[HPforGrownups] Re: House elves question

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 174617

va32h:
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. 



Sherry:
I could not come to grips with a so-called epitome of goodness being
comfortable with the enslavement of an entire group of beings.   Knowing
that DD is manipulative and not quite so good after all--of course in my
opinion--makes it easier to understand how he could live with it.



va32h:
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." 




Sherry:
I suppose we all have things that get to us, based either on our personal
experience or knowledge or history of our world or simply the things that
really push our buttons.  I have no personal experience with slavery, nor do
any of my ancestors, as far as I know.  But I don't have to have experienced
it to have felt angry and grieved when studying slavery in my country, the
US, during school history classes.  No, I'm not African American, but that
didn't stop me from feeling ill over those studies.  I remember reading how
white slave owners would claim that the slaves *liked* being slaves, that
they were happy being slaves.  It struck me as a shameful justification
then, even when I was too young to know the word justification.  

To bring this back to HP and house elves, every time I hear a wizard in the
books say that house elves *like* being slaves, that they are happy, it
makes me cringe.  It takes me right back to those history classes.  I don't
like it, and nothing in the text of the books made me like it any better.
That doesn't mean I dislike the books, and I'm not particularly disappointed
overall, but I'd have liked to have seen house elves be free.  There are
just times when my real world collides with my fantasy reading, and it would
do so on this topic in any story.  I'm not condemning or judging JKR,
because I know she's not claiming slavery is good.  Obviously, to me,
anyway,  house elf enslavement is another problem in the wizarding world,
but it wasn't the point of this series to resolve it.  I'm ok with that, but
I don't have to mentally just be ok with house elf enslavement.

Sherry