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 history of unemployment, the reader can see that Winky the house elf shows the psychological effects that can happen after someone has been fired; this is important because J.K. Rowling is able to show how humans react to high stress situations through a character that was created not to endure stressful situations well.
 
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 will give me a steady job?  Budget cuts had forced many people out of the job as well.  How do the unemployed deal with the sudden change?

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 relationship between Dobby and Winky is one to learn from.  Dobby, while unemployed, makes sure to look out for his newly liberated friend Winky.  By finding them both jobs, Dobby becomes a protector of Winky, and remains a protector during their stay at Hogwarts.  While the other house-elves are ashamed of Winky's behavior, Dobby takes to looking out for Winky in her drunken stupors and periods of depression.

Depression, confusion, anxiety, and alcoholism are all things that can happen to the recently unemployed (Linn).  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.  Winky almost has an anxiety attack when she finds out that Mr. Crouch has not been going to work because he is sick.  She jumps to the conclusion that her old master is at home and has no one to take care of him; automatically assuming no one else is capable of taking care of her old master as well as she can.  Alcoholism is reveled through her drunken weeping when Harry, Ron and Hermione come to visit a second time.  Her newly found attachment to alcoholic beverages is common among the recently unemployed.  In a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, recently unemployed were recorded spending more days in bed sick than those who had steady jobs (Linn).  Winky knows there is work to be done in the Hogwarts kitchens, but stays in her spot near the fire.  Her responses to recent unemployment are only examples of the negative effects unemployment has on people who are not mentally prepared for the sudden change in life.

Another explanation of Winky's depression could be the "person-environment fit theory."  This theory suggests that the problems, like anxiety and depression, are caused from a sudden change in environment for the unemployed.  This theory also claims that persons seek work places that they feel comfortable in (Reynolds).  Winky clearly did not feel comfortable in any environment other than the Crouch household.  She had problems opening up to her new master, Dumbledore, because she was so caught up in being sacked by Barty Crouch.  By clinging to the secrets she kept for the Crouch family, Winky feels that she is still a part of the environment she feels the most comfortable in.

Unemployment is something that affects everyone.  Especially in times like these, it is hard not to know someone who has been affected by the sudden financial changes in our society.   Winky is an excellent example of the negative effects unemployment can have on the people it affects directly.  With events like the Great Depression and today's recession, researchers have been able to record the mental effects one can expect when unemployed.  J.K. Rowling does a good job revealing them in the character Winky.  She makes the reader see how a good friend like Dobby can help when put in bad situations. 


