granny view as Dobby being
hesitant about freedom, as Dobby being hesitant at getting the other
house-elves riled.



> > Granny says:
> >
> > ...and don't forget he's secretly collecting Hermione's Elf 
> > clothing so that other house elves won't be freed.

> Grey Wolf now responds:
> 
> False. He is *not* collecting them in secret, .... The other elves
> were offended at Hermione's plot and *stopped* cleaning Griffindor 
> Tower. Dobby took on the entire job and  since those hats and other 
> clothings were there to be picked up by the elves cleaning the room,
>  Dobby picked them up. 
> 
> He didn't pick them up so that the other elves weren't freed - the 
> other elves had already seen them and decided against being free. 
> Dobby was just picking them up because they were a (bad intentioned)
> present.
> 
> Hope that helps,
> 
> Grey Wolf

bboy_mn:

Well Grey Wolf, you've done it again. You have unknowingly giving me
an open invitation to expound at length on one of my many (many, many)
theories of the wizard world. 

Hermoine, Elves, and Clothes-

I simply refuse to accept that an elf touching an article of clothing
instantly free the elf. I also believe that elves come into contact
with clothing all the time in the course of their duties. It would
seem well within reason that Draco Malfoy does not wash his own socks,
and equally, his mother is unlikely to wash them. His family has
servants and washing socks is servant business, not the duties of a
young wizardly aristocrat. So Draco wants his socks washed, he takes
the off, throws them on the floor, and says to the next elf he sees,
'Do my laundry'. The elf gathers the clothes and cleans them by
whatever means elves typically use; magic or elbow grease. 

To think otherwise seem absurd to me. To think that merely coming into
contact with clothing frees an elf is far too impractical. What if an
elf were walking past a wizard, and the wizard's cloak brushed against
the house-elf, would logic dictate that as sufficient to free the elf?
I think not. If simple contact with clothes were sufficient, there
would be far more accidentally freed house-elves.

Let's extent that scenerio and say that the cloak that touched the elf
was not the Master's cloak, but the cloak of a guest in the Master's
house. An even more ridiculous circumstance in which to assume the elf
would be freed.

First and formost, that guest in the Master's house has absolutely no
authority to free someone else's house-elf. To think that possible is
the same as thinking I can walk into a random business office and
start firing people. It just doesn't work that way.

In Hermione's case, she is hopelessly misguide nearly to the point of
dillusional in believing her wooly hats can free any elves. She can
give the elves clothes until she drops from exhaustion, and not one
single house-elf will be freed simply because Hermione doesn't have
the authority to dismiss Hogwart's house-elves. 

I sure when she thought of it, it made perfect sense from her limited
perspective. But time and time again, in reference to house-elves,
Hermione has demonstrated that her perspective is extremely limited
and un-enlightened.

So why did the Hogwart's elves act the way they did? Dobby and Grey
Wolf explained it nicely. It was clear to them what Hermione was
trying to do, and the elves were offended by that. So offended that a
wizard would try such a pathetic trick that they refused to clean the
Gryffindor tower.

In order for Hermione to effectively help the house-elves, she is
going to have to forget trying to change the elves, and focus her
attetion on changing wizards. The house-elves are fine, it's the
wizards that are screwed up. As I have said before, I don't think
there is any magical or judicial binding law holding house-elves in
enslavement. They are enslaved by choice, and are held to their
service by a deep fierce sense of honor, commitment, loyalty,
tradition, history, and a deep genuine need to be of service to others.

The elves enter into the agreement to serve a family house with this
fierce sense of honor, and an eternally unwavering sense of
commitment. Wizards however, are not as honorable, selfless, or
commited to the arrangement. Wizards have learned over the centuries
that they can use elfin honor and commitment against the elves. They
use it to abuse and control the elves in unethical and immoral ways. 

What Hermione has to do, is make a change, either by legal status or
moral inclination, that forces wizard to enter into the contract of
elfin servitude with the same sense of honor, commitment, loyalty, and
mutual benefit that the elves bring to the agreement. Then she would
effect a genuine change for the better, a change to the betterment of
elfs and wizards.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

bboy_mn