House Elf Loyalty

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 151659

> Magpie:
 
> The difficulties arise when the House Elves don't follow the 
straight path 
> of logic that Hermione and Dumbledore follow.  Perhaps one problem 
is that 
> it's never been approached as a dialogue about how wizards don't 
feel 
> comfortable owning house elves as slaves. 

a_svirn:
Yesss! I was really struck by the way Harry accept ownership of 
Kreacher and even had the gall to call it *responsibility*! Probably 
the only instant in the whole series where he's acting 
hypocritically.  

> Magpie:
>Perhaps if it were put to them 
> that way it would pose the same kind of problem we face from the 
other 
> direction: you want to free them as slaves, but they want to be 
slaves, so 
> you can't free them without imposing your will on them.  
Similarly, if the 
> house elves want to serve and do what people want, and the people 
don't want 
> to own them as slaves, they can't do what people want without 
accepting 
> freedom.  If everybody got down to that basic problem, maybe they 
could 
> compromise in a way that worked for everyone.

a_svirn:
Well, if they want to be slaves against your whishes then *they* 
impose their will on *you*. Can't have that, can we? 

But in truth, it's not quite like that. We are explicitly told that 
they have been bound to wizards by certain enchantments. And I don't 
think that "cloths" really bring them *freedom*, because they are 
probably still not free from those enchantments. They only become 
*free* from their masters. This is where Hermione's strategy is 
flawed – she never bothered to find out what magic is involved and 
how it can be neutralized. 

Moreover, however you would describe their nature, one thing is 
certain – they are *not* happy about the status quo. Dobby did not 
speak only for himself when he said about their lot having got 
heavier during Voldemort's first rise. Nor did he use the word 
*enslavement* by accident. Out of three elves we've seen so far only 
Winky was happy about her situation. But then, her position in 
Crouch's household wasn't that of an ordinary slave employed in some 
menial capacity. She was a trusted servant, deep in her master 
confidence. She was even permitted to exercise her magical powers 
over a wizard! Granted, her power over Crouch Junior was delegated 
to her by Crouch Senior, but that only emphasizes her importance and 
indispensability. The other two were anything but happy about their 
bondage. Dobby used every ounce of cunning to frustrate and obstruct 
his master's schemes, finding loopholes in his orders and even 
coming up with a few plots of his own. Kreacher was more or less in 
an open rebellion, although he didn't disdain cunning either. 
Whatever their nature, they both were (and Kreacher still is) 
clearly forced against it.