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

[Charles Walker Jr]

No: HPFGUIDX 161901

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Magpie" <belviso at ...> wrote:
 
> Magpie:
> Sure, they were all basing their characters on something--but the 
question 
> is why would JK Rowling be using that particular view of slaves in 
her books 
> today? She's supposed to be a 21st century author, one of whose 
themes is 
> that Wizards viewing other species as inferior is wrong. So why 
would she 
> feel she needed a race based on 19th century slave stereotypes?

Charles:

I'm not so sure that she based the house elves themselves on those 
stereotypes. I think she rather built the view that *Harry* sees from 
the WW on those stereotypes. The elves are certainly not like human 
slaves, nor is their slavery exactly paralell.

And now for my take on the whole elf slavery issue:
I've seen several folks say that the house elves cannot be 
representative of human slavery because the circumstances are not 
exactly the same.I really don't think so. I think that the only 
paralell necessary for it to serve as a representative of human 
slavery is that sentient beings are owned by other sentient beings. 
But whether it is or is not representative of human slavery, there 
*must* be differences because not only are the house elves a 
different species, those who enslave them have magic to enforce their 
obedience.

*If* the house elves are really as against freedom as we have seen, 
(a *big* if in my opinion) I think the question we should ask is if 
it is because of the enchantments that wizards seem to have placed 
upon the entire species? I see this as a great possibility. We've 
only seen two elves rebel against their masters- Dobby and Kreacher. 
I grant that there may have been other cases, but I propose that it 
takes a house elf with extraordinary magic to break through the 
enchantment at all. With those who do, it takes a major effort on 
their part. Dobby was made to punish himself by the Malfoys often, 
and we see Dobby still struggle with the enchantment even after being 
freed. Kreacher, on the other hand has shown no desire to punish 
himself for speaking ill of his masters. Kreacher cannot seem to 
direct these comments directly at Harry or Sirius, instead muttering 
them. Whether a case of being cooped up too long with an insane 
portrait in #12 causing him to mutter his thoughts, or a way for him 
to rebel without actually backtalking his master directly, this can 
be seen as a break with the enchantment. The opposite case is Winky, 
who remains fiercely loyal to Crouch even after he sends her packing. 
She cannot speak ill of him, even though he has cast her aside. 

Another possibility I see for the house elves "fear of freedom" (for 
lack of a better term at the moment)is tradition. While human slavery 
has existed in human cultures for longer than anyone who loves our 
species would really care to admit, it has not been as continuous for 
one group of people as it has presumably been for house elves. If I 
understand the situation correctly, house elves have been serving 
human wizards for over a thousand years, since before the founding of 
Hogwarts. That would seen to me to be a tradition that is pretty 
tough to break with. For many hundreds of years, they have known 
nothing but the slavery that is their lot now. Although we don't see 
elf reproduction, we can assume it happens. Elves would therefore be 
raised from birth to believe that their place is to serve humans. In 
human societies, tradition is a very strong compulsion and very hard 
to break with. Look at how recently the subservience of women was 
called into question and rejected in western societies-many of which 
actually were matriarchal before the spreading of Christianity. There 
are still people even now who are trying to put women "back in their 
place," even though enlightened people would be happy to see that 
barbarism disappear forever. Indeed, to look at something a good deal 
less important, yet nonetheless ingrained as tradition, look at 
clothing. For thousands of years, men wore skirtlike garments in most 
cultures. Trousers are a fairly recent invention. But some people 
will go absolutely nuts at the sight of a man in a Kilt, skirt or 
caftan, calling them perverted, evil crossdressers- when just 400 
years ago trousers as we know them didn't even exist. So after a 
thousand years or more of elves serving humans as slaves, never 
taking payment, what will be thought of a boat rocker who wants a 
galleon or two for his work? What will be thought of a person who 
wants to take numerous elves away from the only life they've ever 
known?

That being said, slavery is wrong, in human or house elf. That the 
elves *seem* to enjoy their servitude and fear the challenging of the 
way of life they were raised to believe in does not make that  
servitude proper. As I said earlier, there are backwards people who 
want women to go back to what they call their "proper place" and be 
submissive to men again. The road to freedom for western women was a 
long row to hoe, and the pioneers who first set out on it were 
treated by their sisters as mad or evil. That still did not make the 
way women were treated at the time right. I'm hoping that in the 
epilogue to book seven that JKR has spoken of, we find out that the 
house elves do eventually win their freedom and shake off the 
opression of wizards. 

On a whole different train of thought that just crashed into my sleep 
deprived head- what if the house elves turned out to be all descended 
from a particular (wizard) family that fell afoul of a very powerful 
(dark) wizard? I'm not seriously suggesting that that will come 
around, it just popped into my head as I was getting done with this 
post. 

Charles, who had to weigh in on this topic at some point.

P.S.- If any of this doesn't make sense, I blame it on a combination 
of two days insomnia combined with cold medication.