Dobby and Harry (was Re: What's he up to?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 95030

Kneasy wrote:
<snip>
Then there is the whole brou-ha-ha of Dobby's manumission. This has 
been argued loud and long. Malfoy obviously did not intend for 
Dobby to be freed; can ties  be broken when there is no intention? Add 
Dobby's insistence that it was *Harry* that set him free and we have a 
whole can of flobberworms open  and writhing. How can Harry set him
free if he's not family? Others insist that it was a trick on Harry's
part to lure Malfoy into a thoughtless but irrevocable act.

Carol responds belatedly:
I agree that it was a trick. Harry needed Malfoy (Dobby's master) to
give Dobby the sock, wittingly or unwittingly. Not being Dobby's
master, he couldn't do it himself. (Dobby's later obedience to Harry
is his own choice. As a house-elf, he feels obligated to consider
*somebody* his master, but as a free house-elf, he chooses that
master--as distinct from Dumbledore, who is merely his employer.) 

Dobby's insistence that "Harry Potter freed Dobby" is, IMO, merely
another instance of eliminating the middleman to suit the speaker's
view of the matter, like Harry and DD saying that Voldemort murdered
Cedric. Neither statement is literally true, but both are true in the
sense that the person credited with the manumission/murder is the one
who intended and initiated the action, using another person as his
witting or unwitting instrument. Just as Voldemort forced Wormtail to
murder Cedric, and therefore Voldemort murdered Cedric in Harry's
view, Harry forced Malfoy to free Dobby, and therefore Harry freed
Dobby in Dobby's view.

Carol