CoS 16

[pauraque_bk]

[EDIT: Ack, I almost forgot. Thanks to the anonymouse who gave me two months of paid time! It seems like a lot of folks have been visited by the LJ fairy recently... I wonder if it's all the same person?]

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wayfairer is my hero of the day. She made a very eye-opening post about her experiences growing up a Christian fundamentalist. Not anti-Christian, but extremely surprising if you're like me and have had no exposure to that type of worldview.

Then a bit later she invited her flist to come up with at least three things they love about America. Maybe a cheap pick-me-up, but it worked on me.

---

And we've still got fandom. pornish_pixies celebrates its first anniversary today! Hurrah!


CoS 16: The Chamber of Secrets

Mm, titular goodness.

'I've got to tell you something,' Ginny mumbled, carefully not looking at Harry.
'What is it?' said Harry.
Ginny looked as though she couldn't find the right words.
'What?' said Ron. (212)

She wants to tell Harry and Ron, who are close to being her peers, but is afraid to tell Percy, an authority figure. Seems to share Harry's resistance to contacting someone who might actually be able to *do* something about a problem.

'Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day when I was -- well, never mind -- the point is, she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word. It's nothing, really, I'd just rather--'
Harry had never seen Percy look so uncomfortable. (212)

BWAH! All right, this is explained later, but really now! On first reading, it's very suggestive. Or is my mind just in the gutter?

'We haven't seen [Hermione] for ages, Professor,' Harry went on hurriedly, treading on Ron's foot, 'and we thought we'd sneak into the hospital wing, you know, and tell her the Mandrakes are nearly ready and, er, not to worry.'
[...]
'That,' said Ron fervently, 'was the best story you've ever come up with.' (213-214)

And it very successfully manipulates McGonagall's emotions, not to mention that it leads them to a vital clue. I sympathize with the position that the HP books encourage kids to break the rules.

'Pipes,' he said. 'Pipes ... Ron, it's been using the plumbing. I've been hearing that voice inside the walls ...'
Ron suddenly grabbed Harry's arm.
'The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!' he said hoarsely. 'What if it's a bathroom? What if it's in--'
'--Moaning Myrtle's bathroom,' said Harry. (216)

Back in Chapter 1, idlerat mentioned the way this plays into the puberty imagery of the book: the symbolism of the voice in the plumbing, the serpents, the "long slimy tunnel" starting in the girls' toilets and culminating in a "chamber of secrets..." I have to agree.

'It has happened,' [McGonagall] told the silent staff room. 'A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself.'
Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, 'How can you be sure?' (217)

One of the all time great Ambiguous Snape Moments. What's going through his mind? Does he know this means that Riddle must be present in some form? Is he concealing a reaction of horror? Anger? (Delight, if you're an evil!Snape fan?)

Lockhart gazed desperately around him, but nobody came to his rescue. He didn't look remotely handsome any more. His lip was trembling, and in the absence of his usual toothy grin he looked weak-chinned and weedy. (218)

In Harry's world, people can't be truly handsome if they're bad, nor can they be truly ugly if they're good. I'm reminded of Sirius's physical descriptions -- when he's a homicidal maniac, he's described as horribly skeletal, with sunken black eyes, but as soon as Harry takes his side, he sees the remains of the "handsome best man" from the old photographs. Likewise, when Lockhart's cowardice is revealed, he can't be a handsome coward. Bellatrix could be an exception, but when we do meet her, her beauty has also been "ruined" by Azkaban, I believe.

This simplistic physical literalism bugs me about the books, but I'll reserve final judgment until we see what ends up happening with characters like Snape... In the event that it finally hits home for Harry that Snape isn't all bad, will he suddenly notice that his hair isn't so greasy after all? Or start calling his nose 'aquiline'? Sheesh, I hope not.

'D'you know what?' said Ron, 'I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a Basilisk in there.' (219)

Hm, I guess that's logical enough for a 12-year-old. But once they realize Lockhart has no intention of going into the Chamber, why don't they go and get McGonagall? Or anyone else, really? It reads as though they're hoping he comes to a bad end down in the Chamber, which of course he does, but... wow, that's harsh.

[Lockhart's] office had been almost completely stripped. Two large trunks stood open on the floor. Robes, jade green, lilac, midnight blue, had been hastily folded into one of them; books were jumbled untidily into the other. (219)

JKR probably meant his own books, but it didn't read that way right off for me. Reminded me of fernwithy's comment that Lockhart can be read as a Ravenclaw, because "his whole life is focused around books", not real actions.

'My dear boy,' said Lockhart, straightening up and frowning at Harry. 'Do use your common sense. My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done all those things. No one wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves. He'd look dreadful on the front cover. No dress sense at all. And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hare lip. I mean, come on...' (220)

Might have been nice if Harry'd taken away the lesson that looks can be deceiving, and that putting too much stock in looks isn't a good characteristic.

[Lockhart:] '[...]Then I had to put a Memory Charm on them so they wouldn't remember doing it. [...]' (220)

That, and the whole rest of the village who knew they'd done it, presumably! I like that memory modification is presented in a sinister light, although Harry *still* doesn't seem to get that there's something off about it.

The light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least. (224)

Twenty feet! Needless to say, the film exaggerated that by several factors.

Also, shed snake skins don't share the color of the snake -- they're the very top layer of skin, devoid of pigment. They're whitish.


Past re-read posts are here.

Comments

[malograntum.livejournal.com]

BWAH! All right, this is explained later, but really now! On first reading, it's very suggestive. Or is my mind just in the gutter?

It's not just you.

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Someone should write Percy/Ginny based on those lines :)

[pauraque]

Another thing I love about America is its big beautiful nasty gutters. Wide enough for all your friends to fit in.

[atalantapendrag.livejournal.com]

Sometimes a shed snakeskin does show a faint image of the snake's pattern, especially if it's a shed from a really dark snake. My redtail boa's sheds bore a light but distinct echo of his markings, and one of my ball pythons had sheds that were downright brownish.

But a "vivid, poisonous green"? Not unless basilisks shed super special pigmented keratin, not happening.

[pauraque]

Yeah, my corn snake's sheds do faintly show her markings, as well, but bright colors just don't come through. (She's largely bright orange, but her sheds are still practically white.)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

This is the woman who had a snake wink at Harry in the first book. She knows nothing about snakes.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

I sympathize with the position that the HP books encourage kids to break the rules.

Oh, totally, I do, too. It really struck me when I was up at Convention Alley and one of the sessions was all about rulebreaking in the HP books. There's no question but that the kids break rules left and right in the books; there's also no question that the rule breaking is necessary for plot purposes and in most case is being done for the greater good, as well. Still. The irony involved in a group of adults trying to justify and downplay the rulebreaking while simultaneously decrying the people who criticize the books for justifying and downplaying the rulebreaking struck me over the head like a sledgehammer.

[pauraque]

Yeah. If I had a young kid, I would be careful about introducing them to the HP books. Not only because I wouldn't want them imitating Harry's behavior, but also because GoF and OotP are too disturbing for very young children, in my opinion. I'd definitely class the books as 'young adult'.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

In a way I think it would be a fascinating thing to read an discuss with a kid, because the whole thing is so insideous. It's tempting to just take it at face value and say, "But they have to break the rules because they're fighting Voldemort," but it'd be interesting to go further than that to get them to really think about it.

I'll bet you'd wind up with a lot of young kids arguing just the way we do in fandom.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd been able to attend that session. I'm fascinated, and frankly a wee bit disturbed, at JKR's attitude towards rule-breaking in this series. I understand that she's trying to teach children to think for themselves, but she so consistently applauds rule-breaking and sneers at rule-following that I have to wonder what she's doing.

This does a segue into another problem that I have with this series. The 'good' kids are applauded for doing actions that I find highly questionable: the twins' pranks, hexing Draco and his pals on the train, leaving Umbridge at the mercy of the centaurs... Had any of these actions been performed by Slytherin kids, the 'good' characters would be in an snit. What's up with that?

[nakedcelt.livejournal.com]

I think the trouble is that Rowling doesn't do what children's authors are "supposed" to do, which is write Stories With Morals. She writes what it's actually like to be a kid and break rules and get away with it — not every time, but enough to think it's going to work every time. And there's a damn good reason for this: Stories With Morals are dead boring. If Harry was an obedient, considerate, conscientious, reliable, patient, kind, thoughtful, Good Little Hero, would he have a millions-strong fandom spanning all ages? Like hell!

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

BWAH! All right, this is explained later, but really now! On first reading, it's very suggestive. Or is my mind just in the gutter?

*snicker* There have been times, particularly when reading the early books, when I have to remind myself that they're aimed at a younger crowd. The first time I read Percy's lines, I didn't think twice about assuming he was...er, polishing his wand ;-) Just like in PoA, in the scene where Trelawney tells Lavender that the the thing she was dreading would come to past - my first thought was immediately 'her first period.' :-P

Also, interesting points on the relationship between outer and inner beauty in the Potterverse. It's something I've noticed coming up in fanon a lot, but I'd never seriously considered the canon examples. Definitely food for thought.

[pauraque]

Just like in PoA, in the scene where Trelawney tells Lavender that the the thing she was dreading would come to past - my first thought was immediately 'her first period.'

Huh, that never occurred to me. Though I have wondered, if Hermione had been the protagonist, how JKR would have dealt with that. She wouldn't be obliged to ignore it or cope with it symbolically, as she is with a lot of the signs of Harry's puberty. It might have been interesting to get a sense of wizarding attitudes about that.

Also, interesting points on the relationship between outer and inner beauty in the Potterverse. It's something I've noticed coming up in fanon a lot, but I'd never seriously considered the canon examples.

Yeah, it's funny -- when people start slagging off on the fannish tendency to "pretty up" characters when they writing them sympathetically, I'm first in line. But at the same time, it has a solid basis in canon, especially if you're writing Harry's POV.

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness! What a nice birthday present, to be someone's hero for the day! *blush*

I'm awfully glad you liked those posts. I find yours useful and helpful and illuminating very often and I'm glad to be able to return the favor. Or just to cheer you up. :)

[pauraque]

Oh, happy birthday, by the way! I'm forgetting things left and right today. -_-

[(Anonymous)]

To wayfairer: I missed my opportunity in Eo's previous thread to add my thanks to you for your remarkable and thought-provoking post (and indeed, for your entire series of essays about the South); the things you had to say there were probably more familiar to me than to Eo and some other people, but I still see many, if not most, of them from the perspective of an outsider. Reading your own thoughts, and the replies of other folks, helped reassure me that I'm not alone in the ins and outs of my own struggles with my faith (and with how others interpret it). Thanks again.

Oh, and happy birthday! :-)

p@,
Glenn

[galaxianomiko.livejournal.com]

Here via DS originally...I've been enjoying this re-read. *hearts CoS*

BWAH! All right, this is explained later, but really now! On first reading, it's very suggestive. Or is my mind just in the gutter?

Oh, man. I had this very same conversation with my boyfriend right after he read CoS, and he swore up and down that it is only me that's the pervert. *cackle* There's no way JKR could write that and think it's completely innocuous.

when he's a homicidal maniac, he's described as horribly skeletal, with sunken black eyes, but as soon as Harry takes his side, he sees the remains of the "handsome best man" from the old photographs.

This struck me as horribly jarring in PoA, particularly considering the way Bellatrix Black is handled later. If Azkaban made her look like someone who used to be beautiful, why isn't this apparent in Sirius early on, as well? "Ugly" and "ugly NOW" are two different things. If you observe that someone looks like they've wasted away, that's acknowledging that you can see that they once didn't look so terrible. I don't think Harry does that with Sirius early enough for Sirius's former handsomeness to not come across as suspicious.

(Sheesh. I feel like Bender here, looking for "the thin person inside").

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

re: HP books encouraging kids to break rules, I wonder if that would follow the same lines as other children's books... for some reason "James and the Giant Peach" comes to mind, but I don't think kids had a sudden desire to go find a large fruit and run over some hateful relatives.

Er. Maybe.

sorry, no brain to be thoughtful tonight. *sheepish*

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, this is one of the ideas that I've had in my head all through this series: yes, the HP books feature the kids breaking the rules (and, apparently, being "right" in doing so)...but they are only one example of a very long tradition in children's literature, especially in the mystery and fantasy genres--at least, so it seems to me.

Having made that claim, I'm hard pressed to think of any clear examples (James and the Giant Peach isn't quite the best one, since James himself isn't all that bad), but it seems to me that, growing up, I often found myself reading stories that featured children hiding things from grown-ups, sneaking out at night, etc.; and this behavior was often presented as perfectly justified, because the children knew Important Things that the adults didn't know, or refused to believe, or because that was the only way they could provide help to a character in need, or catch the villain (as opposed to, say, calling the police), or whatever.
(EDIT: Mind you, sometimes the rule-breaking is for selfish reasons, or too serious to ignore, in which case they occasionally get their comeuppance.)

In fact, when I first read the HP books (starting with PS/SS), what struck me was how neatly they fit into this tradition, and I remember being a little disappointed that Rowling had followed the stereotype so closely, rather than doing something different. The pattern of the kids breaking the rules "for a good cause," however, came as no surprise.

In the succeeding books, of course, the rule-breaking does become more serious (as witness the current discussion(s)), and probably more troubling.

p@,
Glenn

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

It reads as though they're hoping he comes to a bad end down in the Chamber, which of course he does, but... wow, that's harsh.

It was harsh. Those kids value bravery and loyalty over all else. They felt betrayed by this adult who had bragged constantly about his exploits. Still...wow. Logically you'd think that if they realized that the guy was a complete loser, they wouldn't want him near them. Them dragging him to the Chamber with them was just a convenience so that JKR could "punish" Lockhart. If that's the sort of punishment she lines up for a braggart, I can't wait to see what she has in store for other people.

[pauraque]

The more I think about it, the more awful it seems. Looked at one way, Lockhart got off easy... he lost his mind, but he survived. They had no way to know he wouldn't face the Basilisk and be killed on the spot!

I'm very much reminded of Umbridge's gruesome fate. But a lot of fans have spoken out against what Hermione did there, even though she was trying to save lives. There's no justification for what Ron and Harry do to Lockhart; I wonder why this isn't brought up more often.

[(Anonymous)]

Nope, they're not all from the same person - or at least, I didn't do the others. I try to make it a habit to give someone extra time whenever I'm buying myself something from LJ, and your posts have been a bright spot in my flist recently. Thank you!

[pauraque]

I guess LJers are just feeling friendly, then! When I get an anonymous gift, I usually 'pay it forward' and give a matching gift to a random deserving person on my flist.

And thank you, masked (wo)man. ;)

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

I find it odd that a couple books have a chapter w/the same name as the book and the others don't. Not terribly remarkable, just a bit odd.

All right, this is explained later, but really now! On first reading, it's very suggestive.

Oh, it can still be suggestive. Perhaps highly disturbed, 11-year-old Ginny didn't catch quite everything she was seeing. ;-)

I really like that Snape moment (which I read as genuine concern). A lot of characters seem to show all the right emotions but don't do much. Normally, Snape's exactly the opposite. This is one of the few times we really see him displaying a positive emotion, apparently caring. I also love the staff room dynamics once Lockhart comes in. Note the way everyone immediately jumps on what Snape's doing and joins in. He's almost the ringleader of the bunch.

I've been bothered by physical descriptions for a while, and it's gotten worse, not better. In general, most "good" guys are pretty average -- short and skinny, awkwardly tall, bushy hair, crooked nose (Dumbledore, that is). The bad guys are frequently ugly, though. The Malfoy men are seen as beautiful, but in canon we just know their hair and eye colors and that they have "pointed" faces. I was especially bothered by OotP, because I happen to be overweight and very short, and I have brown hair and stubby fingers. Sound familiar?

I wonder if most of Lockhart's Memory Charms are the subtle type we see Shacklebolt or Ministry workers at the QWC do, rather than the full-out blast he does here. Surely people would notice that many people completely losing their memory? Also, we learn here that Lockhart does, in fact, possess some fairly impressive skills as an author and researcher. Really, he'd write wonderful books, both fiction and non, if he could get over his own ego (both the need to take credit for everything and make it overly grandiose). I get the feeling these skills aren't held in high regard in the wizarding world, though. I get the feeling that if it isn't a form of magic, it isn't a skill worth bothering with, much less admiring, according to wizards.

I think that at first, we have the conceit of kids breaking rules for the "good", because they supposedly know better, but as our main characters get older, it does change. Ideally, you'd hope it changed so they learned that their actions have consequences and rules are usually there for a reason, but instead it shifted so that all the good guys (regardless of age) break rules and are right to do so. When bad guys break rules, it's truly terrible, and people who try to enforce rules broken by a good guy (or sympathetic person, as for Crouch Sr), they are themselves bad guys. This is far more disturbing than the usual idea of kids breaking rules in stories.

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

Really, he'd write wonderful books, both fiction and non, if he could get over his own ego (both the need to take credit for everything and make it overly grandiose). I get the feeling these skills aren't held in high regard in the wizarding world, though. I get the feeling that if it isn't a form of magic, it isn't a skill worth bothering with, much less admiring, according to wizards.

That's a very good point. Poor Lockhart, driven to crime because of the lack of a wizarding publishing outlet which does not specialize in non-fiction?

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

In Harry's world, people can't be truly handsome if they're bad, nor can they be truly ugly if they're good.

I may be giving JKR too much credit (and if I'm right it could be something she did unconsciously rather than deliberately), but this strikes me as a reflection of Harry's black and white thinking, his need to see no bad in his friends/family and no good in his enemies. In my experience it's a common human 'thing' that when we like someone we begin to think of them as attractive, even if their features would be described as unattractive by an objective outsider, and vice versa. For Harry, even thinking of "his" people as ugly or unattractive is a betrayal, an admission of imperfection. And likewise, seeing an "enemy" as handsome or pretty is a betrayal, as if he's giving them something they don't deserve.

IMO (and I know a lot of fans differ on this) if you objectively analyze the physical descriptions in the books, almost all of the characters are rather ordinary looking. Some are particularly pretty and some are particularly homely, but most just have something sort of vaguely standout-ish about them -- like a pug/hooked nose or bushy/oily hair. It's Harry's opinions about their characters that guides the whether the description has a negative, positive or neutral slant.

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

And likewise, seeing an "enemy" as handsome or pretty is a betrayal, as if he's giving them something they don't deserve.

The one exception seems to be Cedric, who goes from simply 'handsome' to 'useless pretty boy' when he starts going out with Cho. Apparently Cedric is so good-looking even Harry can't find a way to think of him as ugly *g*.

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

Okay - why do the teachers leave Lockhart to go fight rescue Ginny? Don't they know he's useless? It's like putting their petty argument with him ahead of what should be their goal, protecting their student!

And I was never quite sure why Harry and Ron didn't go get somebody more stable to help them. I knew that JKR was preparing for some Harry-only confrontation, but still. It seems like they wanted to take on whatever ebil foes by themselves, and were just using Lockhart as an excuse to 'have an adult around'. A Chaperone of Danger, if you will.

Even though he did it to himself, Lockhart's 'punishment' is pretty vicious. :/ JKR is harsh with the come-uppance.

Has anyone addressed the point of what the Basilisk has been eating all this time? And - was it put there by Slytherin, or did Tom Riddle make it? It would seem that Slytherin left the monster in the chamber when he built it (I can't remember what the book says), but 1000 years is a long time. Was it enchantedly hibernating away?

[pauraque]

I believe the Basilisk says it's been "so hungry... for so long...", which would suggest that it hasn't been eating anything, but has been enchantedly hibernating, as you suggest. I do think Salazar put it there, though it would be interesting if there really was no monster, no Chamber, until Tom read the myth and decided to make it real, to his own benefit.

I don't have it in my head exactly how long the Basilisk is awake before Harry kills it, but it isn't unusual for snakes to be able to go a very long time without eating. And the bigger the snake, the longer it can do so, as a general rule. My snake is only about three feet long, and though she eats every week or so, she could go much longer without undue harm.

[iczer6.livejournal.com]

This simplistic physical literalism bugs me about the books, but I'll reserve final judgment until we see what ends up happening with characters like Snape... In the event that it finally hits home for Harry that Snape isn't all bad, will he suddenly notice that his hair isn't so greasy after all? Or start calling his nose 'aquiline'? Sheesh, I hope not.

Well in RL I've noticed that if I like someone I'll start noticing little things about them that I like and that draw me to this person, and if I dislike someone I'll start picking up more and more on little flaws and quirks that drive me crazy. Maybe it's just me though.

In Rowling's defense I wonder if she was trying to show us that Lockheart's good looks, like just about everything about him, were just a cover up, or a projection of what he wanted people to see.

And most people don't look all the handsome when they're very stressed, harried and running away from danger.


Icz