House-Elf Justice - Nature of Elf Enslavement

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 129611

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "a_svirn" <a_svirn at y...> wrote:
> ---  
> > bboyminn:
> >> Sadly, typical colonial Europeans, the wizards are very much
> > operating under and perpetuating a 'slave' mentality in themselves
> > and among the elves. I still take the stand that the only thing 
> > holding elves to their service is a rigid fierce unwavering sense 
> > of honor, commitment, tradition, and loyalty. Not force of law, 
> > not force of magic, but the elves own rigid fierce unwavering 
> > sense of honor, commitment, tradition, and loyalty. I can't say 
> > that magic plays NO role, but for the most part, it is the elves 
> > unwavering commitment that binds them  to service.
> > 
 
> a_svirn:
> 
> Do you mean to say that Dumbledore was blatantly lying when he
> claimed that elves are forced to wizards bidding by the enchantments
> of their kind? 
> 
> a-svirn

bboyminn:

No, quite the opposite, Dumbledore is making my point for me. 

The first part of my statement above, is that wizard are perpetuating
a 'slave' mentality in themselves and the elves, because perpetuating
that mentality gives power to the slave owner, and re-enforces their
own self-serving interests.

The second part of my statement about what binds an elf to his master,
is not necessarily contradicted by what Dumbledore says. In fact, in
my mind, my own statement is re-enforced by Dumbledore's.

The question is the nature of the 'enchantments of their kind'. 

The first and most important point is that it is 'their enchantments',
the Elves enchantments, that bind them, not enchantments by the Master
wizards or the Ministry or general magic. By envoking /their/
enchantments, Elves are placing themselves in slavery. Although, I
don't think Elves intend it to be true slavery. They intend it to be
honorable and loyal service. It is wizards who have taken advantage of
the situation and manipulated the elves commitment with a /slave
mentality/ in order for the wizards to thoroughly oppress and maintain
power and control over the elves.

Now to the nature of these /enchantments/. I contend that what binds
an elf is a rigid fierce unwavering sense of honor, commitment,
tradition, history, and loyalty. 

The Elves make a commitment to their masters, in a sense, they swear
an oath of allegiance and service to a master, and further to his
House, and his family through all current and subsequent generation.
To break this oath is the greatest shame and failure that a house-elf
can ever incur. To break this oath, is not only to betray his own word
and honor, but to betray his entire species. To fail, is not only to
fail himself and to fail his master, but to fail his family, his
ancestors, the history and honor of his race, and to betray the very
core essence of his kind.

That goes along way toward explaining Winky's reaction to being
released from service to Mr. Crouch. She wasn't simply being fired,
she was failing in the most complete and dishonorable way an elf could
be digrace. In her eyes, she betrayed her mother, and her mother's
mother, she failed to serve her master honorably and completely, and
in doing so, she betrayed the very core essense of her race. Such
thorough and complete dishonor and disgrace is not an easy thing to
recover from.

Dobby, on the otherhand, was not released from service for /failure/
of service, but by a fortuitous sequence of events. He got what he
wanted without the disgrace of failing to serve his master. 

Wizards have taken advantage of this core essense and unwavering
commitment by re-enforcing the 'slave mentality'. This is standard
fair for anyone who wants to retain complete control and power over
someone else. You oppress them, you suppress them, you drum into them
with unending unwavering vigor the idea that you are all powerful and
that they are ignorant, worthless, and most importantly powerless. You
do everything possible to make sure you instill in your servants a
sense of weakness and powerlessness. You keep them as ignorant, as
docile and servile as possible, because that keeps the wizards in
control. Further, it re-enforces the wizard own self-proclaimed,
self-deluded, self-important god-like sense of power and superiority.

So, in a small sense, the elves over many generation have been
brainwashed to forget that it was by their own choice that they
entered the service of their master. They have been endoctrinated into
accepting their ill-treatment and absolute servitude by self-serving
wizards. This has spanned so many generations that Elves have
encorporated that attitude into their own belief system. 

However, if nothing holds the elf but his own choice and his own sworn
oath, then in reality, it is nothing but centuries of tradition and
indoctrination that prevent him from leaving. 

The magic is in the tradition, history, and honor of elves and in the
oath he/she swore. But I content that if you can choose to serve, then
oath or no oath, tradition and history or not, honor or no, you can
choose to leave. But that is something that wizard, to their own
self-service, will deny and defend to their death rather than allow
the elves to realize it.

Side note - Hermione's Solution

In the deranged and unfinished world of my own fan fiction, in a very
very late chapter of an extremely long and unfinished story, Percy and
Hermione band together to solve the elves' problem

First, they get the Ministry to acknowledge that Elves are sentient
creatures, capable of complex language, and capable of complex
independant thinking.

Next, after a particularly horrendous and egregious incidence of human
slave, even worse, child slavery, Percy and Hermione introduce
legislation to ban slavery and make is a serious crime. To that
legislation, Herione attaches a clause that deals with house-elves. 

That puts the prominent members of government and the community in a
difficult position. If they aren't willing to acknowledge that Elves
are sentient, self-determined, and free creatures, then they are
conversely implying the elves are slaves and that wizards indeed are
participating in and perpetuating slavery. 

The wizard world might be slightly behind the modern world, but they
aren't so far behind that prominent members of government are going to
 openly and publicly endorse slavery. So, pardon the French, they are
screwed. They are force to acknowledge that Elves are indeed
self-determined and free. 

Further Percy and Hemione, adds to the legislation, ammendments that
define the nature of fair and reasonable service by House-Elves, and
penalties for wizards who failing to adhere to these standards. 

Hermione...you go girl. At least that's how you go in my book.

That IS my story, and I AM sticking to it.

Steve/bboyminn