CHAPTER DISCUSSION Chamber of Secrets Ch. 2, Dobby's Warning

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 188740

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ZaraG" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:
 
> CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
> Chapter 2: Dobby's Warning

<snip>

Zara: 
> 1) We first learn of House Elves in this chapter. What was your reaction to Dobby's self-punishments and description of his the conditions of his enslavement? 

Geoff:
My feeling was that "we've got a right one here". Dobby came on as 
being very strange and leaving me wondering where this oddball was 
going to fit into the story.

Zara: 
> 2) Dobby states that he heard about Harry's recent (end of PS/SS) confrontation with Lord Voldemort. Who do you suppose was his source?

Geoff:
I would agree with something another group member wrote that 
Dumbledore had said to Harry in PS that "what happened down in 
the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete 
secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows". ("The Man with 
Two Faces" p.214 UK edition). Hence, the news would leak outside
Hogwarts.

Zara: 
> 3) Dobby intercepted all the letters Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid wrote to Harry. How do you suppose he did this?

Geoff:
Again quoting somebody else, house-elf magic.

Zara:
> 4) Why do you suppose Lucius picked this year to open the Chamber of Secrets?

Geoff:
I pondered the possibility that it was fifty years since the 
event - or at least when Tom Riddle bought the book.
 
Zara:
> 5) Harry has a dream in this chapter after the Dursleys lock him up, that he is on display in a cage labelled "Underage Wizard", and Dobby refuses to rescue him because he is safe in there. Any thoughts on the meaning of this dream, and how it is similar to/dofferent from, other dreams of Harry's we read about in the series?

Geoff:
I wonder whether it was his mind's way of muling over some of the odd
things which had happened. It reminds me of the dream  he had at the 
end of "The Sorting Hat" chapter in PS (p.97 UK edition) which involved 
things like wearing Quirrell's turban. I'm sure many of us get odd dream 
sequences like this.

Zara:
> 6) Harry receives a reprimand by Owl from the Ministry after Dobby uses a Hover Charm to destroy Petunia's pudding. This is our first encounter with the Ministry. What was your reaction to this letter? How does it fit in with what we learn of the Ministry throughout the series?

Geoff;
It reminds me of the faceless and bland letters with which  we are bombarded
in the real world which tend to wrap everything up in officialese and need 
to be read more than once. I wasn't sure whether to be amused or to shake 
my head sadly over the fatuous "Enjoy your holidays."

Zara:
> 7) Dobby reappears in several of the books, and his story culminates with his rescue of Harry and death in "Deathly Hallows". What was your first impression of Dobby? How has it changed?

Geoff:
He is not really a favourite character of mine - I fond him rather annoying 
and he seems to be a similar type to Colin Creevey. who doted on Harry and 
seeks every opportunity to intercept him, take his photograph and rabbit on 
to him about everything.

I have to admit that he met Harry's urgent need in DH at great cost to himself.