house elves and laundry (house elves and goblins)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 88208

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "drjuliehoward"
<drjuliehoward at y...> wrote:

> Julie:
> 
> ... led me to another series of questions and wondering if there is 
> any canon evidence/answers:
>

bboy_mn:

Well, the answers aren't so much in Cannon as they are in the
standards of fairytales and folklore. Our evidence from the books is
limited, but JKR appears to have modeled much of her world on common
legends and mythology.

> Julie:
> 
> 1. How long has this system been in place if it is "taken for 
> granted" by the WW?

bboy_mn:

That's like asking how long has man lived on the face of the earth;
regarding magical creature of assorted nature and types, their time on
the earth is measured in many thousands of years rather than decades
of centuries.

In those many thousands of years, the nature of House Elves has
evolved in a way that gives them great personal satisfaction serving
humans.

So, this thing we call a 'system' is not an organized system at all,
but a series of events that have evolved over time, into it's current
state of affairs.


> Julie continues:
> 
> 2. If this is the system, why don't all wizarding families have 
> house elves?  Why is this for the financially privileged or for 
> institutions such as Hogwarts?
>

bboy_mn:

If you were a servant, would you prefer to be the servant of a
pennyless bum, or the servant of a family of quality and wealth, a
family with a fine manor, intelligent, and with beautiful educated kids? 

In a sense, what I am implying is that even amoung elves, who all
volunteer to work free for their masters, there is an element of
self-respect. No elf wants to be the elf of a bum; the quality of an
elf, I speculate, in the eyes of other elves, is measured in the
quality of the family they serve. An elf that serves a king, is indeed
a noble elf indeed, and an elf that must serve a bum, must be a pretty
trashy elf. So an element of self-respect comes into play.



> Julie continues:
> 
> 3. Prior to their enslavement, could they have been PAID assistants 
> (which would, in some ways, answer Q2)?
>

bboy_mn:

No, I don't think so. Looking at the nature of house-elves,
cobblers-elfs, and Brownies, I think their actions are a form of a
need to help people, and a form of mischief. In a sense, elves in the
broad mythical fairytale sense, sometimes perform there initial task
as a trick; a bit of mischief they play on the owners of the house or
shop. The elves sneak in at night, perform task (wash dishes, clean
the house, make shoes for the cobble, make clothes for the tailor)
then when they are done, just before dawn, the sneak away giggling
madly at the thought of the look of shock on the house-mother's,
cobbler's, tailor's face when they see that 'things' have been done
better than they have ever been done before; the house sparkles beyond
belief, the shoes are better than any shoes ever made, and the
tailor's new clothes are grand, smart, and more handsome than anything
he ever imagined. All the while the elves are laughing their butts off
at the though of it all. And so they come back night after night
because they think it is great fun to play this trick on the
house-mother, cobbler, and tailor every night.

Eventually, any house-mother, cobbler, or tailor will get wise enough
and curious enough to stay up at night and see who or what is doing
this wonderous thing. So they discover the existance of wonderous,
generous, unselfish, and hard working elves. 

The problem in every fairytale occurs at this point, the cobbler or
tailor have become rich and famous for the innovation and quality of
their products, and they are so greatful that they have to do
something nice for the Elves, if nothing else, just as a way of saying
thank you; so they leave the elves some pay, or some clothes, or in
some way acknowledge the existance of the elves and their little joke.
But once the recipient acknowledges them, it spoils the joke. The
humor in the elves helpful mischief is lost, and the elves are
offended and go away.

So goes the fairytaile of the Cobble and the Elves, so goes the
fairytale of the Tailor and the Elves, and presumably, so goes the
tale of the housewife and the elves. 

Time marches on, now elves and wizards are both aware of each other,
and have acknowledged each other's present. When an elve comes to work
for a wizard family, the elf makes a commitment; a commitment bound by
elfish honor and pride. The elf makes an unswerving lifetime commit to
serving this family with loyalty and diligence, to full honor his
commitment through all subsequent generation of the elves family. That
fierce sense of honor and loyalty are what bind a house-elf to the
family is serves.

Sadly, wizards see a neat little loophole in this commitment; it
require great commitment on the part of the elf, but requires NO
commitment on the part of the wizard. The wizard can use and abuse the
elves anyway they choose, even abondon or dismiss the elves with out
cause. In other words, the wizard is free to act without honor. 

This is the perfect situation for exploitation. The wizard knows that
the elf is a fiecely honorable creature, and they they will stand by
their commitment to serve even in the face of the most horrible treatment.

And so this is how I see this current 'system' of house-elf
enslavement evolving. Wizards are exploiting something that is
inherent in the nature of elves; a inherent characteristic that is
sadly lacking in wizards.

Note, in this model of evolution, there is no law, whether magical or
judicial, that holds the elf in his enslavement. The elf is held by
nothing more than choice; he chooses to honor the commitment he made
and the commitment that was made by his ancestors. He chooses to stay
because thousands of years of honorable Elfin history will not allow
him to choose to leave.


> Julie continues:
> 
> 4. If they were paid, what happened to their money?

bboy_mn:

The payment house-elves receive is the joy of service. Plus, I assume
room and board; although the rooms seem pretty marginal, and I suspect
the board is hardly more than leftovers in the less than honorable
wizard households.


> Julie continues:
> 
> 5. Which brings me to this: House Elves and Goblins look a lot 
> alike.  Could the goblins have something to do with their 
> enslavement?  
> 


bboy_mn:

Goblins seem to be trouble makers, and they definitely have an
'anything for a buck $$$' attitude, so I could easily see the Goblin's
profiting by re-enforcing and prepetuating the house-elves situation.
I even have a sneaking suspicion that at some darker point in the
wizard world history, there was the equivalent of a slave trade in
house-elves.

Of course, I am interjecting a great deal of specualtion here, but I
really don't see my thoughts as being that far off.


> I know this is bordering dangerously to being OT, but in my mind it 
> would set up an interesting rivalry between these two groups in 
> another wizarding war.  Many posts have speculated about goblins and 
> house elves and where their loyalties may fall, but I have not read 
> any posts addressing any possible connection between the two 
> groups.  Any ideas?
> 
> Julie

bboy_mn:

Goblins strike me as being loyal to 'the winner', they bend which ever
way the wind blows, especially if they can work it to their advantage.
Elves in a sense are loyal to the families they serve, but even more
loyal, by my theory, to those many millenniums of elfin pride and honor.

I can see the elves at some point realizing this, realizing that their
greatest loyalty is to themselves and their tradition, and that that
tradition deserves respect. How that will manifest itself, I'm not
sure, but I feel confident we will see the elves, especially the
Hogwart's house-elves join in the fight against Voldemort with Harry,
Hermione, and Dumbledore being their rallying point.

Hermione's big mistake in SPEW is thinking that things related to
Elves need to change; it's not the elves that are the problem, it's
wizards. If Hermione wants to help the plight of the elves, she needs
to work on changing wizards.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn