[HPforGrownups] Why are Dobby and Grawp so annoying? (Was: Freedom for House-Elves)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 162253

Carol:
> Does that help at all? I'm not expecting you to agree with my
> characterization, just explaining why I find Dobby annoying and
> wondering how my reaction to him compares with yours and that of
> anyone else who wants to join this thread.
>
> Carol, wishing that the Hogwarts kids could just do their own laundry,
> with or without a spell, or have it done by a paid human housekeeping
> staff

Magpie:
Just adding my own opinion, but I think what bugs me about both Dobby and 
Grawp is the sort of romanticization of inferiority.  Dobby has no dignity 
in the way he's constantly kissing up to Harry for doing what was right, 
something Dobby deserved.  Grawp, meanwhile, is Hagrid's half-brother but is 
treated like a pet.  At times it's like Hagrid's put a leash on his mentally 
challenged brother like just another one of his dangerous animals. At other 
times it's like Grawp's just being a giant makes him animalistic.  Giants 
are supposed to be simply a different society, yet Grawp must be "civilized" 
by being dressed up in Wizard clothes and taught to ape the manners of 
Wizards, presumably validating the colonial/native vibes of the Hagrid's 
Tale chapter.  And Grawp responds to this with affection (like most of 
Hagrid's animals he instinctively warms to the right people). Grawp's 
personality is imo inconsistent with the other giants as well--he seems 
incoherent compared to what we hear of the others. It's not pleasant to 
imagine what kind of marriage produced Hagrid if his father was meant to 
have married a female version of Grawp.

Kreacher, ironically, doesn't really bother me because despite having the 
same superficial qualities as Dobby his personality seems much more defiant. 
When he fawns over the dead Blacks or the Malfoys, it reads to me as more 
tied to his own sense of superiority, even if that superiority comes from 
being the slave of a good family.  Winky, too, is at her least annoying to 
me when she's asserting herself against Wizards.

This is something I've really spend time trying to resolve in my head: why 
is Dobby, the elf that wants to be free, seemingly the most obsequious of 
all?  It's like his, to me, attractive claim to his freedom is overbalanced 
by something approaching self-hatred of his race or something.  Maybe that's 
not it.  It's hard to put my finger on.

-m