isn’t it a bit odd that while Dobby may be going on about his evil family, he’s not saying they punish him, but that they let him punish himself?
Good catch. The general fandom idea is that house-elves (if owned by evil purebloods) are under some magical compulsion to punish themselves whenever they annoy their owners: but that's not exactly what Dobby says. "The family lets him get on with it" sounds like they don't care one way or the other if he's punished.
Although Dobby is more sycophantic than most House-Elves (and most people with a sexual fetish for submission), he’s incapable of lowering his voice when god-like Harry tells him to do so.
Hey, I remember this episode! Bloo brought the guys to Mac's place for an illicit slumber party and Mac begged them to go away or at least keep it down, and they just wouldn't listen. Wilt was vacuuming and Ed took pictures and when Mac told him why it was important not to wake the family, Ed started bawling very loudly. *cringes*
Harry has a bad temper a lot of the time, and can be driven to fury, and yet when he’s in the kind of situation that would drive me to fury, he’s all sympathetic to Dobby.
While characters who've accepted Harry as their personal savior do get to see more of his sympathetic side than those who treat him like just another kid, it's true he shows amazing patience with someone who's screwed him over so bad with so little excuse. If Dobby likes you he'll break your fingers to prevent you from picking up a pencil that might get in your eye as you absently scratch your head.
Not sure why Vernon puts bars on Harry’s windows and locks him in his room…oh wait, this must be that exaggerated punishment that doesn’t fit the crime we ordered.
Bit of a lucky break for Dobby, plotwise. As you say he had no means of knowing beforehand what pissing off the Dursleys would do except get Harry in trouble. But Vernon kindly chooses to punish Harry in the way that suits Dobby's plan, by keeping him away from Hogwarts.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-02-17 10:21 pm (UTC)Good catch. The general fandom idea is that house-elves (if owned by evil purebloods) are under some magical compulsion to punish themselves whenever they annoy their owners: but that's not exactly what Dobby says. "The family lets him get on with it" sounds like they don't care one way or the other if he's punished.
Although Dobby is more sycophantic than most House-Elves (and most people with a sexual fetish for submission), he’s incapable of lowering his voice when god-like Harry tells him to do so.
Hey, I remember this episode! Bloo brought the guys to Mac's place for an illicit slumber party and Mac begged them to go away or at least keep it down, and they just wouldn't listen. Wilt was vacuuming and Ed took pictures and when Mac told him why it was important not to wake the family, Ed started bawling very loudly. *cringes*
Harry has a bad temper a lot of the time, and can be driven to fury, and yet when he’s in the kind of situation that would drive me to fury, he’s all sympathetic to Dobby.
While characters who've accepted Harry as their personal savior do get to see more of his sympathetic side than those who treat him like just another kid, it's true he shows amazing patience with someone who's screwed him over so bad with so little excuse. If Dobby likes you he'll break your fingers to prevent you from picking up a pencil that might get in your eye as you absently scratch your head.
Not sure why Vernon puts bars on Harry’s windows and locks him in his room…oh wait, this must be that exaggerated punishment that doesn’t fit the crime we ordered.
Bit of a lucky break for Dobby, plotwise. As you say he had no means of knowing beforehand what pissing off the Dursleys would do except get Harry in trouble. But Vernon kindly chooses to punish Harry in the way that suits Dobby's plan, by keeping him away from Hogwarts.
-L