"Chamber of Secrets" - Chapters 4 through 7
If I read four chapters tomorrow (and I should be able to), I actually will be entirely on time with my Harry Potter reading (in fact, I'm already into Book 3). I'm just very far behind with posting about it.
Page 42: Mr. Weasley liked Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him with questions about life with Muggles, asking him to explain how things like plugs and the postal service worked.
I will tell Mr. Weasley how the postal service works: It really doesn’t.
Page 45: Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were planning to go up the hill to a small paddock the Weasleys owned.
I do like how much Fred and George and Harry and Ron are all friends together. It’s always more fun when you like your siblings’ friends.
Page 50: Harry looked quickly around and spotted a large black cabinet to his left; he shot inside it and pulled the doors closed, leaving a small crack to peer through.
Is this a cameo appearance by the vanishing cabinet of Book 6?
Page 59: She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair.
Heh. This is exactly how I behaved while anticipating the imminent arrival of David Tennant to sign autographs!
Page 61: “Potter, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend!” drawled Malfoy.
And oh, how right Malfoy turned out to be!
Page 66: “Not a word to Molly,” he whispered to Harry as he opened the trunk and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.
WHY, LOOK AT THAT. MORE TIME LORD TECHNOLOGY!
Page 66: They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she’d left her diary.
Such an innocuous little mention here, which is, like the vanishing cabinet above, a typical stroke of JKR’s genius. And oh, how differently the year would have gone if the Weasleys had told Ginny it was too bad and just kept going.
Page 67: “I’ll take Ginny and you two come right after us,” Mrs. Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny’s hand and setting off.
This is actually one of the few extremely contrived moments in HarryPotter-dom that makes me cringe. JKR has to separate Ron and Harry from the group, so that they can get shut out of Platform Nine and Three Quarters and steal the car and get attacked by the Whomping Willow, etc., etc., all of which sets into motion so many other tiny little trickle-down plot points all through the rest of the series. However, it strains my credulity for me to think that Mrs. Weasley would leave Ron and Harry, already from the previous year revealed to have a streak of jeopardy-friendliness that makes Rose Tyler look tame, on their own. She should have been the last one through with Ginny, and this little manipulation here just makes me wince. JKR’s plots almost always follow through from the characters’ choices and from realistic interconnected occurrences, in this astonishingly smooth fashion. In the midst of this gorgeously constructed spider web, this moment just seems especially jarring to me.
Page 68: What if Mum and Dad can’t get back through to us?
What I’d forgotten about Ron and Harry getting trapped on the wrong side of the platform is their genuine fear that they really were entirely trapped. Their taking the car really feels like a genuine act of desperation and not just two kids on a lark. (Also, here in the second book we’re already being allowed “Mum.”)
Page 71: This, thought Harry, was surely the only way to travel-past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment, and the prospect of seeing Fred’s and George’s jealous faces when they landed smoothly and spectacularly on the sweeping lawn in front of Hogwarts castle.
I wish I enjoyed flying, “past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud,” half as much as Harry seems to…
Page 89: Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.
What I want to know is if the robes are made of velvet.
Page 92: “The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it,” she said promptly.
I love the fact that these plants are fatal if you hear them, much like the Basilisk is fatal if you see it. And, if you narrowly avoid seeing the Basilisk, then the Mandrakes will save you.
Page 97: You don’t want to start any trouble or your Mommy’ll have to come and take you away from school.
Now we’ve already had a “mum,” but here we are back to “mommy.” Or is the evil Malfoy being cast as an American here?
Page 100: 1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color? 2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition? 3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date? On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to: 54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?
This to me sounds like quite a world-class meme. (For the record, my favorite color is blue, my secret ambition is to be able to earn a living as a writer [not so secret, but anyway], my greatest achievement to date is graduating from law school, and my birthday is June 8 and my ideal gift would be something I would never think to buy myself or even necessarily know about to ask for but would nonetheless completely delight me.)
Page 100: “…but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions - good girl! In fact” - he flipped her paper over - “full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?” Hermione raised a trembling hand.
I imagine here that this is exactly what it would be like if David Tennant were suddenly one of my teachers. Right down to a secret ambition involving hair care.
Page 104: Nothing seemed to give Colin a bigger thrill than to say, “All right, Harry?” six or seven times a day and hear, “Hello, Colin,” back, however exasperated Harry sounded when he said it.
There’s a way in which this entire book is about the phenomenon of being a fan: Lockhart’s fans, Harry’s fans. A constant theme is the weird hold and fascination that some people have over others throughout this book, like Ginny being manipulated by Riddle, and like Riddle/Voldemort’s enduring obsession with Harry. The blindness that comes with being a fan is also part of the book, in the inability of otherwise intelligent people like Hermione to see Lockhart as a huge imposter. By the end, Ginny has retreated so far into a book world of mutual fascination with Riddle that it almost entirely displaces her from reality. Anyway, these are all half-formed thoughts, but they could be interesting ones, possibly.
Page 106: “Yes,” said Harry heavily, resigned to explaining the complicated rules of Quidditch.
And the more experienced readers have to follow along for the ride for the benefit of the new readers. Does Rowling even bother to keep doing the exposition as the books progress? I’ll have to pay attention.
Page 109: He had been unconscious in the hospital wing for the final match of the previous year, meaning that Gryffindor had been a player short and had suffered their worst defeat in three hundred years.
I know I just read “Sorcerer’s Stone,” but I’m still struggling to remember: Wasn’t Harry unconscious in the hospital wing because of how severely injured he was in the course of defeating Voldemort? My goodness, Quidditch is a cruel sport if you can’t even get a game delayed because your Seeker is out recovering from SAVING THE WORLD.
Page 121: And then I had another slug attack all over a Special Award for Services to the School.
Earlier, I was talking about how tightly woven JKR’s plots can be. The contrivance of getting Ron and Harry trapped on the platform meant they had to take the car, which meant they had to be punished, and which also meant Ron’s wand broke. Ron’s wand breaking meant he was afflicted by slugs during the detention punishment. Which means it doesn’t feel contrived later on when Ron recalls this Special Award was given to Tom Riddle. Serious brilliance there, and it’s slipped in so beautifully here.
Page 42: Mr. Weasley liked Harry to sit next to him at the dinner table so that he could bombard him with questions about life with Muggles, asking him to explain how things like plugs and the postal service worked.
I will tell Mr. Weasley how the postal service works: It really doesn’t.
Page 45: Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were planning to go up the hill to a small paddock the Weasleys owned.
I do like how much Fred and George and Harry and Ron are all friends together. It’s always more fun when you like your siblings’ friends.
Page 50: Harry looked quickly around and spotted a large black cabinet to his left; he shot inside it and pulled the doors closed, leaving a small crack to peer through.
Is this a cameo appearance by the vanishing cabinet of Book 6?
Page 59: She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair.
Heh. This is exactly how I behaved while anticipating the imminent arrival of David Tennant to sign autographs!
Page 61: “Potter, you’ve got yourself a girlfriend!” drawled Malfoy.
And oh, how right Malfoy turned out to be!
Page 66: “Not a word to Molly,” he whispered to Harry as he opened the trunk and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.
WHY, LOOK AT THAT. MORE TIME LORD TECHNOLOGY!
Page 66: They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she’d left her diary.
Such an innocuous little mention here, which is, like the vanishing cabinet above, a typical stroke of JKR’s genius. And oh, how differently the year would have gone if the Weasleys had told Ginny it was too bad and just kept going.
Page 67: “I’ll take Ginny and you two come right after us,” Mrs. Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny’s hand and setting off.
This is actually one of the few extremely contrived moments in HarryPotter-dom that makes me cringe. JKR has to separate Ron and Harry from the group, so that they can get shut out of Platform Nine and Three Quarters and steal the car and get attacked by the Whomping Willow, etc., etc., all of which sets into motion so many other tiny little trickle-down plot points all through the rest of the series. However, it strains my credulity for me to think that Mrs. Weasley would leave Ron and Harry, already from the previous year revealed to have a streak of jeopardy-friendliness that makes Rose Tyler look tame, on their own. She should have been the last one through with Ginny, and this little manipulation here just makes me wince. JKR’s plots almost always follow through from the characters’ choices and from realistic interconnected occurrences, in this astonishingly smooth fashion. In the midst of this gorgeously constructed spider web, this moment just seems especially jarring to me.
Page 68: What if Mum and Dad can’t get back through to us?
What I’d forgotten about Ron and Harry getting trapped on the wrong side of the platform is their genuine fear that they really were entirely trapped. Their taking the car really feels like a genuine act of desperation and not just two kids on a lark. (Also, here in the second book we’re already being allowed “Mum.”)
Page 71: This, thought Harry, was surely the only way to travel-past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment, and the prospect of seeing Fred’s and George’s jealous faces when they landed smoothly and spectacularly on the sweeping lawn in front of Hogwarts castle.
I wish I enjoyed flying, “past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud,” half as much as Harry seems to…
Page 89: Gilderoy Lockhart, however, was immaculate in sweeping robes of turquoise, his golden hair shining under a perfectly positioned turquoise hat with gold trimming.
What I want to know is if the robes are made of velvet.
Page 92: “The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it,” she said promptly.
I love the fact that these plants are fatal if you hear them, much like the Basilisk is fatal if you see it. And, if you narrowly avoid seeing the Basilisk, then the Mandrakes will save you.
Page 97: You don’t want to start any trouble or your Mommy’ll have to come and take you away from school.
Now we’ve already had a “mum,” but here we are back to “mommy.” Or is the evil Malfoy being cast as an American here?
Page 100: 1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color? 2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition? 3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date? On and on it went, over three sides of paper, right down to: 54. When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?
This to me sounds like quite a world-class meme. (For the record, my favorite color is blue, my secret ambition is to be able to earn a living as a writer [not so secret, but anyway], my greatest achievement to date is graduating from law school, and my birthday is June 8 and my ideal gift would be something I would never think to buy myself or even necessarily know about to ask for but would nonetheless completely delight me.)
Page 100: “…but Miss Hermione Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions - good girl! In fact” - he flipped her paper over - “full marks! Where is Miss Hermione Granger?” Hermione raised a trembling hand.
I imagine here that this is exactly what it would be like if David Tennant were suddenly one of my teachers. Right down to a secret ambition involving hair care.
Page 104: Nothing seemed to give Colin a bigger thrill than to say, “All right, Harry?” six or seven times a day and hear, “Hello, Colin,” back, however exasperated Harry sounded when he said it.
There’s a way in which this entire book is about the phenomenon of being a fan: Lockhart’s fans, Harry’s fans. A constant theme is the weird hold and fascination that some people have over others throughout this book, like Ginny being manipulated by Riddle, and like Riddle/Voldemort’s enduring obsession with Harry. The blindness that comes with being a fan is also part of the book, in the inability of otherwise intelligent people like Hermione to see Lockhart as a huge imposter. By the end, Ginny has retreated so far into a book world of mutual fascination with Riddle that it almost entirely displaces her from reality. Anyway, these are all half-formed thoughts, but they could be interesting ones, possibly.
Page 106: “Yes,” said Harry heavily, resigned to explaining the complicated rules of Quidditch.
And the more experienced readers have to follow along for the ride for the benefit of the new readers. Does Rowling even bother to keep doing the exposition as the books progress? I’ll have to pay attention.
Page 109: He had been unconscious in the hospital wing for the final match of the previous year, meaning that Gryffindor had been a player short and had suffered their worst defeat in three hundred years.
I know I just read “Sorcerer’s Stone,” but I’m still struggling to remember: Wasn’t Harry unconscious in the hospital wing because of how severely injured he was in the course of defeating Voldemort? My goodness, Quidditch is a cruel sport if you can’t even get a game delayed because your Seeker is out recovering from SAVING THE WORLD.
Page 121: And then I had another slug attack all over a Special Award for Services to the School.
Earlier, I was talking about how tightly woven JKR’s plots can be. The contrivance of getting Ron and Harry trapped on the platform meant they had to take the car, which meant they had to be punished, and which also meant Ron’s wand broke. Ron’s wand breaking meant he was afflicted by slugs during the detention punishment. Which means it doesn’t feel contrived later on when Ron recalls this Special Award was given to Tom Riddle. Serious brilliance there, and it’s slipped in so beautifully here.