CoS 2

[pauraque_bk]

*goggles at suddenly enhanced friends-of list* Hello! I assume most of you showed up for the CoS re-read. Good to have you aboard. Feel free to introduce yourselves, or just jump in whenever the mood strikes you.

For anyone who missed it, black_dog left a couple of great, long comments on Chapter 1 about the nature of second books in a series, and themes we should be watching out for in CoS. I'm sure I'll be looking back on them as we go on. Here and here.


CoS 2: Dobby's Warning

'Harry Potter!' said the creature, in a high-pitched voice Harry was sure would carry down the stairs. 'So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir ... Such an honour it is...' (15)

If he's truly "bound to serve one house and one family for ever" (16), where does he get the idea that Harry's a hero and Voldemort a villain? What's to stop him taking what he presumably hears from the Malfoys at face value?

It seems likely that there really is something "wrong" with Dobby, if one takes the other house-elves' brainwashed behavior as normal for their kind. He thinks for himself, which perhaps explains why the Malfoys would gratuitously abuse him as described in this chapter, frustrated with their defective servant.

For a darker take on it, you might theorize that the house-elves are naturally intelligent and free-thinking, but were magically "domesticated" for slave labor at some point in the past, and that Dobby is a throwback to their true normal state. (I don't have OotP with me, or I'd look up exactly what Dumbledore says about the statue at the Ministry.)

So, why does Dobby care so much about Harry? Voldemort's fall probably didn't have any appreciable impact on Dobby's everyday life, but he's decided the Malfoys are bad wizards and anything they want must therefore be bad. He hears Harry destroyed someone the Malfoys venerated, and fixates on him as a personal hero.

(Actually, I'm not sure how much the Malfoys truly *did* venerate him, but that just complicates matters even more.)

'And I thought I was hard-done-by staying here for another four weeks,' he said. 'This makes the Dursleys sound almost human. Can't anyone help you? Can't I?' (17)

At 12, Harry is more overtly compassionate than in the later books. One hopes we'll see this quality come to the fore again.

'Hang on -- this hasn't got anything to do with Vol -- sorry -- with You Know Who, has it? You could just shake or nod,' he added hastily, as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.

Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

'Not -- not He Who Must Not Be Named, sir.'

But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry, however, was completely at sea.

'He hasn't got a brother, has he?' (18)

Heh.

If Dobby is trying to give a hint here, it would seem he has a very good idea of what Lucius's plan is. The threat isn't Voldemort, but Tom Riddle -- before he gave up his name.

'Albus Dumbledore is the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He Who Must Not Be Named at the height of his strength. But sir,' Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper, 'there are powers Dumbledore doesn't ... powers no decent wizard...' (18)

Again, Dobby may have gotten this notion from hearing the Malfoys talk, and simply assuming that whatever they say, the opposite must be the case. Who in the Malfoy household could possibly have told him Dumbledore was a great Headmaster?

[Harry] jumped the last six stairs, landing catlike on the hall carpet, looking around for Dobby. (20)

Heh. Ninja!Harry.

Dear Mr Potter,
We have received intelligence that a Hover Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine[...] (21)

That was quick. It's possible that Harry is under close surveillance due to his exalted position, or Dobby may have alerted the authorities himself. I like the latter possibility, as it goes nicely with the systematic and rather brutal way Dobby plots to keep Harry out of school. Though he has a moral sense independent of the Malfoys, Dobby is Slytherin in his methodology.


Previous chapters will be saved here. (Oy, I need to re-do my memories.)

Comments

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

Oh this is a very interesting point. Whatever the source, it's the intimacy of the compulsion or curse that's so creepy

Very creepy. The House Elves are like something out of a dream. The no-clothes thing--and the weirdly divided sense of agency--they're like a hallucination.

I think it's pretty clear Hermione's efforts won't be successful, but she's on the right track ethically, and I hope she'll have something more productive to do on this front.

and in answer to your last questions, yeah, I think P is right, there's probably as much fear as convenience, at some level, behind the wizarding attitude. But there's also habit. Look at Ron. People will accept all kinds of nonsense when it's just part of the world as they know it.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Hermione's behaviour towards the house elves always mystifies me to some extent, because I can't work out whether JKR thinks she's being good or bad, which is slightly unusual for her. On the hand we're supposed to laugh (SPEW, etc.) but are we also meant to admire her for her moral crusade, laugh at her misunderstanding of wizarding culture and crusading sense of 'justice' or what?

[idlerat.livejournal.com]

I don't know what I'm *supposed* to do, but I admire her. I do think she makes an ass of herself with the knitting, but I think she's reacting more to the tepid reception her efforts have had among the other students than anything. I think she's being stubborn, but I think it's because, fundamentally, she knows slavery is wrong and she can't seem to make any headway with others on this rather obvious point. She feels helpless and she doesn't accept that. I don't think she knows what to do, but I'm sure there are more developments to come.

I feel like JKR kinda takes the piss out of almost everyone, sooner or later.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much the conclusion I came to, as well. It's not (at all) that I always agree with the authorial comment on things, but on that issue, I can't work out what it is .

I can understand that Ron doesn't support her, considering that his family is very traditional in some ways (and how much does he know about house elves, apart from received wisdom?), but it's odd that Harry isn't more openly for it, although he has other things on his mind.

I do admire Hermione, for that, but that kind of moral crusading without (possibly) understanding all the issues instinctively worries me.