[HPforGrownups] Re: Elves and freedom, Hermione

[dracojadon at yahoo.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 170352

Kemper:
> Instead of poopooing Hermione (and I'm not saying you are, Jadon),
> what should she have done besides following the status quo and, as
> others suggest, continuing the practice of species enslavement but
> treating slaves kinder?

jadon:
At the moment, I'm not sure she ought to be doing anything: her first  
priority should be and is to back up Harry and defeat LV. The House- 
Elf Rights problem is not as urgent as the war: pretty much everyone,  
including the elves, is (as far as we know - I want to hear more  
about 1973) happy with the status quo. Perhaps that's part of the  
problem: it's been let slide.

Being Hermione, I'd suggest a good place for her to start would be to  
take a clipboard and start interviewing some elves in her spare time.  
At the moment she's trying to fix the problem without having properly  
researched it -- I wonder if this is one of the things in her  
character (impulsive, well-intentioned, stubborn; in crisis losing  
that cultivated veneer of academicity) that tipped the Sorting Hat's  
decision towards putting her in Gryffindor, and not Ravenclaw.

IMO 'continuing the practice of species enslavement' but treating the  
elves more kindly is a pretty good interim solution till Hermione/JKR  
does some research into the historical reasons for house-elf  
enslavement on behalf of the readers. My general point: we don't know  
enough to make judgements on the fate of the species, any more than  
Hermione does.

Kemper:
> I think an example of exemplary kindness to one's slave is not the
> same as an exemplary example of a human.

jadon:
I'm not exactly sure what you're saying there - are you referring to  
Sirius in GoF?

Jadon