House elves WAS: realistic resolutions

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 180961

> Betsy Hp:
> IOWs, in scifi and fantasy, fantasy slavery *always* informs on RW 
> slavery.  Just as the blood bigotry of the WW was meant to inform 
on 
> RW bigotry.  (I'm not going to get into how well JKR did on either 
> point. *eg*)

zgirnius:
I do read a lot of these genres. What you say is true, but it does 
not have to inform on RW slavery in the particular way you insist it 
does/ought to/must. It could also be in there on the RL need to 
understand other cultures before messing with them, as Hermione in 
GoF did not. This is very much something that comes up in SF/Fantasy -
 people not taking these precautions, and the unexpected consequences 
of their actions. (See Winky, on the advisability of immediately 
freeing all House Elves against their wishes and 'for their own 
good'.)

> Betsy Hp:
> I have no idea on the coverage of slavery in Britain (I'm betting 
> it's not nearly as comprehensive as the US just by virtue of it 
being 
> so much further removed), but yes, there's an overlap into the RW 
> that makes it even harder to make the "different society, different 
> values" argument.  Part of the charm of the series was supposed to 
be 
> the connection to the RW I'd thought.

zgirnius:
The charming connection to the RW is why Hermione reacts as she does 
when this fact of the Wizarding world is first brought to her 
attention. It is why it makes sense for her to be the character that 
drives this issue forward. It does not require, however, that her 
birth society's uninformed views of the subject, her initial view of 
the problem, must win. Or even, that this would be desirable.