[HPforGrownups] Re: House Elves' enslavement Parallel with Dogs, Sirius

[Kelsey Dangelo]

No: HPFGUIDX 114210

Susana wrote:
[snip]
I'm about to compare elves to... dogs!

No, really, I'm not! I want to make this very clear: I will compare some
similarities of the dog-human relation with the elf-wizard relation. I am
*NOT* saying elves are like dogs in *ANY* way!

Having cleared that out, the reason for my comparison is simple: dogs have evolved to serve humans. There are no wild-dogs - wolfs are not dogs. Most dog breeds don't have the ability to form a society without humans - some
can't reproduce, some can't hunt, some can't create bounds with other dogs, etc.

If you want to free the dogs (send them into the wild) you'd have to rebreed them, i.e. make them evolve back into independence. If this is comparable to elves (we don't know) you'd have to do it over centuries (we don't know how long elves live). If someone asked me to join a Society for Promotion of Dogs Freedom (SPDF) I'd have a reaction very similar to Hagrid's about SPEW:
"Free the elves? What a mean thing to do!" (paraphrased from memory)


Kelsey:

I like the parallels here between dogs and house-elves. But this description of dogs reminds me of someone who is associated both with dogs and house elves. That is, Sirius Black.

You're interesting description of dogs talks about them going insane without humans (Sirius in Azkaban, and then on the loose). Sirius basically can't function without other humans. He can't even convince Harry of his innocence without Remus (his "packmate").

"Most dog breeds were developed to have a will to serve humans. Dobermans, for example, go literally insane (and have to be put down) if they don't have a human alfa-leader giving them orders all the time (comparison to Kretcher, anyone?). Collies and Labradors are extremely unhappy if they sit around all day with nothing to do." 

Literally, Sirius is very unhappy having to sit around all through OOP. But he does it because he's obeying his alpha-leader (Dumbledore).


Obviously, Sirius' animagi form is representative of his personality. 

Maybe Sirius just doesn't understand how to own a house elf. He knows how to be loyal and to work hard, but he doesn't know how to have someone loyal to him or work for him. He's a dog with a "dog". It doesn't work for him.

Kelsey