Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling is the second novel (published in 1998) in the Harry Potter series of books. The movie version was released in 2002.
[change] About the story
This article tells about the beginning of the story. It does not contain spoilers of the main adventures.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone [1] JK Rowling has already set the scene for the Harry Potter series. But, just to make sure that the reader understands, Rowling gives brief explanations of the important things that happened in the first book. The reader is told that Harry Potter is an orphan, that he is a wizard and that he lives with an aunt, uncle and cousin who do not love him. The reader also discovers that magic people call non-magic people "Muggles". Harry's Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley are "Muggles". So are the parents of one of Harry's best friends, Hermione Granger, a very clever young witch.
Near the beginning of the book, Rowling introduces the reader to a famous old wizarding family, the Weasleys. Harry, who has never had brothers and sisters, is a little bit overwhelmed when he finds himself staying in the noisy messy Weasley household, called "The Burrow". His good friend Ron is the youngest of six boys and has a younger sister, Ginny, who has a crush on Harry, and who becomes important in this story.
Mr Weasley works for the Department of Magic. He is fascinated by "Muggles" and the way that they manage to live without magic. Mr Weasley has never used a telephone or a computer. It is his job to prevent wizards from illegally magicking Muggle objects. But he doesn't always do his job in the way the Department would like. In fact, he drives his family to catch the train in a magical Ford Anglia. A feature of the books is the school train called the "Hogwarts Express" which leaves Paddington Station in London from Platform 9 3/4. But because of strange happenings, Harry and Ron miss the train to school.
In the first book of the series, the reader discovers that there are many magical beings in the world, such as giants, trolls, centaurs and unicorns. In the second book, Rowling introduces another type of magical being, the House Elf. A House Elf is bound to a family, whom it must serve. The House Elves are very honourable. Usually they would never do anything to upset their owners. But they have minds of their own. Early in the book, a House Elf called Dobby comes to Harry and tells him that he must not go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dobby's behaviour is so very weird that Harry doesn't know what to think. Because Dobby comes from a different race to the human Magicians, he lives by a different set of rules. Dobby is another important character in this book.
Harry and Ron go to school, very late, and in disgrace. When they arrive, they have a very nasty adventure with another sort of magical thing, an enchanted tree. This enchanted tree is to be very important in a later story. Joanne Rowling has a clever way of introducing the reader in one book to an idea, or a magic spell, or a person or object, that will later be very important in another book. The reader is immediately reminded of what a horrible nasty person Professor Snape, the Master of Potions is. He is so nasty to Ron and Harry that Professor McGonagal, who is the head of their House, has to tell him to mind his own business. Through the stories, Professor Snape often has to be reminded not to stick his long nose into things that are not his business. The reader never knows whether he can be trusted or not. Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster tusts him, but Dumbledore trusts almost everybody.
Harry has not been back at school very long before it becomes clear that everybody inside the school is in danger. One by one students, and even the caretaker's cat, are affected by a strange and frightening spell. As everyone becomes more and more frightened, they start to be suspicious of other people.
In the first book, Harry has a serious problem of not telling the truth, and not trusting Professor Dumbledore with the things that he discovers. In this book, when Harry starts hearing a strange voice, he should go to the Professor straight away, but he does not. He has not yet learnt to be trusting. Luckily, he has listened to a really good bit of advice from the old Professor, that help will come to him, if he asks for it.
[change] Important ideas in this book
- One of the "themes" or ideas in this book is "suspicion". Joanne Rowling shows that when people are frightened, sometimes they can act in a very nasty way. If they see a person who acts a little bit differently to everyone else, they become "suspicious". They decide that maybe that person is the cause of the problem, not because they seem evil, but just because they seem different.
- In this book, there are five very different people who are lonely and sad. Each one of them acts foolishly, because of their loneliness. Harry Potter suffers a great deal of unhappiness and loneliness, because he has a special talent that very few wizards have. Joanne Rowling, in her clever way, has already told the reader about this talent in the first book, even though it didn't seem very important at the time. Harry's talent makes most of the other students suspicious of him.
- Another theme in this book is that some people think that are "special". A person might think that they are special because they are rich, handsome, clever, from a noble family or even because they think that though their life has been hard, they are secretly more important than everyone else. Whatever the cause is, these people act in a way that shows no respect for others. These people act as if everyone else in the world owes them something and everyone else is beneath them. There are three of these people in this book, and their selfish attitudes are dangerous.
[change] Movie: "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
| Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling | |
|---|---|
| Books/Films | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
| Characters | Harry Potter • Hermione Granger • Ron Weasley |
| Hogwarts Houses | Gryffindor • Slytherin • Hufflepuff • Ravenclaw |
| Other | List of Harry Potter films cast members • Religious debates over Harry Potter |
