Prejudice/Slytherins/House Elves/Failed Messages in the Books

[Katie]

No: HPFGUIDX 177893

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Katie" <anigrrrl2@> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > I believe the waters started to get muddy when JKR introduced 
the House 
> > Elf issue, and later on, discussed goblins and centaurs. 
However, let 
> > me focus on the House Elf issue, which I believe is the biggest 
failure 
> > of the books. Introducing characters that are obviously 
powerfully 
> > magical, are enslaved by all kinds of wizards, not only "bad" 
ones, and 
> > are "happy" to be so enslaved was, IMO, a big mistake. At least 
to me, 
> > a History graduate student, the parallels between African 
slavery and 
> > House Elves were too great to be ignored. 
> <snip>
>  It is never ok to have people be 
> > enslaved, whether they think they "like" it or not. 
> 
> Pippin:
> I think the point is that there's something more basic than 
freedom, 
> and that's a sense of individual self-worth. In the history of 
Western 
> thought, that is closely connected with the idea of the individual 
soul, 
> which is of course central to the books.  
> 
> Kreacher and Winky cannot enjoy freedom because they have no sense 
> of self-worth apart from  service to their owners. Merope gives up 
on 
> her magic and subsequently dies because she has no sense of self-
worth 
> apart from being desired by Tom Riddle Sr. 
> 
> Harry and Dobby, OTOH, have an inextinguishable awareness of their 
> own worth, and so despite years of abuse they never feel as 
crushed as 
> Winky or Merope do.
<<<GINORMOUS SNIPPAGE>>>

***Katie Replying:
Well, I agree with you and then I don't. : )

I agree that the idea of self-worth is deeply ingrained in the books 
and I think your analysis of why Harry and Dobby succeed where 
others don't is spot on. 

However, I am going to harken back to Mike's response to this post, 
and suggest that part of the problem is the whole use of the 
word/concept "enslavement". That is an incredibly specific term, 
that had hundreds of years of history and connotation attached to 
it, and it cannot be tossed around lightly while exploring ideas 
about self-worth. 

Had JKR chosen a different term, as Mike suggested, "enchantment", 
or some other term that had less to do with the RW, I might feel 
differently. However, she chose that term, and all that comes with 
it, and she also made House-Elves powerful and loyal creatures that 
obviously deserve freedom and don't need help or protection from 
wizards. She also very specifically put in points about House Elf 
enslavement being wrong, and then never concluded that with anything 
about them gaining rights or freedoms. For me, it was just a very 
ill-conceived and ill-executed storyline about a very important and 
serious topic. 

> Harry has always wanted to help individuals. He never thought 
> he could change the world; it was Hermione who wanted to do 
> that, and had to learn that politics is the art of the possible. 
> 
> Pippin
>
***Katie replying:

I agree that Harry has never been the save the world type...in his 
own mind. But looking at his actions, he has always wanted to help, 
to take action, to protect the WW (which is the only place he has 
ever felt accepted and loved). He has a huge personal stake in 
saving the world from Voldemort, that is true, but the facts are 
that he is saving the world. 

Hermione may have a different outlook, but the fact is that all 
three of them are busy saving the world from the age of 11. And JKR 
led us to believe that all these other things were wrapped up in the 
defeat of Voldemort. She made specific connections between Elf 
Rights, half-breed rights, and the treatment of magical non-human 
creatures, with the downfall of Voldemort. And then the world didn't 
change. I understand she wanted to make things realistic...but I 
really wish she had put the info she gave us in those post-DH 
interviews in the book. I would have been much more interested in 
the overhaul of the MoM and HRH's place in that, than in the 
snogging of Teddy Lupin and Draco's kid's name. 

She just left a lot of these (imo) important storylines about 
prejudice, bigotry, freedom, and equality dangling. And those were 
some of my favorite things about the books. For me, it was a big 
disappointment. 

Katie