CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 18: Dobby's reward

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 189268

 
> 1. Harry is asking Dumbledore whether Voldemort put a bit of himself in Harry. After DH do you see it as foreshadowing of Horcrux ? Why or why not?

Pippin:
I don't see how it can't be foreshadowing. Clearly JKR intended Harry's sacrifice in DH from the outset and had to invent a compelling reason for her hero to do this thing. 

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> 2. I know that Hagrid tells Harry that Lockhart was the only applicant for the job, but still why do you think Dumbledore hired him? Does it mean that Snape applying every year was after all a lie? If it was a lie, why Dumbledore did not teach DADA himself, instead of hiring incompetent imbecile whom I consider Gilderoy to be?

Pippin:
By the time Lockhart is hired, the DADA curse has been active for something like twenty years. It seems to work by forcing the incumbent to reveal something that would make him unworthy of the position. Since Dumbledore knows that both he and Snape have things in their pasts that would disqualify them, it would be foolish for either of them to take it.

Dumbledore seems to have hired Lockhart actually hoping that the curse would expose him for what he was. But certainly  any competent DADA teacher would realize the position was cursed, and avoid it, so anyone who took the position would either be incompetent or have some motive that made it worth the penalty.

I do think Snape applied every year, but I think that Hagrid was aware that there were  arrangements between Dumbledore and Snape, and he didn't take Snape's desire to be DADA professor seriously. After all if Snape wanted to teach DADA so badly, he'd go somewhere else and do it. 

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> 3. Among many other things I hold Albus Dumbledore responsible for is him not shouting to Wizarding World about Tom Riddle being Lord Voldemort, while IMO telling useless nonsense to Harry about calling him one imaginary name instead of another imaginary name. But in this chapter Dumbledore easily shares such information and while he does it within limited circle of people, he does not ask them to keep it a secret or anything like that. Should I cross off this offense (my opinion of course) off the list and maybe realize that he may have shared such information more than once and people were not interested in sharing such information with each other?

Pippin:
Dumbledore's first battle was to convince the WW that Voldemort was much more dangerous than the  dark wizards  they were used to. To most of them, Grindelwald was a crazy foreigner -- I don't think it occurred to them that  someone like him would arise on British soil. Their idea of a dark wizard was someone  like the Malfoys or the senior Blacks: exclusionary and elitist, capable of the occasional anti-Muggle riot, but hardly bent on world domination and willing to crush anyone in their path, faithful allies not excepted.

By the time our story opens, that battle has been won, and Dumbledore has moved on. But consider whether knowing that Voldemort was Tom Riddle would have helped to convince someone like Dippet that he was a menace.  Probably not, IMO. 

All Voldemort's initial followers knew him as Riddle. He didn't pick the name to deceive them, he picked it because he didn't want to be reminded of his Muggle father. When he first returned, Riddle was the name that people had heard and Voldemort was the secret one -- IMO it would be a much bigger propaganda point for Dumbledore to show that he knew the Voldemort name and wasn't afraid to use it than it would have been to publicly insist on using the name Tom Riddle. 


> 4 Ginny insists her brothers would not tease Percy about Penelope, is there a chance that Fred and George will keep their promise?

Pippin:
Hmmm. Off-hand, I'd say no. But OTOH, it's Ron, not the twins, whom Percy accuses of dripping tea on Penelope's picture in PoA. So maybe they did keep their promise. I think they got to be a little afraid of Ginny--she wouldn't be above hinting that Voldemort taught her a few tricks <veg>


> 5. Dumbledore tells Harry " It is our choices, Harry, that show what
> we truly are, far more than our abilities ". Which choice of Harry's is Albus talking about here? Do you agree this is a difference from Tom Riddle?

Pippin:
I think Albus is talking about Harry's choice to be in Gryffindor rather than  Slytherin, and in a larger sense, his desire to use his powers unselfishly. Tom does not seem to have ever wished to be more generous, or even that he could be more generous. 
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> 6. What did you think happened to big and scary Basilisk before DH?

Pippin:
It says it was so hungry, for so long. It seems to have eaten rats and mice, but perhaps there was some magical arrangement for feeding it, as there must have been for other guardians like Fluffy and the troll who was guarding the Stone. I would think it had a problem similar to King Midas's though. Unless it can eat petrified prey, it would have to sneak up on its dinner without allowing itself to be seen. 

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> 7. Harry is asking Dobby "Just promise never to try and save my life again." Did you expect a repeat performance from Dobby and did it live up to your expectations if any?
> In light of DH do you believe that JKR planned Dobby's character arc already when she wrote CoS? Why or why not?
> 

Pippin:
Yes, I think JKR wrote those lines knowing that Dobby would save Harry's life and it would cost his own to do it. And I think if Harry had known that, he would still have wanted Dobby to make that promise and honor it. 

Thanks Alla, for the questions and summary, excellent as always.

Pippin