In the Harry Potter series it is interesting to observe the positioning of the subservient class of house-elves. If magic is taken to be a primary force of production, the principle actants are the wand bearers and those magical creatures disallowed the wand (with the human muggle world existing on the fringes of the binary).
One would note that conflict-resolution at the end of the series does not pit these principle actants against each other. There is infact notable failure in activation of class consciousness in the non-wand bearers, most specifically the house-elves, who continue to happily participate in the perpetuation of the status quo during battle (Kreacher enters the battle with the name of Regulus Black, his former master, on his lips). Not all non-wand bearers are however depicted with the passivity of the house-elves in their interactions with the ruling classes: the goblins being notable exceptions.
The battle at the end takes place between social alliances on both sides. The epic good versus evil battle is obviously not defined by the subservient classes, for the status of the latter does not change. As is noted in the series, the statue in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic depicts and celebrates the mastery of wand bearers over non-wand bearers, who look up at the former with adoration and devotion. The relationship implies harmony and wholesomeness, rather like Eric Idle cheerfully singing ‘Alway Look On The Bright Side of Life’[1] even as he is being nailed to a cross. After the Ministry of Magic falls to Voldemort’s forces, the statue is replaced by one that depicts and celebrates the mastery of wand-bearers over all non-wand bearers, including human beings (naked exploitation replaces the disguised exploitation).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, one of the protagonists sets up what proves to be an unpopular society for advocating the rights to decent work for house-elves. The service they provide is gendered, they are the magical equivalents of domestic workers. Their labour is invisible. They clean, cook, and attend to their owners. One is not supposed to notice them, just the effects of their work. Hermione, the protagonist in question, is horrified to know they receive no pay, no holidays, no sick leave, pensions or any other benefit. What is more, they like their enslavement and look disdainfully upon Dobby, a free elf who chooses to work for pay (and is consequently martyred in the series by taking a dagger in the heart for Harry Potter. Not much of a statement being made for Decent Work for domestic workers!)
House-elves are not only the working class (without class consciousness) they are also the racial inferiors. Material property is denied to the house-elves; they cannot possess clothes (for if their masters hand them clothing, they set them free from service) or a wand. This despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that house-elf magic is more powerful than wizard magic.
If property is linked with propriety, house-elves are bound by a strict code of behaviour, so much so that even the slightest critique of their master sends them into immediate attempts at self-mutilation.
The battle within the magical community is, amongst other things, a bid to the control the forces of production of the de-sexed non-human world. The wand-bearing community is also the heterosexual world, where the alliance of ‘good’ represents the noble values of love, faithfulness, fidelity and the ‘evil’ alliance represents depravity and debauchery (Bellatrix’s Lestrange’s desire for Voldemort, Fenrir Greyback’s almost erotic obsession with young people’s blood, the dementors’ lust for kisses).
The battle at the end of the series produces a regressive, not progressive change, for there is no change in status of the non-wand bearers, who infact return to the pre-Voldemort era of being happily subservient to the dominant class. The house-elves in particular, return to their domestic duties. The return is to the status quo which was only briefly disturbed by Voldemort.
[1] Monty Python Life of Brian (1979)
*Because I'm a total fanboi** and because our library doesn't allow students to browse the stacks and I needed an appropriate book to bolster my assignment on class and gender. Try locating a work of fiction that you don't even know of on an online catalogue system.
**Fangirl just doesn't have the same ring, does it?
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