house elves
In
Harry Potter, house elves are slaves to wizards and witches. They are bound to their masters and are usually treated horribly. They are considered objects and not people.
Rousseau talks about slavery in Book 1, Chapter 4. He says, "To speak of a man giving himself in return for nothing is to speak of what is absurd, unthinkable; such an action would be illegitimate, void, if only because no one who did it could be in his right mind" (Rousseau 54). In Harry Potter terms, Rousseau would be against the slavery of house elves unless they were to be given something in return. Dobby tells Hermione in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, "...most wizards doesn't want a house-elf who wants paying, miss. 'That's not the point of a house-elf,' they says, and they slammed the door in Dobby's face! Dobby likes work, but he wants to wear clothes and he wants to be paid," (Rowling 378). Wizard and witches treat house elves as slaves, and house elves like Kreacher happily serve their masters with no expectations of getting anything in return. In accordance to Rousseau, these elves are not right in their minds. Some, like Dobby and Hermione are starting to fight back to gain rights of pay for house elves. However, this metaphor is strained because Rousseau speaks of man while in
Harry Potter, the slaves are elves and not humans.
