House elves question

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 174609

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Sherry Gomes <sherriola at ...> 
wrote:
> The other Sherry:
> And now, after knowing Dumbledore's story, and the lengths to which 
>he'll go to achieve his end, it is no longer confusing to me that as 
>headmaster he would own slaves, uh, I mean house elves.  I always 
>found it so hard to understand why DD did not have only free elves 
>working at Hogwarts, because I'll never be able to get myself to 
>accept that they actually like being slaves of wizards.  After DH, I 
>find it pretty much in character for DD. That's one story line I 
>wish had been resolved, the freedom for house elves.

va32h:

What free elves? There are no free elves except Dobby, and I hardly 
think that Dobby could manage to do all the cooking and cleaning at 
Hogwarts all by himself, even if elves do have their own special 
magic.

Acceptable to the readership or not - the house-elves, as JKR created 
them, do not desire freedom, and are insulted (the Hogwarts elves) or 
horrified (Winky) at the offer of freedom.

Dumbledore was more than happy to give Dobby a salary and benefits 
when Dobby applied for his job. Had the other elves wanted such 
things, there is no reason to believe that Dumbledore would not have 
given them to all the other elves as well. 

And I have no idea what the existence of house elves at Hogwarts has 
to do with Dumbledore's "ends" or his plans with or for Harry. 

Just because the elf issue wasn't resolved as you would have liked to 
have seen it doesn't mean it wasn't resolved at all. Hermione, 
champion of elvish welfare, does not expect Harry to free Kreacher, 
does she? No, she seems to have come to the realization that freeing 
elves against their will or desire is not the way to make them want 
freedom for its own sake. Hermione does urge Harry to be kind to 
Kreacher. She still finds it horrifying that elves are conditioned to 
punish themselves if they disobey, but the solution to that would 
appear to be, according to DH, to not give them orders that are so 
onerous to keep. Hermione has no problem eating food prepared by 
Kreacher, in a home cleaned by Kreacher. She seems to have resolved 
the issue in her own mind, at least. 

I understand that you can't believe house elves actually like being 
the slaves of wizards. Neither could Hermione. But if the elf insists 
that he or she does like being a slave - isn't it presumptuous and 
rather demeaning to say "Well you don't mean that. You say you like 
it, but since I can't understand why you would like it, you simply 
can't like it." 

It would be pointless to free an elf who did not wish to be free - 
just as pointless as arguing with a goblin over the ownership of a 
goblin-made object. Goblins don't see the world as wizards do, elves 
don't see the world as wizards do. 

Frankly, I was shocked that the centaurs joined the battle of 
Hogwarts, given this trend. But perhaps the centaurs had been star 
gazing, and the stars said "if Harry Potter dies, you're all 
screwed!" and decided they'd better try to save their own hides. 

va32h