House-Elf Justice - Nature of Elf Enslavement

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 129642

> 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.

<snip>

I notice that you abandoned your coinage "voluntary servitude" and 
switched to "honourable service". This is good thing 
since `servitude' and `slavery' is pretty much the same thing, 
while "honourable service" leaves much more space for semantic 
games. Yet in the given context the meaning is rather obscure 
(perhaps intentionally?) Just what those first elves who 
entered "service to a master, and further to his House, and his 
family through all current and subsequent generation" intended to do 
in their honourable service? Laundry, cleaning  and cooking and 
other menial chores in wizarding households? I find the 
word "honourable" surprisingly anticlimactic for those tasks. I 
further doubt that these tasks merit all that pomp with allegiance 
oaths, fierce loyalty etc. that pass down the generations. I also 
think that it is too much of a coincidence that elves "offered" 
their services only to families with a prominent social standing and 
great wealth.

As for the `enchantments of their kind', you can't really have it 
both ways. Either they are bound by the oath or by magic. If you 
mean to say that the oath IS magic, then it undermines all you were 
saying about their loyalty etc. since it's not their honour that 
binds but charms. If they are so honourable then there is no magic 
required. Oh, and by the way, what do you mean by "in a sense, they 
swear an oath of allegiance and service to a master"? You know, how 
it with an oath: either you give it or not, you can't do it "in a 
sense".  

Concerning the `slave mentality'. Are you saying that elves were 
made by wizards to "think" that they had been enslaved, whereas in 
reality they are free and bound only by honour? This is a very 
elegant theory, I really quite like it, but unfortunately there is a 
serious drawback: you see, slaves have no honour. Honour, loyalty 
etc. – all these fine things are for free persons, not someone who 
is degraded to the state of property. So – if indeed the only bond 
that exists between a wizard and an elf is that of an oath of the 
allegiance – it is in wizard's interest NOT to re-enforce "slave 
mentality" but on the contrary to make sure that they remember the 
nature of their commitment. By "brainwashing" elves wizards would 
wash away the very foundation of their relationship. 

And just out of interest: where in the HP books did you find any 
suggestion of these "oaths and allegiances"? 

a_svirn