House Elves' enslavement (long)

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 114059

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> There's a popular Grimm's fairy tale called The Shoemaker and the
> Elves (see http://www.shoemakerandtheelves.com/en/flash for the text
> of the story).  In it elves cheerfully work for people and are
> rewarded by being given new clothes.  They leave the household but
> the people are blessed with good fortune, apparently as a result of
> their kind treatment of the elves.
> 
> I think this is the basis of the relationship that JKR has in mind
> for houseelves and wizards.  Comparisons to American slavery in the
> 19th century aren't the best.
> 
> At some point in the distant past, centuries ago, not-nice wizards
> abused the rules by making sure that they did not give their elves
> clothes as rewards and thus tied them to their wizard houses forever.
>  Thus what was a relationship of mutual respect turned into enchanted
> servitude.


You may  well be right,  certainly it's been confirmed (I think) that House
Elves are based on the old  Scottish legend of Brownies, who act in much
the same way as the shoemakers helpers.

What is interesting is the total lack of support that Hermione gets for
SPEW - no interest even from DD or Hagrid (who's an old softy where
any creature is concerned). The typical stances taken in the frequent 
debates on site centering on Elf status are based purely on Hermione's
perceptions, no-one else's. And she bases all her ideas on the mistreatment
of just one - Dobby. From then on she'll hear no contrary argument, even
the happy Hogwarts Elves are wrong in her opinion. Does she really think
that DD would condone slavery, even if it's comparatively benign?

 I'll bet my best cauldron that we're missing some very important 
information about House Elves. I did once suggest that for once Hermione 
was going to be wrong, but she was going to be wrong in the right way, if
you get my meaning - caring about Elves but misunderstanding their true 
situation.
We'll see.

Kneasy