The #1 Children’s Fantasy Adventure Story - The Chamber of Secrets
The Best Type of Escapism for all Readers
First of all, this review may contain some spoilers so, if for whatever reason, you are one of the very few people who has not yet read this magical book, please look away now!
This blog article has been split into several sections, to make reading and navigating it much easier. I start with getting to know the author, a summary of the book and then we look at some of the main events in this book. This is followed by my top five favourite quotes from the entire book and Harry’s growth in the Chamber of Secrets. I then take a closer look at some of the characters in Chamber of Secrets and finally, I end with my review and rating of this book.
Getting to know the Author
J. K. Rowling is a British author, best known for her popular children’s fantasy adventure series, the very popular and successful Harry Potter books. As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would then read to her sister. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt gave her an old copy of Jessica Mitford’s autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Jessica Mitford became Rowling’s heroine and she subsequently read all of her books.
The first book J. K. Rowling wrote in adult fiction is The Casual Vacancy (2012), a contemporary social story set in a small English town. The author wrote the crime novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling using the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. Known as the Cormoran Strike series, it included a total of five books. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rowling began writing a new children’s book, The Ickabog, for free online.
It is safe to say J. K. Rowling’s most successful books to date have been the Harry Potter series. As of February 2023, the books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history.
Summary
“Harry Potter was a wizard – a wizard fresh from his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”
The second book in this magical series follows Harry’s dangerously eventful second year at Hogwarts. Harry is particularly upset as he believes his friends, Ron and Hermione, have forgotten his birthday as they have not written to him all summer.
Not being able to pass through the magical barrier at the train platform, one of the balls malfunctioning at a quidditch match and Harry hearing voices nobody else seems to hear are only a few of the bizarre magical events that take place in his second school year at Hogwarts.
’We’re going to miss the train,’ Ron whispered. ‘I don’t understand why the gateway’s sealed itself…’
Dobby’s Warning
“The Dursleys were what wizards called Muggles (not a drop of magical blood in their veins) and as far as they were concerned, having a wizard in the family was a matter of deepest shame.”
A mysterious elf appears at Privet Drive during the summer and warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts. When Harry politely disregards the warning, Dobby, the mysterious elf, causes
havoc in the kitchen, during an important meeting for Mr Dursley. This angers the Dursleys and they imprison Harry in his room for the rest of the summer.
“Harry crossed to his bedroom on tiptoe, slipped inside, closed the door and turned to collapse on his bed. The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.”
Lucky for Harry, his friend Ron and his brothers, Fred and George Weasley, steal Harry away in a flying car and Harry spends the rest of the summer with the Weasleys.
From this point to return to Hogwarts, is no simple journey for Harry and Ron. At the train station, they are unable to pass the magical barrier and so decide to take the flying car instead. When they arrive at Hogwarts and crash-land in a magical tree, they both receive a detention.
Bizarre and Dangerous Events
Once the school year starts, it is one bizarre event after another. Harry starts to hear voices that nobody else can hear.
“And then he heard something – something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart’s prattle about his fans.
It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone-marrow, a voice of breath-taking ice-cold venom.
‘Come… come to me… let me rip you… let me tear you… let me kill you…’
This voice leads Harry to the following writing on the wall:
“The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir, beware.”
Underneath this writing is Mrs Norris, the caretaker’s cat, hanging by her tail. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring. This has to be one of the creepiest scenes for me to both read and watch in the movie. There’s just something about innocent animals being hurt that tug at our heart strings, right?!
It does not stop there. At the next quidditch match, Harry is attacked by a rogue bludger. Usually, bludger’s tried to unseat as many people as possible and never went after only one individual. It soon became obvious that someone had tampered with the bludger., to target Harry.
“Someone’s fixed it – it won’t leave Harry alone, it hasn’t gone for anyone else all game.”
One of the biggest discoveries Harry makes in this book is that he is a Parselmouth. That is, he can speak to snakes. He doesn’t even realise he is doing it, or rather, he does realise he is speaking to snakes but does not realise he is speaking a different language. This happens when Malfoy and Harry duel in chapter eleven and Malfoy uses a spell to conjure a snake. Harry tells the snake not to attack Justin, a fellow student at Hogwarts., not realising that others believe he may be egging the snake on.
‘It matters,’ said Hermione, speaking at last in a hushed voice, ‘because being able to speak to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for.’
Even though I have read the books multiple times, whenever I come across this scene, it makes me shiver in the best way possible. The drama, the mystery of it – is Harry linked to Slytherin in more ways than he realises? Is he the heir of Slytherin? It hooks me every time.
Dobby’s Reward
“’Dobby has got a sock,’ said Dobby in disbelief. ‘Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby – Dobby is free.’”
Possibly the most heart-warming scene in the entire book is when Dobby is, finally, free from Lucius Malfoy’s clutches.
‘You shall not harm Harry Potter!’
Dobby really does steal the show in this book. He is the kindest and bravest elf, trying to warn and help Harry in any and every way possible.
The Basilik
The Basilik, as Professor Binns explains to Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors, is a monster imprisoned in the Chamber of Secrets by Salazar Slytherin that is meant to “purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.” It is a tool of hatred and carries out that hatred in its attacks: Mrs. Norris is the cat of a Squib, Filch, and Hermione, Justin, Colin and Murtle are all Muggle-born students. In 1943, when Tom Marvalo Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets, he used the Basilik to attack Muggle-borns.
The author shows us through the Basilik how easily prejudice can escalate into hatred and even a desire to murder. For example, Draco, who clearly dislikes Muggle-born students, confesses that he wishes he knew who the Heir of Slytherin was so that he could help them kill Muggle-born students.
Also, because so little is known about the Basilik, it serves as an instrument to spread fear. Because it petrifies the students it attacks, the victims cannot reveal any information about it and students create rumours to fill the gaps in their knowledge. Rather than being afraid of the Basilik, everyone is afraid of this unknown monster.
Tom Riddle’s ultimate goal was to lure Harry into the Chamber of Secrets and kill him, harry, ultimately, slayed the Basilik by stabbing her through the roof of her mouth with the sword of Gryffindor.
Top Five Favourite Quotes
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
“Hearing voices no one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world.”
“You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me.”
“You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.”
“If he doesn’t stop trying to save your life he’s going to kill you.”
Meet the Characters
Harry Potter
Harry is the twelve-year-old protagonist in Chamber of Secrets. We have already met Harry in The Philosopher’s Stone and so we already know that he is very uncomfortable and embarrassed by all the attention he receives in the wizarding world. Where book one allows him to discover himself and give him confidence in his identity, book two takes some of that assurance of himself away from him.
In Chamber of Secrets, Harry discovers that he a Parselmouth (snake language) and is haunted by the idea that he may be the heir of Slytherin. He is determined to stop the attacks on muggle-born students and with the help of Ron and Hermione, he faces the dangers and emerges triumphant in the end.
Ron Weasley
If Hermione is the brains and Harry is the soul, Ron is the heart of their friendship. He is generous, kind, loyal and an amazing friend to Harry. Ron rescues Harry from the Dursleys over the summer when he is being kept a prisoner. When Harry is hearing voices, Ron tries his best to reassure him and even though Ron is terrified of spiders, he willingly follows Harry into the Forbidden Forest.
In Chamber of Secrets, Harry is introduced to the Burrow, the Weasley household. He thinks it’s “the best house he’s ever been in”. Harry has grown up away from the wizarding world and does not have the experience of a loving family so the very things Ron takes for granted are considered treasure by Harry: parents, brothers and sisters.
While they are a warm and delightful family, the Weasley’s are relatively poor. We can see this material poverty when Ron snaps his wand and as a result, he cannot do any spells for the rest of the year without getting them wrong or harming himself. Although Ron could chase his family up for a new wand, he suffers in silence which I think shows immense maturity as he is aware of his family’s financial position.
Hermione Granger
From the moment Harry met Hermione in book one, we know her main character trait is braininess. She enjoys studying and she cares a lot about learning. As she becomes friends with Harry and Ron, we see Hermione loosen up a little, especially in Chamber of Secrets.
Firstly, Hermione is actually taken in by airhead Professor Lockhart. Until the end of the book, she is charmed by his fake stories of bravery and his silly smile. She is after all a 12-year-old girl, embarrassing crushes are practically a requirement. The second major mistake Hermione makes in Chamber of Secrets is when Hermione manages to turn herself into cat-girl for a few weeks. She does this by mistaking a cat hair on Millicent Bulstrode’s rove for Millicent’s own hair. When she drinks the incorrectly made Polyjuice Potion, she sprouts ears, fur all over her face and a tale.
Even with these few and far between bloopers, Hermione remains brilliant. Hermione surprised everyone by outright asking Professor Binns about the Chamber of Secrets and the answer she received helped the trio of friends later in the story. Another great choice Hermione made was to make the Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, a space neither Harry nor Ron would have known about. Moaning Myrtle did not just help them this year but she helps them in future books too. Finally, and I think her most brilliant plan, was
to use the Polyjuice Potion and impersonate Slytherins. This allowed them to get close to Draco and get some useful information that they otherwise would not have access to.
Ginny Weasley
Ginny is Ron’s younger sister and youngest child in the Weasley family. She is the only girl and we don’t get much of a sense of Ginny yet. This is partly due to her crush on Harry, which results in her barely being able to speak in front of him.
Ginny fights throughout the year and does not just let Tom Riddle possess her. We find out towards the end of the story that Ginny is the one Tom Riddle has been using to terrorise the school. Plenty of evidence suggests that she found Tom with all her might. She tried to flush the diary down the toilet and she also steals the diary back from Harry once he finds it.
One of the things that I personally found disappointing was the very little time Ginny received in this book. This allowed for very little character development. Ginny was so pivotal to the story in Chamber of Secrets and I believe we would have gained so much more understanding of the plot if we had seen some of it from Ginny’s point of view.
Tom Riddle
Tom Riddle’s full name, Tom Marvalo Riddle, is an anagram for “I am Lord Voldermort”. One of the best parts of Chamber of Secrets is that we get to see how Voldermort works without immediately knowing it is him.
Aspects of Tom Riddle’s personality that clearly foretell his transformation into Voldermort is his utter lack of sympathy for the people around him. His coldness is truly unique.
“So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring.”
Riddle is talking about an eleven-year-old girl trying to save her own life and the only adjective he can muster is “boring”. Even at such a young age, he has no feelings towards others.
An important fact we learn about Voldermort in this book is that he himself is half-muggle, despite all the pureblood crap his follower’s spout. It shows that even more than blood, he places importance on power. That is his ultimate goal.
Gilderoy Lockhart
Professor Gilderoy Lockhart is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. As well as teaching, he is also busy marketing himself as an author. He is extremely vain. I don’t think words can describe how vain he is.
In his first class of the year with the second years, he releases a bunch of Cornish pixies to destroy the classroom and then cannot figure out how to stop them. He drops his wand while teaching Harry a Disarming Charm. Worst and most pathetic of all, when Harry breaks his arm during a Quidditch match, Professor Lockhart attempts to fix it and instead he manages to to remove all the bones in Harry’s arm.
I believe we only see one moment in the entire book of a more sinister side to the Professor. This is when Harry and Ron discover that all of Professor Lockhart’s books are lies and he tries to cast a Memory Charm on them. This, of course, backfires and Professor Lockhart gives him incurable amnesia.
He is willing to leave Ginny to die and modify the boys’ memories, all to maintain his reputation. I think this alone shows us that he is not just a weak and pathetic coward but he is also surprisingly dangerous.
Harry’s Growth throughout the Book
The book starts with Harry having spent an awful summer with the Dursleys without having received any contact from his friends. He soon discovers it is Dobby the house-elf who has been holding onto his letters, he still spends the summer worrying that maybe he didn’t in fact have any friends at Hogwarts. Hogwarts had started to feel like home to Harry and so, this lack of communication with his friends, has evoked some insecurity about his place at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Things get worse as he heads back to Hogwarts. The rest of the school begins to suspect that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin and Harry does not have anyone whom he can ask about his ancestry. He begins to doubt himself. Is he in fact the heir of Slytherin? Why can he suddenly speak Parseltongue (snake language), which was a gift attributed to Salazar Slytherin? He even reflects back to the Sorting Hat suggesting he would do well in Slytherin House in book one. What does all of this mean for Harry?
By the end of The Chamber of Secrets, Harry’s loyalty to Professor Dumbledore brings Fawkes to him to save his life from basilik poison. Harry’s huge faith in the Professor gets an immediate reward. Harry’s choice to be and remain in Gryffindor separates him from Tom Riddle / Voldermort, no matter how similar their skills and background may be.
While Chamber of Secrets does shake some of Harry’s confidence in himself, he manages to rebuild this by triumphing over Tom Riddle and winning over the whole school with his success.
My Rating and Review
This is not my favourite book in the series by far but I would still rate it four very strong stars. The action, the humour, the found family trope and Dobby’s role in this book simply make this a delight to read.
“Jiggery pokery!” said Harry in a fierce voice. “Hocus pocus — squiggly wiggly —” “MUUUUUUM!” howled Dudley, “He’s doing you know what!”
I will say, I think this is the funniest out of all the books. With the humour provided by Dudley, Lockhart and Dobby, the other books are just not a match in terms of comic relief.
The only reason it is not my favourite is as the books go on, the more we learn about Harry’s past and the more action we see, making the further books a lot longer in length and far more enjoyable to read. So, the lower rating for this book, is simply because of the greatness of the books to come. It is by no means a reflection of any lacking in this book.
I will end with my favourite quote from the entire book, said by Mr Weasley, which makes me giggle every time I come across it,
“Have I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.”
