The first of the three house elves that I will analyze in this paper is Winky. She is a house elf in the previous Minister of Magic’s, Barty Crouch, household. She is an example of inequality because of her having to do things she doesn’t like because her master asks her to. For example, Winky is sent to the top box at the Quidditch World Cup even though she does not like heights (Goblet of Fire, 99). This is an example of how Mr.. Crouch is exerting his power over her. He tells her to save him a seat knowing that Winky is terrified of heights and can barely raise her head to look at whoever is talking to her.
Even though Winky is overpowered and undervalued by her masters, she feels as though she is important in the lives of the family that she serves. She feels this was because she keeps the secret of Barty Crouch Jr., the son who was escaped from Azkaban, the wizard jail, through help from his father, his mother and the house elf, herself. As Barty Crouch Sr. thought that his son was a dangerous man, he was controlling him by using the Imperious curse and having the house elf keep an eye on him (Goblet of Fire, 685). This task made Winky feel important to the family. It was almost like she was valued as an equal to have been given such an important task as protecting the only son of her master. This is an example of redemptive love from the master to the servant. Barty Crouch Sr. is the omnipresent bully in this situation as he holds the power and controls Winky. She is contiuously called “elf” by Mr. Crouch which shows a disregard for the name that she has and dehumanizes her. She is looking for the redemptive love from her master by taking on such an important task. Winky is trying to turn this abusive and controlling relationship between her and her master into a relationship of love, not romantic but a friendly caring love that he might show towards his friends and family. |
This is an example of the prejudice shown towards house elves in the Harry Potter series. The way that Winky is made to do something she doesn’t like shows how the wizards, whom she calls her ‘masters’, display their power over the house elves which leads to social inequalities between house elves and the wizarding community. The house elves are being forced to do things they do not want to do whenever a witch or wizards decides when they want something done. On the other side of this inequality, the witches and wizards are free to do whatever they want when they want. This kind of prejudice leads to the social inequality of the house elves inability to as they please and for their own mental and physical well-being.
Freedom is what most of us Americans take for granted. For house elves, that isn’t something that even crosses their mind. They consider it the norm to be told what they are supposed to do for every part of their day. Winky is a prime example of house elves who internalize the prejudice that they are shown and do not want to be separated from their masters. This is shown when she is cast out from the family by Barty Crouch Sr. for disobeying him and “forget[ting] what is due to her master and to her master’s reputation” (Goblet of Fire, 139). When Mr. Crouch is threatening her with clothes she stammeringly begs “M-m-master, p-p-please...”, shrieks “Not, clothes! Not, clothes!” and “sob[s] over Mr. Crouch’s feet” (Goblet of Fire, 138) trying very hard not to be set free. Winky doesn’t want to be set free because of the oppression she has been raised to accept about herself. She has been raised to do whatever her master asks of her without question.
Later on we see how Winky is dealing with her newfound freedom and she is not taking it very well at all. As soon as Harry, Hermione and Ron walk into the kitchen at Hogwarts and greet her, she “bursts into tears” (Goblet of Fire, 377). They see she has not been taking care of the clothes that she has been given, there are multiple soup stains on her shirt and a burn in her skirt (Goblet of Fire,377). The main confirmation of Winky’s displease with her freedom comes from Winky herself saying that she is “properly ashamed of being freed” (Goblet of Fire, 379). She also shows a continued alliance with her old master. When Hermione tries to convince Winky that being at Hogwarts is better than being with Mr. Crouch who was awful towards her, Winky clapped her hands over her ears as to not hear Hermione talking badly about Mr. Crouch. She chastised Hermione by screeching “You is not insulting my master, miss! You is not insulting Mr. Crouch!” showing her neverending devotion towards her old master (Goblet of Fire, 380). This is show how the oppression of her own thoughts have been hard-pressed into her.
The prejudice shown towards Winky of not caring for her well-being led to the social inequality of her not being able to do as she pleases for her own comfort due to which then led to the oppression of her own free thought of understanding how badly she was treated under Mr. Crouch’s authority. This reveals how the internalization of the prejudice shown against Winky leads to her social unequalness. |