Freedom for House-Elves (Was: Kreacher the Plot Device Elf)

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 161864

Betsy Hp:
But you can't use Gone with the Wind as an accurate portrayal of the
attitude of American slaves. It was written in the 1930's and
looked back at the South with sepia colored glasses. And Uncle
Tom's Cabin, even while giving us "affectionate and faithful"
slaves, was written expressly to fight *against* slavery. So it
wasn't trying to suggest that ending slavery would be cruel to the
slaves.

a_svirn:
But that's exactly what I am saying, Betsy. If Beecher Stowe wrote 
about defiant and rebellious slaves, eager to free themselves from 
the white man's yoke, we could dismiss Scarlett's "mammy" as a sort 
of anomaly, or even wishful thinking on Mitchell's part. But thing is 
the picture they both paint is remarkably similar. The only 
difference is that one is looking at it misty-eyed, while other is 
genuinely appalled. So I'd say it's a good bet that "mammy" was very 
much the norm. 

Carol:
<Snip> I agree with
Magpie that House-Elf slavery, which in most cases is voluntary
servitude despite the binding magical contracts, doesn't really
parallel human slavery, pre-Civil War American or otherwise.

a_svirn:
How come it's "voluntary" servitude, when we were told quite 
distinctly that it's *enslavement* enforced by certain charms? 
Moreover, two out of three elves we've seen so far rendered their 
services most *in*voluntary. As far as I can see the only voluntary 
slaves in the WW are death eaters. 

Carol:
But you make an interesting point here: we know of no previous
House-Elf rebellion.

a_svirn:
Well, if it comes to that, was there a great slave rebellion in pre-
Civil War America? (And the Civil War wasn't exactly a *rebellion*, 
since it wasn't initiated by slaves.) Or in the British colonies? Or 
anywhere else, for that matter? The only example I can think of right 
now is the *Servile* War of Spartacus in Ancient Rom. But then, 
Spartacus and his comrades gladiators were men born free (and some of 
them even quite high-born), trained in combat and captured in 
battles. They knew what it's like to be free and didn't have any 
emotional bonds with their masters (unless we can count hatred). 
Hereditary slavery is different. And house-elves slavery is of a 
hereditary sort.