[ SECRET POST #2262 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2262 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.


__________________________________________________



15.


__________________________________________________



16.


__________________________________________________



17.


__________________________________________________



18.


__________________________________________________














Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 040 secrets from Secret Submission Post #323.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah I guess I can see where you're coming from. To me, it seems like the length that JKR goes to to depict Dobby as exceptional imply that most elves aren't like him and are happy being slaves - that you're placing too much emphasis on the example of Dobby. It's also, I think, the case that Dobby is not only exceptional but had an exceptionally cruel master. But w/e that's besides the point.

I guess it's just weird to me that people will go to these extreme lengths and create these elaborate headcanon justifications and make all this stuff up to find a way to say that house-elves don't actually like being enslaved and they're being oppressed by wizards. It's so bizarre to me because it goes against everything that every house-elf except for Dobby does in the series. People just do not want to accept the possibility that they want to be enslaved, which I completely get in a real world context, but it seems so strange in an explicitly fictional context, and I can't come up with any great explanation for it.

[(Anonymous)]

My personal impression was that the depiction of Dobby as exceptional was not given until AFTER book 2. I mean, through all of book 2 we're told how he's bandaging his fingers and desperately trying to help Harry even though he's somehow obligated to injure himself as a result. Then book 3 comes along and we're getting tiny scenes that imply the elves don't like Hermione or her hamhanded actions. They come across like Hermione is clumsily trying to free people who don't want it, but the image of Dobby is just waaaaay stronger than the stuff that comes later. I feel like if she wanted to give the impression that most elves weren't like Dobby, we would have met at least one other elf during the whole ordeal with Dobby. But we don't, not until after we already have this very pervasive idea about the whole institution that keeps the elves enslaved. So it's clumsy storytelling rather than a deliberately confusing message on JKR's part.

But honestly... I mean, this is fandomsecrets, lmao. The people here are already overly invested in their particular fandoms (I include myself there) and the majority of readers won't give a second thought to the issue in question. That's why I added a comment to make clear that I don't think kids reading the books will suddenly come to the conclusion that slavery is OK because of this book series. But I don't see this issue as being any less significant in the scope of fandom analysis as any of the character problems that come up, you know? Every secret about this series, especially at this point in time, is going to come from someone who is way more interested than most readers will ever be. But it leads to good discussions of the topics there, I think.