Mark Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’: Chapter 21

In the twenty-first chapter of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione finally gets a chance to see behind-the-scenes in the kitchen to observe life as a House-Elf. And it’s not really what anyone (read: me) expected. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Harry Potter.

CHAPTER 21: THE HOUSE-ELF LIBERATION FRONT

You know, I wouldn’t have expected Ron, of all people, to be the one who named this chapter. And I wouldn’t have expected to be so disappointed with the way the House-Elf plot ended.

ARE YOU READY GUYS

This review won’t be so long because this is a short chapter, but there are a few other significant things besides the (apparent) resolution of Hermione’s S.P.E.W. project, so I’ll do my best to provide some ample discussion about those things.

I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the golden egg that Harry opens during his party in the Gryffindor common room. It makes a loud, banshee-like noise when he does, but I’m guessing this is because there were other people in its presence; Harry’s supposed to figure out the clue to the Second Task on his own.

I have no inkling to support this, so I’m not going to wax poetically about how I’m TOTALLY RIGHT AND YOU ARE WRONG. Just a hunch. Maybe the sound is a clue itself. I don’t know. But that’s not the last of it.

I thought it was pretty funny (but also hinting at some conflict down the road) that Fred and George were still creating joke treats. In this case: the Canary Creams, which turned Neville into a canary and back. Cute.

I was also hoping Rita Skeeter would disappear forever, but she shows up again (against Dumbledore’s orders) to interview Hagrid about his teaching, which will inevitably lead to an expose about what a terrible operation he’s running and BLAH BLAH BLAH I DON’T CARE. It does present a possible conflict wherein Malfoy might run to his father to get Hagrid sacked, but we’ll see. I’m not excited to see where this goes.

But let’s get to the real story. The House-Elf Liberation Front.

Hermione excitedly drags Ron and Hermione down to the kitchen and I will admit to being completely surprised by this:

• Next second all the wind had been knocked out of him as the squealing elf hit him hard in the midriff, hugging him so tightly he thought his ribs would break.

  “D-Dobby?” Harry gasped.

  “It is Dobby, sir, it is!” squealed the voice somewhere around his navel. “Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter, sir, and Harry Potter has come to see him, sir!”

I was actually pretty excited to see Dobby return again. But not excited for how this turns out.

After two years of being unable to find work as a paid House Elf, Dobby manages to find a position at Hogwarts with the help of Dumbledore, who agrees to pay him AND give him time off. (I found it interesting that Dumbledore offered him a higher wage and weekends off, but Dobby wasn’t quite ready for that freedom.)

Winky, who had been Crouch’s elf but was freed by her master, isn’t taking to her new role as easily as Dobby. The thing is, all of this is understandable. I certainly wouldn’t expect anyone who had grown up in a culture like that to adapt to a new environment overnight or even over the course of a few years. (In Dobby’s case, for example.)

Winky reacts violently and sadly to the thought that she’s lost her master, which is completely reasonable on a few levels. Again, it’s a disruptive and chaotic thing for a person to have their world changed in such a way, even if it’s changed for a good reason and even if the quality of their life has changed for the better.

Dobby, who is eternally grateful to Harry, took a while to change such things and be ok with them. For example:

• “Can’t house-elves speak their minds about their masters, then?” Harry asked.

  “Oh no, sir, no,” said Dobby, looking suddenly serious. “‘Tis part of the house-elf’s enslavement, sir. We keeps their secrets and our silence, sir. We upholds the family’s honor, and we never speaks ill of them–though Professor Dumbledore told Dobby he does not insist upon this. Professor Dumbledore said we is free to–to–“

  Dobby looked suddenly nervous and beckoned Harry closer. Harry bent forward. Dobby whispered, “He said we is free to call him a–a barmy old codger if we likes, sir!”

  Dobby gave a frightened sort of giggle.

Guys, I love the word “codger” so much.

Then, Winky decides to break this code for the first time. However brief, it’s still a gradual change:

• “Mr. Bagman comes too?” squeaked Winky, and to Harry’s great surprise (and Ron’s and Hermione’s too, by the looks on their faces), she looked angry again. “Mr. Bagman is a bad wizard! A very bad wizard! My master isn’t liking him, oh no, not at all!”

  “Bagman–bad?” said Harry.

  “Oh yes,” Winky said, nodding her head furiously. “My master is telling Winky some things! But Winky is not saying…Winky–Winky keeps her master’s secrets….”

what

This could mean: a) Bagman is just a terrible wizard or b) he’s a Dark wizard. Maybe? I don’t know these things.

Up until this point, I was totally ok with the narrative. But then:

• “I think this is the best thing that could have happened to those elves, you know,” said Hermione, leading the way back up the marble staircase. “Dobby coming to work here, I mean. The other elves will see how happy he is, being free, and slowly it’ll dawn on them that they want that too!”

And that’s it. Hermione is apparently done with her house-elf obsession.

Really? Really? That’s it? That’s all it took?

COP-OUT.

First of all, if Dobby is happy working, aren’t the other house-elves just going to…continue working? They exhibited a clear physical disgust at Dobby when he spoke so openly about his freedom, but Dobby doesn’t seem to want to be in the business to change other house-elves’ minds. He just wants to work. He’s happy for his freedom and thankful to Harry for helping him achieve it, but…that’s it.

For as much time as Rowling spent on this subject, this resolution stinks. It’s so sudden!

Maybe I’m being dumb because there’s going to be more on this later in the book, but I simply don’t believe that Hermione would be satisfied with this line of reasoning. It feels like she’s been convinced that the house-elves simply like their work and that’s that.

Ugh. No thank you.