A Scottish teacher and historian, Thomas Carlyle once said, "A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune's inequality exhibits under this sun" (Carlyle).  While Thomas Carlyle was referring to a need for social reform in the United Kingdom, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, house elves Dobby and Winky demonstrate this quote to be very true.  Reactions to unemployment are as varied as the people unemployment effects.  By looking at the different reactions to house elf liberation shown by Winky and Dobby, readers are able to see that unemployment shows the true character of the person it effects, which most people do not see; this is important because while most people can pick themselves up after they fall, some are unable to and will ultimately give up hope.
  
Winky and Dobby are not typical house elves, but for different reasons.  Dobby, is almost the anti-house elf.  After being freed, he set out for work with intention of being paid and benefits.  It was after two years of searching he found work at Hogwarts with Professor Dumbledore as his new master.  Winky, on the other hand, was set free after a misunderstanding between government officials and her master.  She did not react as well as Dobby and her new found freedom.  She became depressed and even an alcoholic, going through six bottles of butter beer a day.  The other house elves at Hogwarts treat her as something to be shameful of because she is always drunk, crying, a sloppy mess, or passed out.  These two house elves show the two opposite sides of the spectrum of unemployment.  Dobby, the thriving go getter, and Winky, the depressed mess who cannot figure out what to do without a job or family to take care of.  
	
The Great Depression happened over a period of ten years in the United States and some places in Europe.  Many things led to this period of time the United States History.  With the conclusion of World War I, a hands-off government, the people of the United States discovering credit and doubting the stock market, no one really understood how bad things could get.  The collapse of the Stock Market in October of 1929 set the United States marked the beginning of The Great Depression.  Banks failing, along with many small businesses left many people unemployed.  Most struggled with finding new work and began to rely on the government once Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office.  President Roosevelt was completely opposite of President Hoover's method of public welfare.  Hoover's hands-off approach left most distrusting the government and Roosevelt's involvement in the personal welfare of the people of the United States made him an immediate favorite.  He set up The New Deal, which helped those struggling by providing them with the help they needed.  Like Dumbledore accepting Dobby and Winky into his work force, President Roosevelt created jobs by employing the unemployed.  
	
In the more recent recession, reactions to unemployment have been extremely varied.  The real estate industry crashed almost five years ago and has yet to be fully fixed.  Agents that were once making five figure deals are now sitting at home wondering when the real estate business will pick back up.  College students all over the country were changing majors from things that used to be lucrative to things that were now safe bets, like business or medical school.  The questions went from what can I make money in to what is a steady job?  Budget cuts had forced many people out of the job as well.  How do the unemployed deal with the sudden change?
	
Depression, confusion, and alcoholism are things that can happen to the recently unemployed.  Winky demonstrates all of these in her conversations with Harry and his friends while in the Hogwarts kitchens.  She hasn't moved for days, which is prevalent in her stained dress and somber attitude.  She is confused as to who is her master.  By refusing to reveal any of Mr. Crouch's secrets and denying pay from her new master, Dumbledore, Winky shows her confusion in who she can trust and who she should obey.  Alcoholism is reveled through her drunken weeping when Harry, Ron and Hermione come to visit a second time.  While butter beer may have very little alcohol in it, almost like a wine cooler, a house elf's stature makes it easy to get drunk from a few bottles.  These three responses to recent unemployment are negative effects of what unemployment can do to people who are not mentally prepared for the sudden change in life.
	
Empowerment, enlightenment, and creativity are some positive outcomes of unemployment.  Demonstrated to the fullest by Dobby, these occur to those who have mentally prepared themselves for what is to come and have planned accordingly.  Dobby is empowered by his freedom.  He immediately goes out and looks for a job that will pay him.  This is unheard of for a house elf!  Which is why it take hime two years to find someone open minded enough to be willing to pay enthusiastic workers.  Dumbledore empowered Dobby by letting him set the rules of their contract.  When Dumbledore offered Dobby too much pay and too much time off, Dobby took charge and made it clear that he wasn't asking for too much, just a steady job.  Enlightenment is something Dobby must have been born with.  He understood that he got the raw end of the deal being born into slavery.  It is with his help that Hermione wishes to enlighten the rest of the house elves into joining S.P.E.W and asking for wages, benefits, and vacation time.  While Dobby has unusual sense in style and overall attitude, no one can deny he isn't creative.  He is smart and resourceful and is not afraid to get what he wants.  The unemployed should have these qualities if they do not want to stay unemployed forever.  By becoming like Dobby, a empowered go -getter, the unemployed can make their own futures as bright as they want to.
	
Unemployment is something that effects everyone.  Dobby and Winky are prime examples of how one can rise to the occasion or fall under the pressure.  While not human, J.K. Rowling is using them as examples of how to react to drastic change in one's life.  She, herself, had financial problems before penning the Harry Potter series.  She could be showing a bit of herself in each of these characters.  Beaten down by society, she rose to the top and is now richer than the Queen of England.  By taking a page out of these house elves books, everyone can learn that tough times build character.  It is not what happens to people that defines them, rather how they react to what happens to them that defines them.

