Class System - Blog Posts
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
There are quite a few things that come to mind when I think about this book. First and foremost, is that I recall this is the edition I was reading (whether for the first time or reread I don’t know) when I discovered JK Rowling wasn’t a man, how I ran back to look at the book and wondered why I thought she must have been from the title, and understood why she wrote her name so as not to be identified and turn others off (oy! how nothing has changed).
Next, while I was young at the time I do not know what I anticipated but following the events of their first year we expected Harry, Ron and Hermione to either be dealing with Voldemort again or not--and I love how we got both. While in some ways the fact that they were all included again makes no sense, but again it all does. Harry can speak Parseltongue and therefore gets more information and gets Ron and Hermione involved, Ginny comes from a family with morals and is the exact opposite of the Malfoys and Death Eaters so Lucius trying to frame them, being the coward as he is, all makes sense and while seems a bit stretched is just coincidental. As Minerva McGonagall and Ron later discuss, however, why it is always them? Must just be their fate.
Relatedly, we continue to get depth with our main trio: Hermione, Ron and Harry and the wizarding world in general while they continue to grow. While in the previous year Hermione broke some rules, they were only in regards to emergencies (stopping Snape from getting the Sorcerer's Stone, lighting him on fire) or to stop others from breaking rules (stopping Harry from getting in trouble with the dragon). But in her second year she sees breaking the rules as more of a means to an end; even when the end isn’t as near or dire. She becomes less rule-obsessed or rigid in this sense and tries weighing the options and looking more at the big picture (both with stealing the ingredients of the Polyjuice Potion and just in making it and knocking out Crabbe and Goyle). With Ron, we learn more about who he really is as we see him interact more with his siblings, with Hermione (my uncle caught onto that one, not me) and learn about how he feels about himself overall even if we don’t realize it all in depth at the time. Finally, We also learn more about Harry and, with him, the wizarding world in general; how there is a class system, the downfalls of being a hero or celebrity, what it actually means to be a hero or role-model and many other somewhat small things that create a deeper meaning combined.
Finally, holy hell was this the novel with annoying people; see Myrtle, Dobby and Colin. While Dobby and Colin grew on me, and I believe all of us, they both just wouldn’t shut up or listen and you would cringe with Harry as he deals with all their drama. But on both, Harry changed; growing to be broken by Colin’s death in the final battle and of course Dobby, one of his best friends. Both of these characters represented innocence, kindness, friendship, truth, honesty and so many other admirable qualities before even getting to the fact that they risked their lives for others.
Myrtle? No, just creepy; I mean she was a younger teenager at the time. Do ghosts get older? Ugh, sorry, no love there.