JKR, Harry, and the nature of House-Elves: (Was: "Morality" and "tolerance" in

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 178900

a_svirn:
> When and what did do anything in the last two books to stop their
self abuse? She did no such thing. She hasn't done a thing to improve
Kreacher's lot. Kreacher's lot is exactly as it was – Harry still owns
> him and still makes use of him. And Harry never was a cruel master to
> begin with: he might have loathed his slave, but he never abused him.
> Granted, he stopped loath Kreacher, but Hermione can't claim credit
> for that. It was Kreacher's story that made the difference. What
> Hermione did do, Jen, she used her newfound insight in the elvish
> nature and psychology to help her slave-owning friend to convert an
> unhappy, rebellious and potentially dangerous slave into happy, loyal
> and obedient one. That's what her social activism came to. She changed
> sides.
>
Carol responds:

Forgive me. I'm not being sarcastic. I'm just puzzled. What *should*
or *could* Hermione have done differently? Should she (and Harry) have
ldft Kreacher as he was, miserable, filthy, hostile, and dangerous? Or
worse, set him free in that state, forcing him to leave what he
considered to be his home?

Kreacher is not only clean and happy now, no longer spouting
pure-blood superiority propaganda and epithets like "Mudblood," he
actually *led the Hogwarts House-Elves* in the battle against the DEs
and Voldemort--an independent action that had nothing to do with an
order from Harry (who is actually talked out of issuing such an order
by, of all people, Ron(. Kreacher and the House-elves *chose* to fight
in the battle (and then return to work, which is what they like to do).

If Hermione "changed sides," might it be that she was wrong in the
first place? Or rather, that she realized that the House-Elves really
did not want freedom and perhaps could not be freed, at least en masse?

Maybe a House-Elf is not so much a dog, as some people on this list
have said, as a childlike being, with the ability to speak and feel
and think, but different from Wizards as adults are different from
children. The House-Elf needs food, tea towels, and shelter, but he
also needs understanding and respect for his way of thinking, a master
he's willing to serve. He neither needs nor wants what we call freedom
(unless he's Dobby, and Dobby remains a House-Elf, not a wizard, in
his needs and his psychology even after he's freed from servitude to a
particular family). Until and unless that fundamental need to serve a
human master changes, kind treatment and understanding are all that
can be done. And the worst thing possible is to give a House-Elf like
the unreformed Kreacher whom no family would employ, much less pay,
his "freedom." That would be sick and heartless and cruel.

You can't force a House-Elf into a human mold any more than you can
turn a boy into a girl by dressing him as one (or vice versa). If you
own a House-Elf that you can't free and who does not want to be freed,
you treat him the way he wants to be treated. That's what both Harry
and Hermione eventually understand. (Ron, I think, knew it all along.)

As for SPEW, of course Hermione dropped it. It wasn't going anywhere.
If she couldn't get her best friends to join her crusade, she wasn't
going to get any followers, period. And it would have been tactless to
continue knitting Elf hats (which perhaps Ron and Harry finally told
her that Dobby was picking up) when her good friend was, willy nilly,
a House-Elf owner. (Obviously, knitting elf hats in DH, when they were
nowhere near Hogwarts, was pointless.)

While I don't consider JKR's interviews as having any value myself,
people in this thread keep sying that she equated House-elf slavery
with human slavery (an idea suggested to her by a questioner, BTW).
However, she also said, "House-elves are different from wizards; they
have their own brand of magic, and the ability to appear and disappear
within the castle is necessary to them if they are to go about their
work unseen, as house-elves traditionally do," which indicates that
House-Elves really are based on brownies or hobs or some similar
creature from folklore with different values and traditions from
humans. http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=73 

JKR also stated quite bluntly that Hermione was wrong-headed about
SPEW (as Ron and Harry could have told her): 

"JK[R]: . . . Hermione, with the best of intentions, becomes quite
self-righteous. My heart is entirely with her as she goes through
this. She develops her political conscience. My heart is completely
with her. But my brain tells me, which is a growing-up thing, that in
fact she blunders towards the very people she's trying to help. She
offends them. She's not very sensitive to their. . . [cut off by
moderator Evan Solomon]

"E[S]: She's somewhat condescending to the elves who don't have rights.

"JK[R]: She thinks it's so easy. It's part of what I was saying before
about the growing process, of realizing you don't have quite as much
power as you think you might have and having to accept that. Then you
learn that it's hard work to change things and that it doesn't happen
overnight. Hermione thinks she's going to lead them to glorious
rebellion in one afternoon and then finds out the reality is very
different, but that was fun to write."

For the context of these remarks, see the complete interview at

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-hottype-solomon.htm

It's the moderator, Evan solomon, who suggests that GOF is about "race
relations and civil rights," and JKR goes along with him, perhaps not
wanting to spoil the plot. (The House-Elves aren't going to be freed
and they don't want to be freed. They're not people. Sorry, Evan.)

In the end, it's *Kreacher* who leads the Hogwarts House-Elves to
"glorious rebellion," not against Houese-Elf "enslavement" but against
the enemy of both of Kreacher's acknowledged masters, Harry Potter and
the beloved Regulus Black, "champion of House-Elves." The Hogwarts
House-Elves don't want change (if Voldemort wins, they'll be treated
cruelly again); they want to maintain the status quo (which they
apparently had under Snape as well as Dumbledore)--safe working
conditions without mistreatment (unless you count Slughorn's using a
House-Elf to test for poison, which neither DD nor Hermione knew about).

More on Hermione:

" JKR: Well in book four, for me, Harry, Ron and Hermione, all of
them, are really starting to find their own identities <snip> And
Hermione gets a political conscience. Hey!

"[Interviewer:] Is this your idea of Hermione lightening up as you've
said before?

"JKR: No, she will.

[Interviewer;] She didn't seem that light to me [in GoF] she was quite
radical.

"JKR: Yeah, she's a good girl Hermione. I agree with you she's not
that light in this book but people made the mistake--when I was
writing book four--of assuming that my answers related to book four,
there are another three books to go. <snip>"

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-cbbc-mzimba.htm

The answers, including the resolution of the House-Elf question, are
not in Book Four. IOW, S.P.E.W. is not and never was the answer, as
the House-Elves themselves made clear. And JKR also says, in the same
interview, "I've never, no I've never set out to teach anyone
anything." (Though she does, IMO, expect readers not only to
understand but to share her political views, whether it's an
opposition to Margaret Thatcher during Thatcher's tenure as PM or the
idea that children should be encouraged to challenge authority.)

To return to the books, since I'm not really interested in JKR's
opinions or her inconsistent and not always intelligible
pronouncements. Perhaps we should look at what Harry, the primary pov
character and protagonist, says and thinks about House-Elves. From the
beginning (CoS, "Dobby's Warning"), he's obviously appalled by the way
that Dobby's masters treat him (the filthy pillowcase, the
self-punishment, the idea that a House-Elf should not be allowed to
sit down in the presence of a Wizard), but Dobby's statement, "Dobby
is still treated like vermin," suggests that his case is unusual if
not unique. (Other House-Elves, as we see later at Hogwarts, are
treated with consideration and respect and, in turn, respect their
masters. Unlike Dobby, they're happy to serve not only DD but any
witch or wizard--until Hermione starts spewing radical ideas about
freedom.) In CoS, Dobby is the only House-Elf that Harry knows, and
since he's busy trying to save Harry's life by getting him in trouble
or nearly killed, Harry isn't particularly concerned with Dobby's
rights. He does, however, end up freeing a grateful Dobby when he sees
him abused by Lucius Malfoy--perhaps as much to get back at Malfoy as
to free Dobby. He certainly has no thought of the consequences, a
homeless, unemployed Dobby who can't get a job because no one will pay
a House-Elf, and as a "free" Elf, Dobby wants a few Knuts to spend on
clothes. Exactly how Dobby (or Winky, who joins him later) survived is
not made clear.

Harry sees nothing of House-Elves in PoA, but in GoF, he meets Winky.
Unlike Hermione, he's not particularly sympathetic to her plight
(supposedly saving a seat for her master in the highest row of seats
despite her fear of heights). In response to Ron's remark that Winky
is "weird," Harry responds, "Dobby was weirder" (which, if we're
considering House-Elf psychology, happens to be true--Dobby is the
oddball, not Winky, who at this point represents normal House-Elf
psychology or conditioning). Then we get Hermione's well-intentioned
but wrong-headed attempts to console Winky and encourage her to reject
the master who "freed" her, which result in tears and tantrums,
contrasted with Ron's compliment to the House-Elves, "Good service,"
which they accept gratefully. It's Hermione's inability to understand
that you can't force human conceptions of right and wrong on
House-Elves that gets them kicked out of the kitchen. And then
Hermione sets about knitting hats to "free" the House-Elves whether
they like it or not (and whether she has that power or not, as she
probably doesn't) contrasted with Ron's sweeping the debris from the
hats so that "they'll at least know what they're picking up." The
House-Elves are, of course, insulted by this high-handed attempt to
free them against their will and refuse to clean the Gryffindor common
room. Meanwhile, Hermione, again high-handedly, appoints Harry and Ron
as officers of her newly founded S.P.E.W. (Ron's reference to it as
"spew" says all we need to know about this wonderful organization that
no one joins), and both Ron and Harry ignore the offices to which
they've been appointed. Meanwhile, Harry finally has reason to be
grateful to Dobby, who has stolen gillyweed for him so that he can
survive his task and "save his Wheezy," and he gives him a year's
worth of socks--a fine reward for Dobby but not a gesture that any
other House-Elf would appreciate. 

In OoP, Harry's relationship with Dobby, who voluntarily serves him as
if Harry were his master (while still working for Dumbledore and
cleaning the Gryffindor common room, which the other Elves won't touch
because of Hermione's hats and socks), remains much the same as it was
in GoF, with Dobby warning Harry that Umbridge is coming so that the
DA members (other than Harry himself) have time to return to their
dormitories. Winky, whose masters are either dead or soul-sucked, is
apparently still unhappy and butterbeer-addicted, but she's also
outside Harry's awareness. Kreacher, OTOH, enters the picture as a
wholly unexpected variation on the House-elf theme (motif). Harry's
first reaction to this ancient, filthy, nearly naked House-Elf
muttering about "blood traitors" under his breath is not loathing but
surprise and even amusement: "He didn't know whether to laugh or not"
(OoP Am. ed. 108). Ron and Ginny are upset when Kreacher calls
Hermione a "Mudblood"; Hermione responds that he's not in his right
mind. A few pages later, she asks Sirius, who obviously loathes
Kreacher (who shares the loathing) to free Kreacher and is told that
he can't because he knows too much about the Order and "the shock
would kill him" (110). Harry's reaction is unclear, but he doesn't
join Hermione's pleas for sympathy for the apparently brain-damaged Elf.

At Christmas, Harry feels some concern when Kreacher disappears, not
concern for Kreacher himself but for what he may be up to: He knows
that House-Elves can find ways to get around their master's orders if
they really want to (304). When Sirius jokes about hoping that
Kreacher has crawled into a cupboard and died, the Twins and Ron
laugh, Hermione looks reproachful, but Harry shows no reaction. He is,
however, concerned that Kreacher keeps a photograph of Bellatrix
Lestrange as one of his chief treasures. Apparently, he's more aware
than the others that Kreacher could prove dangerous, and he still
feels uneasy when Kreacher is found "lurking in the attic" (516). He
also notes Kreacher staring avidly at him. Being Harry, however, he
doesn't voice those suspicions. He has nothing more to do with
Kreacher until the end of the book, when he discovers Kreacher's role
in the plot that led to Sirius Black's death. Setting aside the fact
that Black's death was not part of the plot (he was only part of the
false vision that lured Harry to the MoM), Harry now shifts part of
the blame onto Kreacher rather than continuing to blame Bellatrix (or
acknowledging his own role and Sirius's, both of which are to painful
to face at the moment). Upset that Kreacher laughed about Sirius's
death, Harry is in no mood to hear that DD told Sirius to treat
Kreacher with kindness and respect or that Sirius never viewed
Kreacher as "a being with feelings as acute as a human's" (and
potentially dangerous if mistreated) (832). This, of course, is the
"right" view of Kreacher, as we see in DH, but for now, Harry sees him
only as "lying" and "foul" and deserving Sirius's mistreatment (832).
Rather than heeding DD's words, he sees them as a failure to
understand and appreciate Sirius's bravery and suffering. To protect
himself from his own thoughts and emotions, he shifts to another
scapegoat, Snape. The conversation again shifts briefly to Kreacher,
when DD talks about the damage caused by treating him as "a servant
unworthy of much notice or interest," with indifference and neglect
doing as much damage as outright dislike. In more general terms, he
speaks of wizards as mistreating and abusing their fellows and reaping
their reward (834). He doesn not speak directly against House-Elf
"enslavement" or advocate freeing the Elves. He does, however,
advocate humane treatment, recognition of House-Elves' feelings, and
respect. Other, weightier matters, notably the Prophecy and Sirius's
death, take Harry's thoughts away from Kreacher--until he receives him
as an inheritance in HBP.

Briefly, since this post is already much too long and I doubt that
many people have read this far, Kreacher objects violently to his new
master and Harry wants nothing to do with him. He sends Kreacher to
Hogwarts to keep him out of mischief (and under Dobby's eye) and then
pretty much forgets about him until he needs someone to spy on Draco.
His view of Kreacher does not change until he hears Kreacher's tale in
DH. When he first summons Kreacher to ask him about the locket, he
sees contempt for himself in Kreacher's attitude and he growls at him
sternly: "He would have found Kreacher, with his snoutlike nose and
bolldshot eyes, a distinctly unlovable object even if he had not
betrayed Sirius to Voldemort" (191). That this view of the subject is
not exactly accurate never occurs to him. "Kreacher's Tale" ends with
Harry's having a distinctly different view of Kreacher, whom he
finally understands, thanks in part to the tale and in part to
Hermione's explanation of House-Elf psychology, and a corresponding
change in kreacher's behavior and attitude. Kreacher becomes a
valuable and indispensable ally, finding and bringing back Mundungus
Fletcher, before settling in proudly and happily to his new role (a
resumption of his *old* role, really) as 12 GP's House-Elf.

Harry does have at least one more thought of him between the time that
HRH leave 12 GP, unable to return, and Kreacher shows up as the leader
of the House-Elves in the battle. In the forest, after Ron has been
splinched, Harry thinks regretfully of the loss of their refuge,
which, "now that Kreacher was so much happier and friendlier, [had
become] a kind of home. With a twinge of regret that had nothing to do
with food, Harry imagined the house-elf busying himself over the
steak-and-kidney pie that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would never eat"
(DH Am. ed. 271). It's a thought that he might have for the very human
Molly Weasley. A bit later, after reckoning that Kreacher is right
that they'll have to figure out how to open the Horcrux before they
can destroy it (giving him credit for his ability to reason as he
would a human) (275), he thinks "of poor Kreacher, who had expected
them to come home and received Yaxley instead," and wonders whether
he'll keep silent or tell the DE everything he knows if Yaxley
tortures him. He wants to believe in Kreacher's loyalty but isn't sure
of it (278). He can't summon him for fear of bringing someone from the
Ministry and resigns himself to his inability to do anything to help
Kreacher. Meanwhile, Kreacher himself takes matters into his own hands
and Apparates safely to Hogwarts, showing his continued loyalty and
ability to think for himself, not to mention unexpected leadership
skills, when he shows up to lead the charge of the House-Elf brigade
at Hogwarts. That Harry ends his long and horrible day wondering if
Kreacher might bring him a sandwich (and, I imagine, actually
requesting that sandwich) only shows that the relationship between boy
and Elf has returned to what it was at 12 GP, a loyal House-Elf happy
to serve. And Dobby, of course, has died a hero, buried by Harry
himself without magic, an honor given to no other character in the books.

Full freedom for the House-Elves is neither possible nor desirable
until the House-Elves have some alternative to serving human masters
and make their desire for such an alternative known. Fair and
courteous treatment of House-Elves, respect and consideration and
understanding, protection and comfort, are another matter, both
possible and desirable. And that understanding includes an
understanding of their desire to serve a deserving master. Kreacher, I
am quite sure, will be proud and happy to prepare and deliver that
sandwich. And he'll be even happier when he and his new master move
back home to 12 GP, which will be wholly in his hands while "master"
is at Hogwarts, where he will presumably return to finish his education.

The point of this long post is that Harry's attitude toward the two
House-Elves who were part of his life in these books evolved from the
idea that they were weird (Dobby a nuisance and Kreacher a malevolent
pest) to a recognition of their individual worth and needs. Without
question, he recognizes and honors Dobby's heroism. As for Kreacher,
at least his doubts regarding his loyalty have been cleared away, and
he understands how Kreacher thinks. That may not be enough for some
reason, but he's come a long way for a boy who's not yet eighteen and
has had, for seven years, a lot more than House-Elves on his plate.

Carol, hoping that Harry took the opportunity to thank and praise
Kreacher when he requested that sandwich and imagining Kreacher
smiling for the first time in seventeen years