Dobby revisited

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 83507

--- Inge wrote, responding to Kneasy's discussion
of the incident in which Dobby is freed (more 
discussion of Kneasy's points below):

> Actually Lucius doesn't even hand the sock over 
> to Dobby - he just throws it aside and Dobby 
> sort of catches it with the words: "Master has 
> given Dobby a sock! Master gave it to Dobby!"
> I'd think it should take an actual presenting 
> of a piece of clothes to an elf to set him/her/
> it free.

Well, there's been a lot of theorizing around here
recently on what "ought" as a matter of principle
be required to free an elf.  If you proceed from
those principles, there is a reasonable argument
to be made that the "giving of clothes" requires
some degree of intentionality on the part of the
giver and some connection between the giver and
the "house" (architectural or geneological) to 
which the elf belongs.  

If instead you trace back what we are told up to
that point in CS, however, the scene with Dobby,
Lucius and Harry is pretty well set up.  Dobby 
tells Harry early on (when asked about his funny
get-up) that his family is very careful not to
"pass" any clothing to Dobby, "not even a sock"
(I am a bit fuzzy on the actual wording here; it 
may have been something stronger, such as "not to 
leave even a sock lying around"), lest Dobby be 
set free.  Whatever the words, the language fairly 
clearly indicated that vigilance was required, the 
negative implication being that an elf can be 
freed inadvertently.  

I'm not sure how this is supposed to square with 
the house elf's housekeeping duties.  A couple of
folks pointed out on a related thread that house
elves could hardly do laundry under these circum-
stances.  One possible answer is that laundry 
simply is not one of a house elf's chores (there 
is no direct example of a house elf doing laundry
as far as I can recall, although I have a nagging
memory of Kreacher having squirreled away some old 
piece of clothing that had belonged to one of 
Sirius' parents).  Another possibility is that 
assigning laundry duties is handled with extreme 
precision ("I am unlocking the hamper now, Dobby.  
Wash and fold these clothes and return them to me 
at once; they are not for you to keep.")  A third
is that, in order to "give" a piece of clothing in 
the relevant sense, the donor must do something to 
disclaim ownership of the item -- e.g., discarding
it, as Lucius does with Harry's sock.  

Whatever the answer, though, if we are to believe 
what Dobby originally told Harry (and we have been
given no reason to *dis*believe it), it must be
possible to free one's house elf without specifi-
cally intending to do so.

============================================

Getting back to Kneasy's original post, the theory
that Dobby has some connection to Harry that we 
haven't learned about yet has a certain appeal.
Probably the weakest link in the Dobby story is
the explanation for why he sought out Harry in the
first place.  He says a lot of stuff about how
"great" he has heard Harry is (odd, as has been
observed, that he would get that impression from
the Malfoys), and a bit about how tough things 
were for house elves during the Voldemort days.  
That seems rather more attenuated a connection than
one would think would be needed to prompt Dobby to 
leave the Malfoys several times (as he does in his 
efforts to warn/disable Harry).  

I believe the idea that Harry could be related to 
the Malfoys (specifically, on Lucius' side) has 
been mentioned before as a possible reason for
Dobby's ability to visit him (although not before 
in connection with freeing Dobby).  I have trouble
believing such a relationship, given the strong
emphasis JKR has placed on differences in physical 
appearance between, e.g., Harry and Draco (or,
correspondingly, James and Lucius).  It would, 
though, have the rabbit-out-of-a-hat character of 
some of JKR's revelations.  And, getting back to 
Kneasy's point, I don't have any better explanation 
for Dobby's initial attraction to Harry.

All in all, a fertile ground for hypotheses.

-- Matt