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Dobby, once a house elf. Now, a free one. |
In Amy Borsuk's article Hermione Granger and the Fight for Equal Rights, Borsuk sang her praises to the female protagonist of the book and also one of Harry Potter's best friend. The author mentioned Hermione's most admirable work in promoting equality between wizards and magical creatures. She strongly believed that house-elves should demand for fair wages and that every magical creatures that had always been considered dangerous should be given just treatment as well. It's no wonder that Borsuk saw the connection between the young witch and J.K. Rowling, for the British author was, afterall, known for being an activist. Hermione formed the Society for Promoting Elfish Welfare or S.P.E.W. because she felt more passionate about the house-elves, whose place in the hierarchy is right at the bottom. They are treated as slaves, they work hard and do all of their master's bidding without getting anything in return.
"Hermione blunders towards the very people she’s trying to help. She offends them. She thinks it’s so easy. She realizes that as an activist, you don’t have quite as much power as you think you might have. … Then you learn that it’s hard work to change things and that it doesn’t happen overnight. Hermione thinks she’s going to lead them to glorious rebellion in one afternoon and then finds out the reality is very different," says Rowling in an interview.I'd like to focus on the line it's hard work to change things and that it doesn't happen overnight. I couldn't agree more to this. Nothing in this world is permanent but change, we always reiterated. We want to lose weight but get upset when you're still fat after a 15-minute exercise. We expect someone to like us after we gave them gifts. If we want something, I mean really, really want it that you will die without it, you must prepare yourself to work hard for it. And Hermione Granger realized that when the same house-elves she's trying to help find her efforts insulting and abhorrent. In the end, it was only Dobby who appreciated and loved her passion for promoting house-elves' rights.
On another note, Jasmine Harrison wrote in her article The Curious Case of Dobby and House-elves the different views of the wizarding community regarding house-elves. In the book, Harrison saw two characters that showed strong feelings towards the elves' place in the hierarchy: Hermione Granger and Sirius Black. Hermione Granger is, perhaps, the most passionate among the characters with regards to the injustice of house-elves' treatment. On the flip side, however, Harrison took the attitude of Sirius Black towards house-elves' enslavement as an example. Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, treated Kreacher with hatred that he originally felt for his evil mother. His grudge towards the mother who disowned him made Sirius act harshly to Kreacher, whose true loyalty lies with Sirius's dead mother.
"Maybe that is the lesson Rowling wants us to learn in all of this: that there are some types of people that you cannot change; that for whatever reason, these people are set in their ways and refuse to budge," said Harrison.There's that word again: change. Such a big word and yet, it's what we mostly aim for. Despite Hermione's beliefs, she couldn't ignore the fact that house-elves are perversely delighted to become slaves to wizarding families. Much like how Sirius was brought up, being a Pureblood and living in a hostile environment. We see Sirius Black as a hero in the book and yet, his attitude doesn't seem like that of a hero. He treated the house-elf he inherited with contempt as he saw Kreacher as nothing but an extension of his hated mother. Perhaps, it's the same with house-elves for they knew nothing outside of being servants. They were born to serve one family until they die. They were so bound to it that they hurt and torture their selves when they disobeyed their masters. As mentioned above, it does not happen overnight. Change is like plowing a path, it gets easier the more you used that same path. In order to achieve the change that we want, we must open our minds to uncertainties. Afterall, most things are difficult before they get easy.
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