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Chapter 1
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
When Harry arrives in his room, a little creature with “large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes” named Dobby is waiting for him. Dobby explains that he is a house-elf. When Harry politely asks Dobby to sit down, Dobby begins wailing in gratitude at being treated “like an equal.” Harry tries to comfort Dobby while also asking him to be quiet, as the Masons have arrived downstairs.
Dobby’s words imply that he rarely receives equal treatment from wizards, demonstrating the prejudice that other wizards bear against house elves. Harry, however, does not have such a prejudice. Part of this is because he simply does not know that many people consider house elves inferior, but mostly this is due to the fact that Harry treats everyone he meets with respect.
Themes
Dobby tries to explain to Harry why he is there, but he keeps beating his head furiously on the wall, saying that because he is visiting Harry against the wishes of the family of he works for, he must punish himself. Harry asks if he can help Dobby or save him from what seems like an abusive family. But Dobby explains that a house-elf can only be set free by the family he works for, and again he marvels at Harry’s kindness and modesty.
Harry’s gesture of friendship towards Dobby, even when he himself is abused by the Dursleys, strikes Dobby as an enormous kindness, given the fact that he is a house-elf and often thought of as inferior. This action gives Dobby a great deal of loyalty to Harry through this book as well as the rest of the series.
Themes
Dobby asks Harry if the rumors are true that he escaped Voldemort a second time. When Harry says yes, Dobby remarks on how “valiant and bold” Harry is. He then tells Harry why he is there: he wants to warn Harry that he should not go back to Hogwarts, implying that there is a plot to make “most terrible things” happen this year. When Harry asks who is plotting them, Dobby furiously bangs his head against the wall again. Harry understands that Dobby can’t tell him.
It is important to compare the loyalty that Dobby bears Harry with the loyalty that Dobby bears his family (the Malfoys). With the Malfoys, his loyalty is required by a magical contract between house-elves and their families. But with Harry, Dobby’s loyalty stems first from the desire to do good and then from the respect that Harry shows him. Rowling suggests that Dobby’s loyalty to Harry prevails because kindness and respect will always win over prejudice, even when it comes at great physical cost as it does to Dobby here.
Themes
Harry asks if Dobby’s warning has anything to do with Voldemort, and Dobby slowly shakes his head, though he seems to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry simply says that with Dumbledore at Hogwarts, he can’t think who might try to make horrible things happen there. Dobby agrees that Dumbledore is a great wizard, but says there are powers that “no decent wizard” can wield. Dobby again beats himself with Harry’s lamp.
Harry’s loyalty towards Dumbledore is evident even in these early pages, and this loyalty is what allows Harry to be brave enough to know that he can return to Hogwarts without fear. Ultimately this loyalty, and Harry’s bravery, will be tested when Dumbledore leaves Hogwarts, but his departure ultimately demonstrates how Harry’s loyalty extends even beyond Dumbledore’s presence.
Themes
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Vernon, hearing this beating, starts to climb the stairs. Harry shuts Dobby in a closet. Vernon warns Harry not to make another sound. When Vernon leaves, Harry turns to Dobby and says that anywhere would be better than the Dursleys, and that he has friends at Hogwarts. Dobby notes that Harry’s friends haven’t written to him, which leads Harry to realize that Dobby has been stopping his letters, thinking that if Harry believed his friends didn’t care about him, he would not want to go back to school.
Even Dobby, who knows very little of Harry Potter, understands how much Harry values his friends and their loyalty to him, and thus how they can be used against him to make him feel vulnerable. Tom Riddle will explain later in the novel that he too takes advantage of the knowledge that Harry will always prioritize the well-being of his friends.
Themes
Harry grabs for the thick stack of letters that Dobby presents, but Dobby runs out of the bedroom and down into the kitchen. Harry follows him, and when he arrives he sees Petunia’s “masterpiece of a pudding” floating near the ceiling. Harry begs Dobby not to do anything. But when Harry won’t promise that he will not return to Hogwarts, Dobby lets the pudding drop to the floor and then vanishes.
It is interesting that for all of the trouble-making and lying that Harry does throughout this book, he is unable here to lie to Dobby. This moment actually reinforces the deep integrity that Harry possesses: he only lies when he knows that it will help to do what is right. Here he knows that lying is not morally right, even though telling the truth causes trouble for him.
Themes
Vernon rushes into the kitchen and sees Harry covered in frosting. He apologizes to the Masons, saying that Harry is “very disturbed” and so they keep him upstairs. Vernon threatens to “flay” Harry, who starts mopping the kitchen. Vernon is almost able to salvage the night, but then an owl swoops through the window and drops a letter. The Masons run out of the house, as Mrs. Mason is very afraid of birds.
Later in the novel, Rowling establishes that many wizards are prejudiced against Muggles. Here, the opposite is true: Vernon and Petunia are so prejudiced against wizards that they even try to apologize for Harry by associating him with mentally ill people, another group that experiences discrimination.
Themes
Harry reads the letter, which is from the Ministry of Magic. It says that they have detected a Hover Charm used in Harry’s home, reminds Harry that underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of school, and says that if he uses any more magic he will be expelled from the school.
This is the first introduction to the Ministry of Magic, and it is not accidental that their warning is unfair. In the wizarding world, the Ministry of Magic often wants to appear to be doing the right thing (policing underaged wizards using magic) rather than actually doing the right thing (figuring out who really conjured the Hover Charm and punishing that person).
Themes
Vernon, who reads the letter as well, is livid that Harry didn’t tell them he couldn’t use magic. He puts bars on Harry’s window, puts a cat-flap in the door for food, and lets Harry out to use the bathroom twice a day. Other than that, Harry is locked in around the clock and Vernon is adamant that he will not be returning to Hogwarts.
In contrast to Harry’s inability to lie to Dobby, Harry chose to lie about his inability to use magic outside of school because he knew that without lying, he would be subjected to brutal abuse by the Dursleys.
Themes
Three days later, Harry is still locked in his room. He is nearly starving, but he splits his food with Hedwig, who is also trapped in her cage. He doesn’t know what to do: if he uses magic to escape, he will be expelled from Hogwarts. But that night, he hears the bars on his window rattling, and when he wakes up, Ron Weasley is outside his window.
The injustice of the rules is shown once again. Harry feels unable to perform magic even when he is essentially imprisoned in his room for no reason and is starving. These harsh circumstances make it clear that Harry feels like the Ministry is not interested in justice, because they do not make an exception for his dire circumstances.
Themes
