House Elves and Slavery (Nel Question ## 1 & 2)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 126434


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Debbie" <elfundeb at g...> wrote:
> 
> House Elves:  the second installment of Dr. Nel's discussion 
> questions from his Reader's Guide to the HP novels.  
>  
> 1. Jonathan Levi said that GoF was "the first children's book to
> endorse slavery since Little Black Sambo." Do the Potter novels
> endorse the house-elves' enslavement? ...edited..
> 

bboyminn:
Ah the elves, one of my favorite topics. Though I was disappointed to
not see my post in your list. From my list of my posts, see message
#126263. For my complete Q&A on elves see...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/71752
Date:  Sat Jul 19, 2003  9:01 pm
Subject:  House-Elves & the Tie That Binds. (long)

Old news to most people, as I have frequenlty commented on the subject.

There is one problem with comparing House-Elves to human slaves. Elves
actively seek out people to serve, and humans are kidnapped and forced
into slavery. 

House-elves and other mythical Helper-Elves are acting on their
natural instinct much the way a sheep dog knows how to herd sheep.
Serving is what they do, and they really are genuinely happy to serve.
 The problem isn't service or being bond for generations to their
masters, that's just the way it works.

Consider that many mythical Helper-Elves, including the Scotich legend
Brownies upon which House-Elves are likely based, serve in secret.
That is, the sneak into a house (shoe shop, tailor shop, etc...)
perform their service, and in the morning seek away before anyone can
find out about them. That shows a very great difference between elves
and human slaves.

Serving in secret didn't serve JKR's story, so she adjusted the legend
to suit her needs.

So, as I have said many times before, and contrary to Hermione's very
colonial attitude, the House-Elves don't need to be fixed, there is
nothing wrong with them. It is the wizards who need to be fixed. It's
wizard's ill-treatment and exploitation of the Elves good nature and
fierce loyalty that needs to change. Enslaved and unenslaved, the
House-Elves, overtly or covertly, are going to seek out humans to serve. 


> 2. If the HP novels endorse subjugation of the house elves, do they 
> endorse enslavement? Or should we instead see Rowling as recognizing 
> the limitations of social reform? ...edited..
>  

bboyminn:

My statements above should and my published works should give you a
hint of where I stand. 

It is a great mistake to directly equate the House-Elves with human
slaver in all it's forms on earth and in history. Within reason in
some ways one could be analogous to the other, one could be used to
illustrate aspect of the other, but to say that they are one and the
same is plain wrong in my opinion.

For one reason, we are not dealing with free-spirited human beings, we
are dealing with a very instinctive ingrained nature of a mythical
magical being; most importantly, intelligent sentient magical beings.

As to any endorsement of the elves enslavement, the story isn't over
yet. We don't know where it is going, or how it will play out, so we
can't say with any certainty what the author is or isn't endorsing.
Although, I would add that from a logical point, given what we know
about the author, to think she would endorse this is ridiculous.

As to how we should react to George and Ron's statements that the
House-elves are happy, I think it's the truth. They are truly happy in
their servitude. That is, they are happy and fulfilled by serving
humans. But no being (human, magical, other) is happy being abuse,
mistreated, and exploited.

If there is any corruption in the general nature of Elves, it's in
Elves having been convinced by wizards that extreme punishment and
inhuman abuse are a normal part of being in the service of humans.
And, oh so sadly, of our human race, their is some truth to that; we
can be a cruel lot.



> And the follow-up questions:
> 
> A.Are the house-elves meant to be taken as literal beings, or 
> are they meant to represent a metaphor for something? ... Could they
> be just another borrowing from  folklore?
>  

bboyminn:

They are without a doubt borrowed from common folklore, and they are
literal mythical beings. As far as a metaphor, I think the Elves are
intended to be a mirror to humans, as I already said, we can be a very
cruel self-serving greedy lot. Sadly, the most inhuman creatures on
earth are humans themselves. Kind of ironic, eh?

Further, I think part of the lesson here, is that we humans need to
get over the idea that everything has to serve and validate us. Elves
enter there servitude with a fierce honor and unwavering loyalty,
sadly, humans do not enter that agreeemnt with the same sense of honor
and loyalty. And, I think that will be the lesson here. Unless we
follow the Golden Rule of treating everyone and everything with the
same care and compassion that we would want for ourselves, we may find
that everyone and everything in the world has turned against us.

Certainly, there are great lessons to be learned here, but they are
about the flaws in human nature, not in Elfin nature.



> B. Does the depiction of the treacherous Kreacher add an additional 
> dimension to our understanding of house elves and their narrative 
> function?  Kreacher's description (as well as that of his sleeping 
> quarters), which emphasizes his filthiness rather than the 
> doll-like description of Dobby?  What about his apparent endorsement 
> of the racist views of the Black family?
> 

bboyminn:

Again we are faced with the failings in human nature, not in Elfin
nature. Kreacher is a crazy and flawed as the humans who raised him.
He is the product of the only frame of reference he has ever had;
cruel, heartless, self-serving, and irrational. How could he be any
different? 

On the other hand, we don't know all of Dobby's backstory. We don't
know if his family has served the Malfoys for many generations.
Without backstory, it's hard to make a judgement or comparison.

As far as endorsement of the Black family racist views, I certainly
didn't see any endorsement. I saw the flaws, I saw the failings, I saw
the fanaticism, I saw the self-serving irrationality, but I saw no
endorsement.


> C. Consider the statements made by Dumbledore in OOP ch. 37, "The 
> Lost Prophecy."  "... We wizards have mistreated and abused our 
> fellows for far too long."  How about Kreacher's treachery?  Do 
> these statements alter your assessment of JKR's intent, or reaffirm 
> it? Is JKR making a point about the importance of respect?
> 

bboyminn:

Again, I can only say that this aspect of the story is about the
failings and follies of humans. In the end, I am confident that my
statement that 'the Elves are fine, it's the wizards who need to be
fixed' will be proven out.

> 
> D. Many readers believe JKR is using the house elves as a means 
> to explore racism.  
>

bboyminn:

Just extending what I have already said, I don't think the point is
racism, I think it is man's inhumanity to man. Or, perhaps in this
case, human being's inhumanity to all other beings.


> ...edited link list...
> 
> Debbie