a sandwich

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 178822

a_svirn wrote:
> While I agree on the whole with your description of the individual 
house elves arcs, I still don't see why we shouldn't regard them as 
parts of the whole. Indeed, I am certain we should, for to dissect a
story – any story – into a set individual "arcs" that bear no 
> relevance to the overall structure would devoid it of any sense 
> whatsoever (and make it utterly unreadable). And if we put these 
> three live histories into the context we'll see that Dobby was, as 
> you say, an oddity, a freak of nature, and that it's probably just as 
> well that Rowling killed him off as she did, for he wouldn't fit the 
> brave new world any better that he fit the old gloomy one. We'll also 
> see that this brave new world is a world where natural slaves (elves) 
> live in perfect harmony with their natural masters (wizards). We can 
> shrug and leave it at that of course, but I for one can't help 
> wondering why Rowling would have it so.
>
Carol responds:
I'm not sure that I agree with this point of view since, by the same
token, we'd have to judge the Death Eaters' arcs as part of a larger
"Death Eater arc," and we don't know what happened to the Death Eaters
as a group, only to individual DEs whose stories were presented from
the outset in some form (notably the Malfoy family and the renegade
DE, Snape), or at least foreshadowed in earlier books (Bellatrix
Lestrange, Igor Karkaroff, Regulus Black, et al.). I suppose we could
say that the Death Eater arc ends with the death of Voldemort because
there will be no new DEs, but we still don't know what became of, say,
Rabastan Lestrange or even his brother, Rodolphus, who is injured in
the Seven Potters incident and is never mentioned again. There's no
Wizards' arc, either, only the outcome of the battle and the fates of
individual witches and wizards. As for a Goblin arc, all we get is the
death of one Goblin and the reappearance of another, who, despite
being rescued and healed, nevertheless demands payment for his
services with a sword which was paid for by Godric Gryffindor and to
which his only claim is that another Goblin made it a thousand years
before. We get his individual arc, sort of (he doesn't show up at the
battle but we can assume that he lives). Anyway, I don't see why we
can't have the stories of three individual House-Elves without an
overall "House-Elf arc."

Just out of curiosity, I'll ask again a question I've raised several
times that has yet to be answered. What would freeing the House-Elves,
who want to work for wizards, accomplish? Maybe the MoM or Harry or
some influential person or organization could suggest offering freedom
to any House-Elf who wants it, but freedom would have to mean
something other than a set of clothes, disgrace, and unemployment.
Maybe if individual House-Elves had the option of retaining their jobs
without fear of being fired and with token wages and the right to wear
clothes, a few unusual Houes-Elves would choose that option. Those who
were happy with the status quo would not. And abused House-Elves would
need some sort of recourse, perhaps a law that forced their masters
either to treat them well or to free them. But a freed House-Elf would
still be homeless, Knutless, and unemployed.

Carol, who really and truly does not understand why posters see
House-Elf freedom as in itself a good thing and would appreciate an
explanation of the benefits these posters envisioned