Thread II: A Catholic Homeschooling Father Reads Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

Gloria Romanorum blog ^ | 8/20/07 | Florentius

[Antoninus]

Having read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I dove into Book 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets anxious to see where J. K. Rowling was going to take the story. I also wanted to see if my criticisms of the first book would stand up or get flattened as the story progressed.

Well, as for the story line, it really wasn’t a whole lot different from the first book. A mystery is introduced: the Chamber of Secrets has been opened by the mysterious Heir of Slytherin and whatever was locked in the Chamber has been attacking, but not killing, certain students who are not of pure magical blood. Harry and his friends sleuth around to figure out the mystery, breaking a myriad of school rules in the process and nearly (of course) getting expelled. When Hermione is attacked, Hogwarts is on the point of shutting down for good. It’s up to Harry, Ron, and the famous but useless Professor Gilderoy Lockhart to discover where the Chamber of Secrets is located and defeat the evil that lurks within.

I have to say I enjoyed reading this installment in the series quite a bit less than the previous book. The character of the self-promoting Gilderoy Lockhart, while resonating with the publisher in me, was too overdone to be funny--like a Monty Python skit that is shown over and over again until all the humor is thoroughly beaten out of it. Also in this category was the scene with Ron vomiting up slugs. Several pages of such imagery is more than enough for even the most scatologically-inclined juvenile reader.

On the other hand, I did like the character of Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister. In fact, I think that a lot of homeschool families would find the Weasleys very sympathetic. They've got seven kids--six boys and a girl. They're poor, so their forced to make due with hand-me-down robes and second-hand wands. And they're ridiculed by their social "betters" for their financial straights. The fact that Ron and his brothers are quick to resort to fisticuffs rather than hear their family demeaned may also resonate with some.

One thing that particularly irritated me about The Chamber of Secrets was the introduction of some alternate history taken directly from wicca 101. "Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago by the four greatest witches and wizards of the time," the ghost of Professor Binns lectures. "They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution" (pg. 150). I've heard similar nonsense bandied about by real, modern, historically-challenged wiccans, so when I saw this, I just shook my head. Not good. To my eye, this looked like a seed planted by Rowling and it seemed to substantiate Amy Welborn's observation:

"There's only one reason the Harry Potter books are in the least bit controversial. Just one. Wicca. That's it. If we didn't have this ridiculous little "religion" bustling around, forming "covens" in dorm rooms and getting army chaplains, I doubt one parent in a million would even think to waste even a minute being concerned about these books."

But it is a concern. For the record, there is an excellent article in the Catholic Encyclopedia that gives a capsule scholarly history of witchcraft from the Catholic perspective and it is very effective in debunking wicca and its ridiculous alternate history. I hope that the future books in the series do not contain other such seeds--I'll certainly be looking for them.

The Chamber of Secrets also elaborates upon the differences between the magically inclined and those poor benighted creatures known as Muggles--that is, anyone who is "normal" and non-magical. In Rowling's world, there are those among the magical who despise the "Mudbloods"--anyone who is magical but from a Muggle family--and those good magic-users who are tolerant of Muggles, no matter how awful and nasty they may be. There seems to be an obvious intent on Rowling's part to make this a lesson in tolerance somehow, but it seems peculiarly elitist to me. Even the magical beings who tolerate the Muggles still, for them most part, look down on them as curious and generally pathetic creatures in need of study. One could easily imagine a book of poetry in the Hogwart's library containing "The Magical Man's Burden." I'm curious to see where this tangent ends up in the future books.

The climax of the book was also subpar. The horrible creature in the Chamber of Secrets is fairly inept. It kills no one (and the reasons given for this are ludicrous) and is eventually destroyed almost by accident. Though Harry is the hero, he seems to survive his deadly encounters almost completely by luck and the intervention of an "eye-in-the-sky"--all of which makes you wonder why the "eye-in-the-sky" didn't just deal with the problem in the first place.

I've heard it said that Chamber of Secrets is the weakest of the Potter books. Having read only the previous one, I can't comment on that, yet. However, it was certainly weaker than Sorcerer's Stone. The book also did little to quell my criticisms of the original book. Indeed, it enhanced them and added a few new ones. We'll see where all this leads in book three.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Not to mention Harry having a big knife at school. You’d think zero-tolerance would have something to say about that.

[Tax-chick]

They just slapped a big price tag on it and knew that millions of people would buy it regardless.

Free enterprise is a marvelous thing. I'm a library user, myself.

[Antoninus]

Free enterprise is a marvelous thing. I'm a library user, myself.

Hey, I don't begrudge the publishers their due, believe me. They've got an item people want and cost is apparently no object for this consumer base. Indeed, the HP books look like a bargain compared to what academic monographs sell for.

As for libraries, I think everyone should have easy access to one--in their living rooms, if possible.

[Tax-chick]

cost is apparently no object for this consumer base

I spent $80 to get the history of the Catholic Church in Alaska for my birthday. Maybe I'll get it by my next birthday, as they've shipped it Book Rate from Alaska ...

We wouldn't have any of the HP books, except that my husband ordered "Deathly Hallows" for me for the aforementioned birthday. I'd have been content to wait my turn at the library. It's just one of those things ... I'm a borrower, and he's a buyer.

[Antoninus]

We wouldn't have any of the HP books, except that my husband ordered "Deathly Hallows" for me for the aforementioned birthday. I'd have been content to wait my turn at the library. It's just one of those things ... I'm a borrower, and he's a buyer.

For the record, I'm borrowing all the HP books from a relative. :-)

That's not to say I don't buy. I just have to resist...

[Tax-chick]

If we both bought everything we want (and everything the teeming offspring want) we’d have to give the house to the books and live in the yard. This would get us in trouble with the county.

[Bigg Red]

Don’t feel bad. I make all sorts of typos when I am posting in a hurry.

[Antoninus]

Don’t feel bad. I make all sorts of typos when I am posting in a hurry.

Yeah, my problem is I can't seem to eliminate my typos even when I'm not posting in a hurry. :-)

[Tanniker Smith]

Also in this category was the scene with Ron vomiting up slugs.

Overdone? Perhaps. But as far as "scatalogical" humor goes, it's exceptionally mild. Given the age of the students involved, it's a mild thing to wish upon one's enemy. And here's where you can either infer "Do unto others ... " or "live by the wand, die by the wand". And it's a magical inversion of Johnny making Susie eat a bug. (I never ate bugs nor forced anyone to do so ... actually, I don't personally know anyone in either category, but we always hear about it.)

In either case, it's an important foreshadowing for the showdown with Lockhart at the end. The only gap in logic is how Ron managed to progress as well as he did that year with a dysfunctional wand.

[Tanniker Smith]

We actually have two copies. I bought it while I was away at scout camp, knowing that my wife would buy it at home.

My excuse, other than I wanted to read it, was that I knew that I'd have to wait until she was done (and she possibly would've passed it onto our son or daughter first) and, at the time, I was pretty sure she hadn't finished rereading book 6 (actually she hadn't started yet.)

[Tax-chick]

You can donate a copy to the library when you’re all finished.

[sockmonkey]

Every time she brings up a new creature, I think to myself, Monster Manual, 3HD, 1-8 hp damage per attack.

Are you reading Rowling's companion books, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch through the Ages?

[Antoninus]

Are you reading Rowling's companion books, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch through the Ages?

I didn't know that such existed. Do they? These threads are so thick with sarcasm that it's impossible to know whether I'm responding to a serious point or becoming the butt of an inside joke.

[sockmonkey]

I didn't know that such existed. Do they?

Yes, they exist. They are: From the Library of Hogwarts: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Quidditch Through The Ages by J.K. Rowling and J. K. Rowling (Hardcover - Nov 1, 2001)

I found the first one particularly helpful as I read the books-Gotta keep those grindy lows and kappas straight in my head...Also, there are some red herrings...demiguise, being one that comes to mind.