Harry Potter 2 Discussion

Where DID November go?

November is many things to many people, but to a small group of us, it’s the month in which we all read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets together.

Let’s discuss.

Villains

Rowling does a great job creating villains that the reader dislikes intensely. Quirrel’s simpering obedience and willingness to do horrible things by the end of Book 1 certainly made me want to see him fall. Voldemort is painted as a character so horrible that nobody even wants to say his name.

And here in book 2 we have our second of two malicious Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Sure, Gilderoy Lockhart wasn’t the big bad in this book, but he’s certainly horrible enough to make my skin crawl, even before you realize he’s been not only claiming to have done things he hasn’t, but removing the memory of the heroics from the person who actually did them.

Can you imagine if you were a normal person and one day you did this amazing, wonderful thing and saved a lot of people? How that would make you feel better about yourself, and maybe it would be a life-changing event?

And then some shyster comes along and removes that memory from you?

That’s one of the worst things that happened in this book, I think. Imagining just how terrible that really was, in an insidious sort of way. The fact that Lockhart was fine with stealing the memories of Ron and Harry at the end was terrible, but paled in comparison to his previous acts.

I like to think that the new cleansed Gilderoy couldn’t be fixed, but also that nobody knew he was a shyster so he read his own books and went on to actually become a hero, because he believed the same lies he told everyone else.

That would be nice.

Then again, you’ve got the Malfoys. Lucious, who is so awful I feel like his face is a permanent sneer, and poor Draco. I say poor Draco because I thought he was one of the best-painted villains in this book. So obviously wanting to make his father proud, and failing at almost everything he does. The rare moment where Ron and Harry are polyjuiced and you SEE Draco without his usual public posturing?

Very understated powerful. We watch Draco become the bad guy in these books, and I think it’s very well done. He’s so blinded by his jealousy of Harry that Harry’s own actions help him become bad. (Not that it’s Harry’s fault, just that it’s understandable and totally human)

Even Filch is painted with a harsh and dislikeable brush. Finding out that he’s wizardborn without magic certainly explains some of it, but he remains an unsympathetic and oddly violent brute despite the opportunity for his affection for Mrs. Norris to grant him some warmth.

Then there’s the journal. Poor, poor Ginny. When Tom told Harry about Ginny waking up covered in feathers, my heart went out to the poor girl. I didn’t pay much attention to her during my first read-throughs, but I can tell I’m really going to love her this time around.

(Interesting note, in the French version, they had to change Tom’s name to “Tom Elvis Jedusor” so that the letters could be rearranged to be “Je suis Voldemort” — a modification that had to happen in a lot of languages.)

I felt that the movie made the battle with the basilisk at the end MUCH more eventful than the book itself did. The phoenix taking out the eyes in the book so early made the actual battle very weak in comparison to the inner turmoil of Harry (which was done very well).

Ron and Hermione

I was surprised to note that in this book, every time that Hermione was picked on or teased in any way, Ron IMMEDIATELY leaped to her defense, while often it was Harry who was the cooler head, trying to avoid conflict.

I didn’t really notice it the first time around, but it was fascinating.

Also, side note? Poor Hermione spent most of this book recovering from something! First the Polyjuice mixup and then being stone. I can only imagine how vexed she’d have been to have missed class!

(I did find it odd that she didn’t get in trouble for the Polyjuice potion. Surely she’d have to explain how she became catlike in order to be properly treated?)

Weird Notes

It kind of bothered me that the students were supposed to choose their future classes at the end of this book, apparently without counselors to help them figure out what they should do?

And Harry caring so little that he just signed up for whatever Ron signed up for drove me bonkers. How can you not even CARE?!

(I am, it must be said, more like Hermione than either of the others)

I’m no expert, but surely the teachers and soforth ARE experts — when you’ve got people being turned to stone in your hallways, why does it seem like nobody has a clue how to figure out what happened? Hermione managed to figure out it was a Basilisk, but nobody else?

And so they blame a SPIDER for it and haul Hagrid away without any evidence at all? Surely someone would have thought to ask Myrtle — some teacher or even Dumbledore himself, who was alive when she died? I dunno. Just felt odd that ONLY Harry’s crew was making any real inroads at solving the mystery.

And last of all, I adore that the car had a personality.

Your Turn!

What did you notice or want to talk about?

Related posts:

Harry Potter 1 Discussion
Harry Potter Book Club
An Open Discussion on Reading