Harry Potter

In the excerpts from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire under study, Rowling addresses the issue of slavery and the ideology of race in a fantasy novel. Indeed, the non-mimetic nature of Fantasy “creates a space which is at least nominally not "the real world" and is therefore safer for cultural work around fraught issues such as, although by no means limited to, race” (Young, 2016, p.2). In looking at the elves’s description, I intend to demonstrate how their appearance; their body, their clothes, and even their voices, exemplifies the elves inferiority compared to the wizards, and reflects the hierarchy between races, dominated by the wizards who fail to acknowledge the depth of their oppression on the house elves. Although these excerpts are not advocating in favor of slavery, they both support and point out at racism (Mendlesohn, 2001).

First, the description of the elves, like fairy tales (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz, 2003) or medieval stories (Young, 2016), can be linked to their moral values and behavior. Everything about the house elves is either big or small: “enormous” (p.4) eyes; “long fingers and feet” (p.4); “large ears” (p.5); “great brown eyes” (p.5); “massive brown eyes” (p.7); “something small” (p.3); “little elves” (p.4); “little skirt” (p.5); “tiny fists” (p.6); “little shiver” (p.6). This monstrous description emphasizes the differences between the elves and the wizards. The idea of size depends on the reference frame, and in the novel it is unquestionable the wizards and to some extent the readers. Moreover, qualifying an elf as “something small” (p.3) adds meaning to the nature of the difference between the wizards and the elves: they are not equal. Although a sentient, rational beings, the word “something” denies the elves the same degree of consciousness as the wizards and reduces them to some objects, unable to think. Furthermore, Dobby and Winky’s physical description are made in terms of analogies: “tennis-ball-shaped eyes” (p.4); “pencil-shaped nose” (p.4); “bat-like ears” (p.4); and “squashed tomato of a nose” (p.5), reinforcing the idea that they are not as conscious, almost not living beings. Only once are the elves compared to the wizards, but it is only to ridicule Dobby and show how he does not fit in because “he had made an even worst job at dressing himself than the wizards at the World Cup” (p.4). Despite Dobby being regarded as a person (“himself” compared to “something”), he is not described in his own terms but always in a comparison that point his difference from and inferiority to the wizards.

Furthermore, the size of the elves, who must be the size of a seven-year-old child to hit a wizards “in the midriff” (p.4), can justify the childish behavior they seem to observe. Dobby hugs Harry, seize him by the hand, grins “toothily” (p.6) and “happy tears welled his eyes again” (p.6) like a child would, while Winky is “beating her tiny fists upon it [the floor]” (p.6) and “clapped her hands over the holes in her hat, flattening her ears so that she couldn’t hear a word, and screeched” (p.7). Dobby seems excessively happy and Winky excessively miserable. They seem unable to cope with strong emotions. Winky’s neglected appearance further illustrates how miserable she is. She is “plainly not taking care of her clothes” (p.5) which suggests that she is not able to take care of herself at all. On the other hand, Dobby’s outfit is variegated and exuberant with a hat “on which he had pinned a number of bright badges” (p.4) and a sock “covered in pink and orange stripes” (p.4), and reflects his cheerful attitude in the excerpt. But Dobby and Winky, as free elves, oppose the other elves working at the school who are briefly described, the author focusing mainly on Dobby and Winky’s description. The other elves, presumably still enslaved, wear a tea towel “like a toga” (p.4) which recalls ancient Greece (Baroin and Valette-Cagnac, 2007). The association of the house elves with ancient Greece highlights the slave status of the elves because of Greece “total reliance on slavery” (Patterson, 1977, p.409). The elves “uniform” (p.4) embodies their condition.

More than just physical description, the speech verbs used in these excerpts make the elves sound like animals. The verb ‘say’ is mainly use for wizards, with some instances of ‘ask’, whereas the elves ‘say’ but also ‘squeal’ and ‘squeak’ like mice. In addition, the way elves speak in terms of grammar can be considered ‘broken English’. If some argue that they speak some sort of dialect (Nels, 2001), Marion Rana (2009) says that their language “resembles the language of children” (2009, p.45), thus confirming the elves’ inferiority. The elves refer to themselves using their names instead of the personal pronoun ‘I’, demonstrating a form of self-alienation, as if dissociating themselves from their actions and thoughts. It is reminiscent of the way ancient French kings spoke about themselves, in the third person, because they had the divine mission to lead their people. In the case of the elves, this could demonstrate the depth of their commitment to their duties and the impact that slavery has had on them. Just as French kings were born to rule, house elves are born to serve, reinforcing the idea that the elves like being enslaved.

However, if race in the books is envisioned as biological concept, unlike the real world (Young, 2016), the social aspect in the idea of race is equally, if not more, important. If the appearance of the house elves is both the basis and the justification for their enslavement, we need to look at what seems to uphold this system. The most obvious reason is the wizards’ disinterest in the issue surrounding house elves enslavement. Ron’s argument that “They like being enslaved” (p.2) represents the public opinion: George tells Hermione that the elves “think they’ve got the best job in the world” (p.2), some are “mildly interested” (p.2) in Hermione’s activism but many regard “the whole thing as a joke” (p.2). The fact that “contemporary white dominance and privilege often go unquestioned (at least by most whites)” (Hughey, 2014, p.5) in the real world is mirrored in the excerpts. The wizards appear as the dominant culture because, taking that fantasy is mostly a Eurocentric genre (Young, 2016), they are the one the reader should identify to. Therefore, most wizards do not question the existing hierarchy between them and other sentient beings including the house-elves, nor do they question their privileges. Hermione’s rhetoric question addressing the privileges “You do realize that your sheets are changed, your first lit, your classrooms cleaned and your food cooked by a group of magical creatures who are unpaid and enslaved?”

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