[HPforGrownups] Re: House-Elves yet again

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 181284

> a_svirn:
> I expected Harry to feel acute discomfort at owning a slave. Or whatever 
> euphemism we use instead. A bound
> servant. I did not expect him to complacently settle into being a 
> slave-owner.


Shelley:
I think those who are trying to equate House Elves with slavery as we know 
it are missing the mark, in that this is a Wizarding World, and the rules 
are so totally different from our reality. House Elves are not fellow humans 
(equals in body, thought and independence), that one can just equate it to 
human slavery, and secondly, we have it straight out of the mouths of the 
House Elves themselves that they are pleased to serve a master and that it 
causes them great discomfort not to have a house to serve.

We see two types of magical creatures with brains- ones such as the 
Centaurs, who prefer that the Wizards leave them alone, respect them as 
equals and capable of making decisions for themselves (and therefore distain 
any regulation or rules being made about them), and ones such as House 
Elves, who despite all their magical abilities and powers to fight back, 
seem to CHOOSE the co-existence of being actively involved in the Wizard's 
lives (like the ghoul that lived in the Weasley attic), as if they consider 
it to be a mutual symbiotic relationship instead. It's certainly not one 
way, the way a real slavery would be- the House Elves see it as a honor to 
know all the family's dirty little secrets and are pleased to be trusted to 
keep such secrets. It kills Winky when she is forced to spill the beans on 
the Crouches- it's the height of dishonor to her, more than being "sacked", 
or given clothing. Thus, I see the House Elves getting something tangible 
and real from serving a house, so much so that they prefer it to not doing 
it. I think even if the foolish Wizards tried to pass legislation freeing 
all the elves, they would find the Elves thumbing their noses at the Wizards 
and continuing to serve the same Houses that they have served anyway, 
asserting that it is "their choice" to keep a House's secrets.

Harry as a slave owner- at first he wasn't comfortable with it! No way! But 
then he and Kreacher came to an understanding, and once that understanding 
was established, Kreacher was all too happy to serve Harry as his new owner, 
and I think Harry was happier watching Kreacher transition into his new role 
rather than leave him as the demented thing who only had a portrait to talk 
to before Sirius returned. Kreacher himself was stuck in the past- all alone 
in a house with a dead master, and was unhappy that he had no one to serve 
once Sirius died. Kreacher was happy in his new role once he and Harry made 
peace (became friends?), and it's clear that Kreacher did have a say in what 
he was or would be to Harry- not as a slave, but in his attitude. Once the 
relationship between Harry and Kreacher was established, Harry could have 
attempted to free him, and again, I think the attitude would have been "no 
way, it's my honor to serve the house of Potter!" Thus, I don't see Harry as 
being a "slave owner" in any the same way of the Early American Colonists 
who bought slaves on a common human market, walking around them to inspect 
the bodies as if one was inspecting a cow or a horse to be bought. 
Certainly, I don't think Harry could have "sold" Kreacher if he wanted to, 
because the slavery is not of that nature. Any magical contract that governs 
the House Elf implies that if a master dies, the House Elf moves on to serve 
the next living relative, so that a House Elf was never intended to be alone 
and miserable, the way Kreacher was when there were no more Blacks to serve. 
Kreacher was tied to the House (Grimmald Place) or to the House (of Black), 
either way, he was bound to the next heir that would get any possessions.

I don't know why the House Elves self-punish, but I do know that it's 
possible that is what the House Elves inflicted upon themselves as rules, 
much as it would horrify us to think they would choose to do to themselves. 
I am sure there are plenty who, in their way of thinking,  must have an 
"evil (human) master" to point to as if to say this must be a person's fault 
that the Elves choose to self-punish. It's easier on our brains to think of 
slavery in the context of the Early African Americans, bound in chains, 
whipped, beaten and forced into everything against their will that to think 
that these creatures choose a symbiotic relationship with self-imposed 
rules, but I really think canon supports the latter rather than the former. 
Thus, I do not beat up Harry for being a slave owner, rather I was pleased 
to see him make friends with Kreacher so that Kreacher could live the rest 
of his days a happy House Elf, one with purpose and dignity.