God for Harry, England, and a Sandwich

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 178843

People seemed up in arms over the idea that after a long night,
great stress and strife, little sleep and little food, Harry
is tired and hungry. Well,(he says sarcastically) if that
isn't a surprise.

You can not be condemned for your thoughts, and if society
reaches that level, then we are all doomed. Harry was tired
and hungry, and he thought about how he might get a sandwich.
He thought maybe Kreacher might bring him one because that
is what Kreacher does. 

But, and this is a very big but, there is no evidence that
he actually asked Kreacher to do this. So, how can his actions
be deemed wrong, when there were no actions? Once again, if
we start condemning people for their thoughts, we are all in
very great trouble.

As to the whole concept of Kreacher, Harry, and slavery, I
think people are taking an unrealistically simplistic view
of the situation. Harry does not like owning a slave, but
a slave was forced upon him, and he has to deal with it.

What should he do; let Kreacher go? You realize that would
probably kill Kreacher. So Kreacher dead of dispair is
apparently better that Kreacher doing what he likes to do? 
In the time and circumstances that are available to Harry,
there is really very little he can do about Kreacher. Harry
certainly has higher priorities at the moment; say priorities
like...oh, I don't know...VOLDEMORT.

Harry views Kreacher as a problem. That is, he views Kreacher
as being his slave and/or servant as a problem, and I'm
sure at some point in time, he will try to find a way to 
deal with the problem. Maybe at some point he does free
Kreacher. Maybe at some point, he allows Kreacher to earn
a salary for his work. Maybe he realizes that Kreacher is
old and set in his ways, and the most merciful thing to
do it let him live out the remainder of his short life
doing what the wants to do, which is, of course, 
serving respectful and kind humans - meaning Harry and
family. 

But these are all very delicate actions, that must be 
carefully thought out and even more carefully executed.
Regardless of how we feel, Kreacher is not going to react
well to anything that smacks of freedom or dismissal. To
preserve Kreacher's comfort, as I said, Harry is going to 
have to proceed slowly and delicately. The results of not
doing /this/ carefully, could be disastrous for Kreacher. 

Further, on the whole subject of slavery, let me note the
the USA has still not fully recovered from its episode of
slavery. Its effects are still coloring and distorting our
world today about a 150 years after slavery was abolished.

Also note that the world's record in general is even more
abysmal that the USA's. Slavery and equivalent to slavery
still exists all over the world today. There is a chance
that some of the objects that you own were made by what
is the modern day equivalent of slavery. 

It seems completely unrealistic to think that the house
elf problem could be completely resolved by the end of 
the books. JKR said in an interview that Hermoine went
to work in Dept. of Magical Law, and greatly expanded 
the right of House Elves and other magical creatures. 
What more could one person do in a society that is so 
resistant to change? What more could we expect? 

As to Harry and Kreacher, Kreacher is only a slave if
Harry treats him like property. If Harry is willing to
allow Kreacher to come and go as he pleases, and Kreacher
chooses to stay, how is that slavery? If Harry treats
Kreacher with kindness and respect, how is that slavery?

As I've said many times before in House Elf/Slavery
discussions, we don't know the nature of what holds House
Elves to their Masters. We assume it is by brute force and
coercion of that Masters, but it could just as likely be 
Elfin Honor. When an elf makes a commitment to a family,
it could be that the Elfin Honor of that Elf and future
generations of that Elf, hold them bound to their 
commitment. THEY make an oath (real or figurative) of 
loyalty that they will not break. Consequently, they are 
willing to suffer abuse and misuse to uphold that oath of
honor and loyalty.

In this case, it is not wizards who are holding Elves in
slavery, it is Elfin Honor that holds them. Now, don't 
get me wrong, even if it is Elfin Honor, I'm absolutely
sure that wizard exploited that Honor in the most
egregious and self-serving way. Perhaps even to the point
where House-elf oppression has been ingrained into the
Elves over centuries of abuse. 

My point is, that I think playing the Human Slavery card,
when discussing elves is misguided. True Dobby calls
himself 'enslaved' but we don't know the foundation,
nature, or context of that 'enslavement'. With out that 
context, I think comparisons to human slavery are flawed. 
Note, we see nothing in the books about the buying and selling
of House Elves. However, we do see a House Elf Relocation
Office, which I assume gets new jobs for House Elves that
have become redundant or have been dismissed. 

As a broad metaphor, I think comparisons to human slavery
are valid, but when we lose that broad and general context
and get down to the nitty-gritty, I think it is flawed and
of limited value to the discussion. House Elf 'enslavement'
is not a direct parallel to human slavery. We don't see 
Elves being captured in the wild. We do not see them being
bought and sold. We do not know the nature of those 
enchantments that hold them. 

Note, when Dobby speaks of those enchantments, I believe he 
refers to them as 'the enchantments of our kind', meaning 
elfin enchantments.  

There are very real and critical differences between House
Elf 'enslavement' and human slavery, and I think we are
misguided if we lose sight of that.

So, knowing Harry, I see no problem with him 'owning'
Kreacher, because I assume at some point he will deal with
the situation is the best possible way. 

I also have no problem with Harry wanting a sandwich and
thinking of Kreacher because thoughts aren't crimes. 

Just one man's opinion.

Steve/bboyminn

PS: the subject title is a re-write of Henry V- Act 3-
Scene 1. The speech ends with 'God for Harry, England,
and Saint George'. Just thought you might like to know.