[HPforGrownups] Harry and the house-elves---another view

[Lenore]

No: HPFGUIDX 162156

At 12:54 AM 11/29/06 -0600, Eric wrote:
>The house-elves' position is an interesting one.  To us, they seem to be
>slaves, at the mercy of their masters.  But---except for Dobby, who is
>presented as an anomalous case, they seem to be happy and contented as they
>are.  Winky, to take an obvious example, does not seem to be anywhere nearly
>as convinced of the glorious blessings of freedom as we'd expect of a
>recently-freed slave.
>
>One thing that a lot of posters on this point forget, again and again, is
>that _house-elves are NOT human!!!_  They are another race entirely.  Humans
>hate being enslaved.  House-elves may well see their situation as the
>highest and noblest calling available to them.  Dobby is not a typical
>example, and the other house-elves seem to consider him to be on the same
>level as the sort of harmless mentally-disturbed person one sees
>sometimes---not dangerous, but not to be emulated.
>
>[snipped paragraph]
>
>If all the house-elves were freed, they might be even more dangerous than
>Dementors or another goblin rebellion.  And, again, you can't generalize
>from Dobby, or Winky.  Neither of them is particularly typical of
>house-elves.  What if, once freed, they decided they'd been "cast aside and
>scorned" and began to wreak vengeance on all and sundry?



(from Lenore--This is my first post):

A new book on the subject by Anna Franklin, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 
Fairies, appears to confirm your theory, Eric.  She has collected many of 
the old traditions about elves and such. I will quote a little bit here:

"Some say that boggarts are house fairies [house elves] who have turned 
evil. They may wreck houses, steal children's suppers, and knock things on 
the floor. They can terrorize a whole district. They [can] eat wood and are 
able to consume a whole house.  If a family tries to move away from them 
they will climb into the crocks... and travel with the unfortunate people 
to their new home."

She says, about brownies [house elves]:
They "become attached to particular houses or families and who do odd jobs 
about the house and farm, learning, tidying up or helping with the 
brewing.  The only reward they ask is a bowl of cream or milk...."

"They live in dark corners of the house, or in some cases nearby hollow 
trees... They are good at hiding and can make themselves disappear at will. 
... If brownies are offended they can become malicious and turn into boggarts."

"(The fact that brownies do all the house and farm work for no more than 
their food was not lost on Lord Baden-Powell who named his packs of junior 
Girl Guides 'Brownies', as opposed to the more adventurous 'Wolf Packs' of 
his boys - a pertinent comment on the sexual stereotyping of the era.)"

Lenore (chuckling at that last thought, and wondering if JKR was wanting to 
make that very point)