Elf names

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92003

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "suehpfan" <stanleys at s...> wrote:
> Sylvia wrote:
> snip
> Or is she disguising the 
> fact that house-elves are extremely powerful creatures by giving 
> them 
> child-like names?  Any ideas?
> Sylvia (who is referring to Dobby and Winky, of course, not 
> Kreacher!)
>  
> Sue:
> I think it is a reflection of the way the WW views house elves.   I 
> assume the family who owns the elf names him/her.  They do not seem 
> to generally give them credit for their capabilities and certainly do 
> not value their intelegence.  To me Kreacher's name is much more 
> interesting.  Seems to me that even as a baby (are house elves ever 
> babies?) he was an odd bird.


Worse, it seems to imply that his owners considered him almost an
animal and clearly far below them. If your name is Kreacher
(creature), how can you ever attain dignity or self-respect? The names
"Winky" and "Dobby" imply condescension on the part of their owners;
"Kreacher" implies contempt, even loathing. And yet the poor, pitiful
Kreacher is loyal to his now-dead mistress and shares her prejudices
against "mud bloods" and "blood traitors," whereas Dobby (in CoS)
recognizes his masters as evil and serves them only because he must.
I'm not defending Kreacher, but I wonder to what degree his name
shaped his self-perception. Ill treatment alone didn't make him what
he is, or Dobby would be equally treacherous and black-(Black)-
hearted. They're like Tom Riddle and Harry in house-elf form--similar
backgrounds, opposite choices. But clearly house-elfs are moral beings
capable of choosing good or evil even when no model of goodness is
presented to them. Or is Dobby just an anomaly and Kreacher's evil
nature inevitable in his circumstances? If Sirius or someone else in
the family had been kind to him, would he have turned out differently?
I don't think so. I think he made his choice early in his life and
abided by it. His mistress's values were his values and nothing could
change that. Dobby, OTOH, rejected the Malfoys' values, and no amount
of cruelty on their part (or self-punishment for his disloyalty) could
change his view of them.

I don't know where Winky fits in; somewhere in between Kreacher and
Dobby, I suppose. Unlike the other two, her devotion was apparently
rewarded. Despite her petlike name, she seems to have been in a
position of trust until she was given clothes for coming too close to
revealing her family's secret. The faithful servant is suddenly
treated like a dog that is no longer useful and sent away in disgrace.
If she'd been named Minerva or Lily, would she have been treated any
differently? Probably not. Would her self-concept have been different>
Would she have been less timid and fearful? Who can say?

Carol, who wonders if Sirius's and Remus's names helped to shape their
identity, too