Realistic Resolutions - WAS: Slytherins come back

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 180747


Mike wrote:
> <snip>
> 
> Dobby was the oddball elf. He was the one that spoke of 
"enslavement", he was the only one that spoke of "freedom". I think 
Dobby's plight was supposed to be a reflection on the Malfoys. Notice
how JKR kept that information from us until the end of CoS? <snip>

> The rest of the elves treated their possible release as being
"fired", not as achieving their "freedom". <snip> 

> [E]lves *live* in wizard houses serving wizards. Without their 
> servitude in the wizard houses, they are just as much fish out of  
> water as merpeople would be out of the lake.
> 
> I think too many people are forgetting Winky's plight and the 
attitude of every other house elf besides Dobby in trying to shoehorn
the house elf object lesson into being about slavery, and therefore a
failure on JKR's part.

Carol responds;

Exactly. It's only when we think of House-elves as human beings and
equate their situation with that of human slaves that a problem
arises. but if we think of them as imaginary creatures who *like*
working for wizards, with problems arising only when an elf is abused
(Dobby) or considers his master unworthy of his respect (Kreacher),
the imaginary parallel with RL slavery goes away and we can consider
what actually goes on in the books. Winky, of course, does not
consider herself abused. She's proud to keep her adored master's
secrets and considers herself disgraced when she's "freed."

Let's look at the "freed" elves, Winky and Dobby. We don't know where
or how Dobby lived from the end of CoS to the point in GoF where he
shows up with the newly fired Winky at Hogwarts, but during that
entire time he was looking for work with a wizarding family, with the
proviso that he "wanted paying." Dumbledore, semi-enlightened soul
that he was, agrees to pay Dobby (and presumably Winky). Dobby talks
DD into giving him *lower* wages and *fewer* days off than DD
initially offers. Dobby thrives in the new environment despite being
regarded as odd or worse by the other House-Elves; Winky mourns for
her master and turns to drink. These are no, of course, the reactions
that fired human beings, wizard or Muggle, would have to their
situation: most humans would be happy to have a job with good working
conditions and certainly would not negotiate for less money and more
work time. Dobby likes freedom, but he likes work better. Winky
doesn't like freedom at all; she wants to go back to her master and
her home. She treats the clothes that symbolize her freedom (read
disgrace) with a total disregard bordering on contempt, in contrast to
the spotless tea towels of the Hogwarts elves.

What alternatives did Dobby and Winky have? Could they have set up
house-keeping together in a little home of their own? Evidently not.
Even magical beings need money to pay for houses; they can't construct
them magically or they would do so. And food also costs money, unless
you steal it or eat discarded scraps from a rubbish bin. Freedom is
the freedom to seek another job or starve to death. And, had Dobby not
found Winky while her clothes were still clean and the reality of her
new situation had not yet set in, I think that's what would have
happened. She would have died of grief and starvation, perhaps losing
her powers along the way like Merope.

In short, House-Elves *need* a Wizarding home just as Centaurs need a
forest and Merpeople need a lake. They can't live by themselves, at
least not successfully and not for long. (Kreacher at least had a home
to live in after his mistress died. What he ate, I don't know. He must
have had access to the Black family vault to provide good meals for
HRH, but maybe that's yet another Flint.)

Carol, who thinks that Ron and the Twins had the right idea about
House-Elves all along ("They *like* it," meaning that they like
working for wizards, as long as they're treated well)