Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Information, Rumors, and Fear
Prejudice vs. Respect
Friendship, Loyalty, and Bravery
Fate, Choice, and Identity
Rules, Rebellion, and Doing the Right Thing
Summary
Analysis
A few days before Halloween, Harry walks back to his dormitory after a rain-soaked Quidditch practice. He spots Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, whom he notices seems very upset. Nick explains that other ghosts won’t let him into a club called the Headless Hunt because his head is still slightly attached to his body. Harry tries to comfort Nick.
Ghosts are often avoided by students or sometimes even made fun of. This is particularly true of Nearly Headless Nick, whose near-headlessness makes him a kind of oddity to the students. Harry, on the other hand, treats Nick kindly, understanding that he is a being with feelings.
Themes
At that moment, Filch walks down the hall and notices the mud that Harry has tracked in. He leads Harry into his office and starts filling out a form stating Harry’s crime. At that moment, however, a loud bang comes from the ceiling of the office. Filch runs out of the room, calling after Peeves the poltergeist, whom he assumes is the sources of the bang.
Like many other figures of authority at Hogwarts and in the wizarding world more generally, Filch frequently abuses his power in order to appear more menacing to the students than he actually is. In Harry’s case, this strategy actually backfires, because if he can get into trouble for things like a little mud, he has no issue with breaking the rules and getting into trouble for larger offenses.
Themes
Harry remains in a chair near Filch’s desk and spots a letter on the desk. Harry reads the letter: it is an advertisement for Kwiskpell, which seems to be a course to learn simple spells. Harry wonders if this means that Filch isn’t a “proper wizard.” When Filch returns, he notices immediately that the letter has moved. Harry lies and says he didn’t read it, and Filch doesn’t know what to do, half-furious and half-embarrassed. He sends Harry back to his dormitory.
Rowling introduces yet another form of prejudice in the wizarding world, perhaps an even stronger one than the prejudice against Muggle-borns. Filch is (as Harry will soon learn) a Squib—a person of wizard heritage but with no magical ability. Squibs are often mistreated and discriminated against by the majority of the wizarding world.
Themes
When Harry leaves Filch’s office, Nearly Headless Nick catches him again. He asks Harry if his distraction worked: he convinced Peeves to crash a large cabinet right over Filch’s office. Harry thanks him, and wonders how he could help Nick with the Headless Hunt. Nick invites him to his five hundredth deathday party on Halloween: he says it would be an honor to have Harry attend, and wonders if Harry could tell the members of the Headless Hunt that he finds Nick very frightening. Harry agrees to go.
Nick’s gesture of kindness helps Harry escape Filch’s punishment, and in turn Harry agrees to attend his party and help him. Not only does Harry show Nick respect, and vice versa, but their mutual kindness and budding friendship becomes mutually beneficial.
Themes
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Harry, Hermione, and Ron are excited about going to the deathday party, because they know that living people are rarely invited to ghost parties. Halloween arrives, and they go down to the dungeon, which is filled with hundreds of ghosts. All of the food is moldy and gross, and the music sounds like fingernails being scraped on a chalkboard.
Just like Harry, Ron and Hermione reveal their respect for those who are different from themselves, and are even excited to widen their perspectives by experiencing something new. This shows that they are unlike other characters who simply write off those who are different from them as inferior.
Themes
Hermione spots another ghost, Moaning Myrtle, who haunts one of the girls’ bathrooms on the first floor. Hermione says no one really likes her because she’s always crying and flooding the bathroom. Myrtle sulks over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Hermione tries to cheer her up by saying how nice she looks. But Myrtle simply thinks that she’s making fun of her and she starts to sob. Just then, a dozen headless ghosts on ghost horses glide through the dungeon wall and greet Nick. Nick tries to make a speech, but the Headless Hunt starts a game of Head Hockey and distracts the audience
Myrtle, like Nick, also experiences prejudice. She is clearly upset about something and is often made fun of, but people simply reinforce that stereotype by calling her “Moaning Myrtle.” This abuse occurs to the point where Myrtle doesn’t even believe that Hermione could be nice to her, which helps create a negative self-fulfilling prophesy of feeling like an outcast, and then becoming one.
Themes
Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to leave and go back to the feast, as they are very cold and hungry. As they leave, Harry hears the same voice from Lockhart’s office: “…rip…tear…kill.” Harry stops in his tracks and tries to listen, looking up and down the passage. Harry can hear the voice moving away, while Ron and Hermione can’t hear anything. He wonders if it might be an invisible ghost, rising through the ceiling. Harry climbs the stairs with Ron and Hermione in tow, heading up to the entrance hall. Harry hears the voice again: “I smell blood…” He worries that the voice is going to kill someone.
Again, having no knowledge about the voice or where it might be coming from terrifies Harry. This point will become crucial in the following chapters, as lack of knowledge about the monster is what allows rumors and fear to fly around the castle. It is also notable that chooses to run toward the voice instead of running away from it. His impulse is to save others rather than to hide, showing his immense courage and willingness to sacrifice himself.
Themes
Harry runs up to the second floor, stopping at the end of the passageway with Ron and Hermione behind him. There they see a message: “THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.” Below the words, there is a puddle of water, and hanging by her tail from one of the torch brackets is Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris, “stiff as a board.” Harry, Ron, and Hermione try to leave the corridor, but the feast ends and students pile into the corridor. As the students approach, they fall silent, until they hear a cry from Draco Malfoy: “Enemies of the Heir, beware! You’ll be next, Mudbloods.”
The first attack and the accompanying message reveal a bit of information about the motivation behind it. As Draco points out (perhaps because he has more knowledge about what “the Heir” means than others do), the motivation for the attacks is based on prejudice. Filch will go on to assume that Harry attacked Mrs. Norris because he discovered that Filch is a Squib. Even though Harry didn’t petrify Mrs. Norris, the truth is not far off, as it later turns out that the monster is after those whom Salazar Slytherin felt were “undeserving” of being at the school.
Themes
