[HPforGrownups] House-Elf Justice (was Re: Kreacher - workable solutions?)

[Katherine Coble]

No: HPFGUIDX 129608


On May 27, 2005, at 3:58 PM, a_svirn wrote:

> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Katherine Coble <k.coble at c...>
>  wrote:
>
>  >
>  > K:  But we should all be servants to our fellow human beings. 
>  > Demonized though the concept has become.   I understand that Laura
>  is
>  > using a very arcane definition of "servant", but one which finds
>  itself
>  > expressed throughout Judeo-Christian literature.
>  >
>
>  Could you perhaps elaborate a bit? Was there an eleventh commandment
>  added to the Decalogue recently? "Thau shalt be of service to thy
>  neighbor?" (Although servants are mentioned in the 10th aren't they?
>  As a "*thing* that is thy neighbor's" (emphasis mine).
>
>  a_svirn
>
>
>

K:  Well, first in the bibles themselves.....

How about the book of Phillippians, which discusses humility, chiefly 
the humility of Christ?  Then there is the entire book of Philemon, 
which concerns the slave Onesimus and how he is to be treated by his 
master.    Or, perhaps looking for an even older reference, how about 
Proverbs 31, where the virtuous woman is one who gets up early and 
serves her household--including those that are in her employ.

Then, the great works of literature influenced by these ideals.   For 
instance, Jean ValJean in Les Miserables.  Although he is the mayor of 
the town, he labours in servitude to Fantine, the woman he 
_inadvertently_ wronged.

Service, and servanthood, are not bad things.  There are such things as 
"servant-leaders", although the concept may seem incongrouous.  By 
humbling oneself to administer to the needs of another, the servant 
leads through the act of grace.


House-elves themselves are perhaps good examples of this in some 
contexts.  In others, their devotion borders on madness (cf. Winky and 
Kreacher).

I think that the larger context of the story depends on the power that 
servants have to lead, and it may come to that.

Oh yeah, another example of servant leadership in Judeo Christian 
literature is the twofold example of Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee 
in LOTR.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]