Kreacher the Plot Device Elf

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 161811

> Magpie:
 
> Basically I guess what I'm saying is...it seems kind of weird to me 
> to say that the house elves are supposed to be an analogy to real 
> life slaves, because real life slaves all loved their masters, and 
> would have been devestated to leave them, and they were just loyal 
> and affectionate with nothing to hold against them. Isn't that kind 
> of a sunny view of slavery? 

a_svirn:
Put like that it does sound weird. Although definitely not a "sunny 
view on slavery". I mean, the worst thing that can happen to anybody 
is to become mentally twisted like that. 

Personally I think it's not that by elves Rowling meant human slaves, 
I believe that by their *enslavement* she meant to show the ultimate 
temptation and corruption of power. And that, in turn, shares 
recognisable characteristics with human slavery. In other words it's 
not humans who are the point of the analogy, but slavery as a 
phenomenon. Like human slaves elves aren't really "by nature" slaves, 
but, as Dumbledore said, they are what wizards made them (human 
slaves are what other humans make them). That's the point of the 
whole thing – they aren't slaves by nature, no one is (and *that* 
would be not only a pointless analogy, but also ethically dubious 
one), but they have been brought up to regard themselves as slaves 
(to say nothing of enchantments that bind them to their masters). 

As Betsy keeps saying magic is power, and indeed it is. Everyone 
seems to bow to power – even the good guys are far from being 
impervious to the temptation. Dumbledore's authority is based on the 
fact that he is the most powerful wizard, as for his social and 
political views and agendas, most of the phoenixes can't even be sure 
what they are, since he is not one to explain himself to mere 
mortals. And easily two ugliest ways of misusing power in the WW – 
death eating (as a political movement) and the elf enslavement share 
lots of characteristics in common. Self-abasement of death eaters and 
self abasement of elves, the sick devotion to the Lord and Master 
etc.