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Chapter 9
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
One day after Lockhart’s class—in which he makes Harry reenact an episode in which Lockhart wrestled a werewolf and turned him back into a man—Harry, Ron, and Hermione approach Lockhart. Hermione asks him to sign a note to take out Moste Potente Potions, which, she explains, will help her understand a part of Lockhart’s book Gadding with Ghouls. Lockhart is flattered and signs the note without even looking at it.
Together, Harry, Ron, and Hermione use their collective efforts in order to get what they want. They play into Lockhart’s ego, flattering him during and after class. Using his note, they won’t even have to break the rules in order to take the book out from the library—though this will certainly lead them to break more rules.
Themes
Hermione brings the note to the library and takes out Moste Potente Potions. Then Hermione, Harry, and Ron return to Myrtle’s bathroom, which no one ever uses, so they can look up the ingredients for Polyjuice Potion. Hermione realizes that they’re going to have to break into Snape’s store of ingredients to get some of the items. The boys worry about getting into more trouble after Dumbledore’s threat to expel them, but Hermione is adamant that they try and figure out who is threatening Muggle-borns. If they can get all the ingredients, she says, it should take about a month to brew.
This is a big change for Hermione. Just like in the first book, she is usually very against breaking the rules. But she knows that preventing the attacks on Muggle-borns is important, particularly because she has a vested interest in the matter as a Muggle-born herself. She knows that there are prejudices against her and that she could be in danger, and thus Harry and Ron know that it’s important to support her and brew the potion even when it might get them into a lot of trouble.
Themes
The next day, Harry wakes early for the first Quidditch match of the season. He wants to win—not only to beat Malfoy, but because he had been in the hospital wing for the last match of the year prior and Gryffindor had lost miserably. In the locker room, Wood also says that he wants to show the Slytherins that it takes more than a rich father to win a match.
The Quidditch match becomes more than a game to Harry. It becomes a way to support his friends after leaving them hanging the year prior, as well as a way to make a statement about the fact that the wealthy shouldn’t be able to buy advantages.
Themes
When the match begins, Harry flies high above the action, looking for the Snitch. Almost immediately, a Bludger starts to hurtle toward him. When he avoids it, it pivots and swerves toward him again. And again. And again. Harry starts to worry: Bludgers aren’t supposed to target one player. Harry continues to avoid the Bludger, unable to focus on the Snitch. Then he hears the score: 60-0, advantage Slytherin.
Later it is revealed that Dobby is the one bewitching the Bludger in order to try to scare Harry out of Hogwarts. Because Harry doesn’t understand what’s happening, he grows more and more afraid of the Bludger, seeing that it is targeting him directly.
Themes
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Gryffindor calls a time out, and Fred and George tell Wood that someone has bewitched the Bludger. One of the Chasers argues that they should ask for an inquiry, but Harry says if they stop they’ll forfeit the match. Play resumes, and Harry keeps avoiding the Bludger. Draco makes fun of Harry, but then Harry spots the Snitch just next to Draco’s head. At that moment, Harry feels the Bludger smash into his arm and break it. Harry ignores the pain, diving for the Snitch with his good hand. He rolls onto the ground, the Snitch in his good hand. They’ve won the game, and Harry promptly faints.
Although Harry’s friendships are at the core of his character, sometimes he is loyal to a fault: in this moment, he doesn’t want to disappoint the rest of the team, and so he refuses to forfeit. He also doesn’t want to appear weak in front of the Slytherins, and so he demonstrates that he is willing to get hurt in order to prevail. This is another key component of Harry’s character: he is willing to and often chooses to sacrifice himself for the good of others.
Themes
When Harry comes to, Lockhart is standing over him, saying that he’s going to fix Harry’s arm. Harry tries to protest, but Lockhart insists. Instead of fixing Harry’s broken bones, however, Lockhart removes the bones in his arm entirely. Ron and Hermione escort Harry to the hospital wing.
Lockhart presents another way in which lack of knowledge can be both dangerous and terrifying. Harry knows that Lockhart has no idea how to fix his arm, and so desperately tries to prevent him from doing so, to no avail.
Themes
Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, is raging, saying that Harry should have come straight to her. Growing the bones back will be painful, she says. Harry has to stay the night. She gives him a potion called Skele-Gro, which burns as he drinks it. But, Ron says, at least they won the match. Hermione, for her part, wants to know how Draco fixed the Bludger. Then Madam Pomfrey makes them leave so that Harry can rest.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione again display their own prejudice against Draco, to the point where they assume that anything bad that happens to Hogwarts or Harry must be because of him, which blinds them to the realities of what’s happening in the castle.
Themes
Hours later, Harry wakes to find Dobby at his bedside. Dobby says that he warned Harry not to come back to school, adding that he should have gone home when he missed the train. Harry realizes that Dobby sealed the platform barrier, and that Dobby had also fixed the Bludger. He threatens Dobby, angry that he got Harry nearly killed.
Although Dobby is trying to be loyal and supportive of Harry, his attempts to get him to leave the castle are dangerous. Harry’s continued perseverance in the face of these obstacles also demonstrates how important Hogwarts is to his newfound identity as a wizard and how he cannot leave the place that he truly considers home.
Themes
Still, Harry can’t help but feel sorry for Dobby, who starts to cry at Harry’s threats and blows his nose on the pillowcase he wears. Harry asks why he wears a pillowcase; Dobby explains that he can only be freed from enslavement if his masters present him with clothes.
The fact that Harry feels sorry for Dobby, even though Dobby has repeatedly tried to hurt him, demonstrates Harry’s decency and kindness towards others. Dobby’s words here about his enslavement also foreshadow Harry’s future role in helping to free Dobby at the end of the book.
Themes
Dobby goes on to say that Harry has always represented hope for the house-elves, who were treated like vermin during Voldemort’s reign. And that’s why Harry can’t stay, he says, now that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again, because he is in too much danger. Harry latches on to this information, realizing the Chamber is real and that it’s been opened before. But then they hear footsteps down the hall, and Dobby disappears.
Just like Slytherin, Voldemort also used prejudice against Muggle-borns to gain support and power, which foreshadows who is in fact causing the attacks. This also made it easier to discriminate against other groups, like the house-elves, whom the wizards believed to be inferior, as Dobby highlights here.
Themes
Then, Dumbledore enters the room with Professor McGonagall while Harry pretends to sleep. They are carrying a petrified Colin Creevey, who is frozen holding his camera and taking a picture. They open the camera to see if he got a picture of the attacker, but it smells like burnt plastic. Dumbledore acknowledges that this attack means the Chamber of Secrets has been opened again. Harry can see on McGonagall’s face that she doesn’t understand what is happening any more than he does.
The attack on Colin provides some information, but it also raises more questions. It confirms that the monster is targeting Muggle-born students, as Colin is Muggle-born. But it still doesn’t provide any clues about who or what could be causing the attacks. And because Harry realizes that the people in charge have little understanding of what is happening as well, Harry and the rest of the students quickly become afraid that they will not be protected.
Themes
