CHAPTER DISCUSSION Chamber of Secrets Ch. 3, The Burrow

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 188770


> zanooda:
> 
> Yes, remember in GoF Winky saying: "I is looking for after Crouches all my life, and my mother is doing it before me, and my grandmother is doing it before her..." (p.381 Am.ed.). There is something wrong with this picture though  - where are the father and the grandfather :-)? Working in another household?


Potioncat:
I think JKR may have intended to show that Winky's family had served the Crouches for many generations, rather than hinting at how the service itself was organized. It seems Kreacher says something about his mother or grandmother too--but I'm not sure of that.

I don't get the feel that House Elves are bred like stock, but that the the children may go with the mother's household. (As in slavery in the US) I imagine that offspring might go off with adult children of the house as they go to their own homes. Just a guess and I suppose we're all free to imagine any scenario.

I think it's very interesting that no one was willing to pay a House elf, though.