[HPforGrownups] CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Ch. 13: The Very Secret Diary

[alcuin74 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 189074

1. Ron is very attuned to Hermione's crush on Lockhart. Is he merely disgusted with her infatuation, or is this one of JKR's "anvil-sized hints? Did you pick up on this the first time you read CoS?

Reply:
In hindsight, JKR obviously meant it as a hint of what was to come, but I didn't pick up on the Ron+Hermione romance until GoF. At this point I was still hoping that it would be Harry+Hermione


2. What do you think is the source of Lockhart's appeal to women and girls? Is it his looks and charm, or is there magic involved? Do you think he's capable of one of Flitwick's Entrancement Enchantments?

Reply:
I'm not sure that there's any magic involved. I think it's simply JKR's commentary on our culture's obsession with physical attractiveness, that even otherwise intelligent women (like Mrs. Weasley) and girls (like Hermione) can end up going ga-ga over a pretty face with nothing behind it.


3. Ron's initial reaction that the diary was dangerous proves correct, and he also correctly guessed that Riddle murdered Moaning Myrtle. Ron's apparent knack for this led to a longstanding theory that Ron was a Seer. What do these comments tell us about Ron?

Reply:
But this ignores the fact that Ron got things wrong at least as many times as he got things right. To name just a few: he was wrong about thinking Harry should have gone after the Elder Wand in DH, he incorrectly dismissed Harry's concerns about Draco Malfoy's doings in HBP, he unjustly accused Harry of entering the Triwizard Tournament on purpose in GoF, he was completely wrong about both Scabbers and Crookshanks, etc. I'm not saying Ron was a fool (unlike the movies make him out to be), he's just not exceptionally gifted at making good calls.


4. What did you think of Riddle after reading this chapter? 

Reply:
I saw the movie before reading the book, but while watching the movie I was intrigued by his character at this point. I didn't think at first that he was someone sinister.


5. Do you think Riddle's memory is part and parcel of his soul bit, or is it a separate enchantment, like the curses on some of the other horcruxes? Why did he incorporate this feature into a horcrux and not simply create a separate memorial? And (really going off on a tangent here) does the Sorting Hat employ the same kind of magic?

Reply:
This is really impossible to answer before JKR gives us her theory about what the "soul" is. I've always found her talk about "splitting" souls to be unintelligible. But be that as it may, my guess is that she sees the soul as somehow the "essence" of the person, and so since one's experiences to a large extent shape one's personality, then one's memories of those experiences must be somehow embedded within one's "soul". Thus, since the diary houses a "piece" of Tom Riddle's soul from when he was 16, then it will necessarily contain his memories from that time as well.


6. There are obvious parallels between the memory Riddle showed Harry and the ones Dumbledore shows Harry in HBP; in fact, JKR once considered revealing much of Riddle's history in CoS. How do you think she intended to handle the information, and what do you think of how Riddle's story was handled here?

Since CoS was still at the level of a children's book, introducing more of Tom Riddle's background at this point probably would have been too much. Besides, it wouldn't have advanced the story, whereas in HBP, when the confrontation with Voldemort is now in full swing, it makes more sense as a way of trying to discover his character and weaknesses.


7. Why does Harry believe that Hagrid opened the Chamber?

Reply:
Hagrid never answered Harry's question from PS as to why Hagrid was expelled, so Harry had every reason to think that Hagrid was hiding something. That, together with Hagrid's love of monsters, makes Harry's suspicions perfectly understandable. 


8. The introduction of Tom Riddle in this chapter adds a dark and chilling element to the storyline, yet the chapter is also very funny, with visions of surly dwarfs carrying harps, Moaning Myrtle as a carnival contest, and Ginny's pickled-toad valentine. What do you think of JKR's juxtaposition of humor and seriousness here?

Reply:
It's characteristic of her writing style. In my opinion, she was much better at it in the earlier books than in the later ones.

"alcuin74"