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.

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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.