[HPforGrownups] House Elves, Hermione And Freedom

[caesian]

No: HPFGUIDX 109875

On Aug 12, 2004, at 9:46 AM, pentzouli wrote:
caesian snipped intro:
>  First of all, I wonder if there is some separation between good
>  house-elves and bad house-elves.
>  I mean, Winky's behaviour is not at all similar to that of Dobby's,
>  as described in GoF, and even though she had recognized that her
>  master was a "bad boy", she wanted to remain loyal. I cannot start
>  about Kreacher, he seems evil to the bone, <snipped by caesian>

>  all the three house-elves we are introduced to come
>  from "dark" wizards' families, even though their intentions are not
>  always evil. The main thing is that they certainly cannot be
>  trusted. Where are the good house-elves?
>
>  So, why Hermione is so willing to set them free, when it is clear
>  that they will not only depreciate the gift of freedom,(at least
>  most of them will), but are capable of magic not easily tamed by
>  wizards?
>
>  For my part, I don't think that these trivia that we know of produce
>  sufficient evidence to back up Hermione's willingness to free them.
>  Even Hagrid, who loves all creatures, even the most fearful ones,
>  does not agree with Hermione. Could it be that in the next two
>  books, our heroine makes a terrible mistake by fulfilling her goal?
>  You see, I think that although her intentions are those of a
>  pacifist, and this opens a very big aspect of her personality for
>  all of us to see, the fight begins after the house-elves are free :
>  the fight to make them appreciate and help the right side in this
>  war, and prevent them from using their powerful magic against the
>  wizards who took them for granted while they were in their service.
>
>  <snipped by caesian>
Caesian responds:

Welcome (back) pentzouli ;-).  Not to put too fine a point on it, but 
that is the nature of being free.  Wizards are free to choose whether 
they will serve a particular master.  Some of them choose to serve 
evil.  Would you suggest we enslave the wizards?

I'm not trying to take sides on the house-elf freedom issue.  We do not 
know the history and nature of their enslavement, or the reason.  
Perhaps there is more that could be understood about the potential 
consequences of freeing the house elves (or the consequences of keeping 
them bound into servitude.)

caesian


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