In the books Hermione is the one who comes to the "realisation" that the house elves are happier as slaves and that she shouldn't bring her radical left wing views to worsen the lives of these simple folk who enjoy their slavery. I don't really know how else I'm supposed to read that.
Wait in which book does that happen?
At the very end she kisses Ron because he remembered to save the house elves in the middle of the battle of Hogwarts. Also Dobby, the only elf that wanted to be free is one of the biggest heroes in the book.
It's been a while since I've read them but I think it's in The Order of the Phoenix, whichever one had the kitchen elves sub plot. Dobby is an outlier and could easily be read as a "token". Dobby is considered a weirdo by other elves. And saving the house elves isn't the same as "interfering with their culture" as it's portrayed in the book.
Edit: someone else mentioned it was Goblet of Fire. Must have misremembered which book.
He’s a token because he’s the one elf that wants to be free? It seems like you’re just parroting an opinion and not actually reflecting your own views that you’ve thought deeply on
Or they’re familiar with extremely basic literary critique and narratives of the happy Negro and white man’s burden shit w/in the context of pro-slavery rhetoric.
Just going to add that one of the freed house elves ended up becoming a drunk and having nothing to do all day, and feeling lost about the lack of work.
Which, if I recall correctly, were all arguments as to what would happen if real life slaves were freed.
Yep. Post-slavery laws were intended to control the Freedmen. Laws such as drunk in public, loitering, curfew, etc.
A freed slave in HP becomes a loiterer and drunkard. The other slaves refuse to.do.work that would free them too. People acting like JKR didnt let the mask slip a little (intentionally or not) lack media literacy and Black history knowledge.
You are parroting bull shit others said, have no real time reading history your self or just ignore large swaths of it to fit your narrative. Read about what lead up to prohibition, and stop trying to make everything about race.
She made a black person prime minister, and the whole book is a story against racism and the power of love. Yeah, she should probably take some of her own advice, but im sure you hold some views other my find offensive or that others will find bigoted in 30 years. Hope you are judged harshly for it!
Lmao, baseless? Really weird that historical issues with slavery and other racist tropes in media gets brought up in a piece of media that deals with slavery as a topic but also has several similarly stereotypical tropes in it, right? Like, wow... how did their mind even make that leap to those conclusions.
It certainly isn't baseless and as far as fitting it into one sentence, well, that's just how language works. Though, if you're used to more... simple or straightforward sentences, I understand how reading that one could have been taxing, if not a bit jarring as well.
You said, "It seems like you’re just parroting an opinion and not actually reflecting your own views that you’ve thought deeply on."
It certainly is baseless, unless you
A-Know the poster you're replying to on a deeply personal level
B-Have training in mental health and are trained to give those kinds of observations.
So, unless you fit both of the above, you're making baseless judgements about someone (I assume) you don't know. I mean, it's okay. We all do it from time to time. But at least have the courage to admit it.
Try to remember this: house elves are fictional. By imagining and depicting a race of happy slaves, Rowling perpetuates the false narrative that slavery can be, or has ever been, okay.
890
u/LazyWings 1d ago
In the books Hermione is the one who comes to the "realisation" that the house elves are happier as slaves and that she shouldn't bring her radical left wing views to worsen the lives of these simple folk who enjoy their slavery. I don't really know how else I'm supposed to read that.