The Future of SPEW

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 126228



Lupinlore:

I have done a very cursory survey of discussions regarding Hermione 
and SPEW on several web sites.  It seems that most people feel that 
SPEW represents Hermione going overboard, and will provide her at 
least some comeuppance with regard to always thinking her opinion's 
are right and not realizing that other people/creatures see the 
world differently.
 
I understand where people are coming from with this.  Certainly I 
think Hermione needs a lesson in humility very badly -- or to put it 
another way, that she needs to be knocked off the high horse she's 
been riding at least since GoF.  But I'm not at all sure that JKR 
shares the prevailing view of the fandom on this issue.
 
If we look at what we have been seen/told about the House Elves 
apart from the discussions of SPEW, it would seem that JKR is very 
firmly in Hermione's camp

<SNIP>
 
I suspect that if Hermione gets a comeuppance with SPEW (and I'm not 
totally sure she will), it will be a purely tactical humiliation 
having to do with her methods like leaving clothes lying around 
randomly.  I doubt she is going to face any kind of re-evaluation of 
her values or her overall strategy of working to free the elves.  In 
other words, I very, very much expect that her opinions will be 
vindicated.  

<SNIP>


Alla:

For some reason I absolutely agree with you ( strange, huh? :o)). I 
predict that by the end of 7 book house elves will definitely be free 
and moreover being able to enjoy freedom. I don't know whether we 
will discover that they indeed had been enchanted into liking slavery 
or something similar to that, but I suspect that the main message as 
to house elves issue will be that slavery is bad, period.

I still hope that Hermione will learn that you cannot push people 
into accepting freedom, you have to at least make sure that they 
understand what does it mean to be free.

I also hope that at least once Hermione will give advice to Harry, 
which will be very wrong and hurt them all badly. It would be nice if 
this advice will be somehow connected with house elves situation.

Just speculating,
Alla.