God for Harry, England, and a Sandwich

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 178858

> bboyminn:
> <SNIP>
> But there is one very critical point you have to accept, 
> House Elves REALLY ARE different than Human Slavery.
> <SNIP>

> Alla (snipped):

> BUT I personally lost count how many times Magpie wrote 
> precisely what you are asking her to accept.
 
> YES, from what I read she really DOES accept that House 
> Elves are different than Human Slavery, she just not 
> comfortable with this all the same.

Goddlefrood:

If it is accepted that House-elves are a different kind of 
slave from a human slave, perhaps exactly how they differ 
might be worth some expansion. That is, apart from the fact 
that house-elves are obviously not human. The house-elf, as 
I see it, is little more than a domestic servant, whereas 
human slaves were and still are used for a variety of tasks, 
just one of which is as domestic servant. Additionally, if, 
as seems to be the case, one is equating house-elves with the 
slaves typically taken from Africa and transported to North 
America to work in various agricultural operations and elsewhere, 
then one has to say that there is a big difference. That both 
are slaves - a working definition of which would be a being 
that works for a master without payment - is not really an 
issue.

The issue appears to be whether or not house-elves serving 
and, importantly, being servile to, a human master is right. 
With the build-up given to SPEW in book 4 there were many 
readers, amongst them this one, who were expecting some 
further exposition on whether house-elves became more like 
the freed Dobby or whether they remained in thrall to their 
wizard masters. That Hermione uttered nary a word against 
the continued enslavement of the house-eleves for the rest 
of the series after GoF, barring the occasional line here 
and there, is the issue. That the ideal expressed through 
her founding of SPEW, however misguided that attempt to 
manumit the house-elves may have been viewed by many, was 
effectively abandoned to the point where it was given no 
further attention is the problem. Had SPEW not existed I 
feel that the controversy would be lesser.

If Ms. Rowling decides one day to say that in the year 2036 
the house-elves were freed then, in light of much of her off
-page utterances, I would not believe her. That they were 
freed in the year 2036 is a matter of to be recorded history 
;-).

Goddlefrood, suggesting that house-elves are more like hobs 
than brownies.