Hermione and House-Elves - another non-spoilery reflection

[pharnabazus]

Another thing that intrigues me is... is Hermione ever going to be reminded that all of the actual reasons that pushed her into the cause of House-Elf liberation were actually misconceptions of one kind or another? For instance, when Winky talked about obeying orders and being afraid of heights (up in the top box at the Quidditch World Cup) she was

Comments

[the_gentleman]

The talk of House Elf pride suggests to me less slavery than working class pride. The idea that you do your job well, you keep your house clean and tidy, all on a miniscule budget... And if a few get ideas above their station and go off to university, or lose their job and take to the booze, then that's out of character...

[sonetka]

That sounds about right. It also reminds me, perhaps a little oddly, of Robertson Davies' The Manticore when Davey is talking about the pitfalls of having a Faithful Old Family Retainer: they know EVERYTHING and can guilt-trip or just bully you into doing stuff you'd rather not, because of your obligation to them thanks to their years of service.

[pharnabazus]

And of course, Winky knew enough to land Crouch (and his son) in Azkaban for life! He was in a nightmare situation. Every day that went by his ability to control his son got weaker, and one day the tables would be turned, and the boy would be free, to bring back his old master. And if his father tried to forestall this, the house-elf would probably have helped the boy escape, rather than risk him being sent back to the Dementors

[sonetka]

Makes as much sense to me as anything. What solution Dumbledore could have thought of, God knows, but then, he's Dumbledore and I'm not :).

Am I the only one who thinks that having a House-Elf around would get insanely irritating after a while? But I guess it's different if you grew up with them.

[pharnabazus]

Well, some people "would" react to this irritating servility with cruelty!