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Chapter 16
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
Harry enters the Chamber and sees Ginny on the floor of the Chamber, very still, along with a blurry version of Tom Riddle. Riddle explains that Ginny has been writing in his diary for months, pouring her heart and soul into it while he wrote back. He explains that he grew stronger the more she poured herself into him. In turn, Riddle started to possess her, preying on the fact that she felt lonely and insecure at school. Using Ginny, Riddle then opened the Chamber of Secrets and set the basilisk on the students—all without Ginny knowing that she had done it.
Riddle’s ability to possess Ginny through the diary confirms the danger of information that comes from an unknown source. Ginny assumed that Riddle was a friend as he wrote back to her and sympathized with her, but as she slowly realized that she was missing pieces of her own memory, she started to fear the power that he had over her. Additionally, this revelation shows how lacking close friendships can leave a person vulnerable. Ginny was lonely at school, which led her to rely on someone untrustworthy.
Themes
Ginny became suspicious of the diary and tried to throw it away, Riddle explains. Then Harry picked it up, and Riddle showed Harry his memory in order to gain his trust. Harry realizes that Riddle framed Hagrid fifty years before. Riddle reveals that Dumbledore (who was a teacher at the time) always suspected him and kept a close eye on him after that. And so, Riddle left a diary behind so that someone else could finish his work in the future.
Just as Ginny was lulled into a false sense of security by the diary, so too was Harry fooled because he assumed that the information Riddle was showing him was reliable. Riddle’s ability to manipulate information is what enabled him to commit his crimes not only in the present, but also in the past.
Themes
Harry says that in a few hours, Riddle’s plan will be derailed because the Mandrake Draught will be ready to revive the petrified students. But Riddle says that his new goal has been to meet Harry—and he knew that Harry would “go to any lengths to solve the mystery—particularly if one of [his] best friends was attacked.” And so, Riddle continues, he made Ginny come down into the Chamber so that Harry would follow.
Riddle asks Harry how he managed to escape Voldemort. When Harry asks why he cares, Riddle explains that Voldemort is his “past, present, and future.” He rearranges the letters in his name, “Tom Marvolo Riddle,” to spell “I am Lord Voldemort.” Riddle explains that while he was at school, he made a new identity for himself because he knew that one day he would become “the greatest sorcerer in the world!”
Riddle’s description of himself at school actually presents a key distinction between himself and Harry. While Riddle made a clear choice to form an evil identity, knowing that one day he would amass greatness and power, Harry chooses instead to focus choosing a positive identity for himself and creating lasting friendships. These key differences show, as Dumbledore later points out, that one’s choices are more important than one’s innate abilities.
Themes
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Harry counters, saying that Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer in the world, not Riddle. Riddle says that Dumbledore has been driven out by “the mere memory” of Riddle. Harry says that Dumbledore is “not as gone” as Riddle thinks, although even Harry himself doesn’t know quite what he means by that. At that moment, Fawkes swoops in, holding the Sorting Hat. Harry realizes that he is not alone and musters his courage.
Riddle once more asks Harry how he managed to survive Voldemort. Harry says that his “Muggle-born mother” prevented Voldemort from killing him, and now Voldemort is barely alive. Riddle understands that this is what protected Harry—that despite the fact that he and Harry share “strange likenesses” and many similar qualities, Harry simply got lucky.
The fact that Riddle notes many similarities between himself and Harry becomes even more concerning to Harry when he tries to grapple with his identity in the following chapter, as he worries that because they share many qualities, they could also share similar fates.
Themes
Riddle then calls the basilisk. Harry shuts his eyes and tries to blindly feel his way around. But then he hears Fawkes attacking the snake, and Harry peeks long enough to see that Fawkes has punctured the enormous basilisk’s lethal eyes. Harry also grabs the Sorting Hat and begs it to help him. He pulls out of it a “gleaming silver sword.”
Harry’s loyalty to Dumbledore not only enhances his courage because he is no longer alone, but it also gives him the ability to defeat the basilisk. Fawkes blinds the snake, preventing it from being able to kill Harry on sight. Thus Harry’s loyalty for Dumbledore is reciprocated with loyalty to Harry.
Themes
The basilisk charges toward Harry, using its hearing and smell to find him. But just as it opens its mouth to swallow him, Harry drives the sword into the roof of its mouth. The basilisk keels over, but one of its fangs has sunk into Harry’s arm, and he can feel poison spreading throughout his body. Harry thanks Fawkes for trying to rescue him, and the bird starts to cry. Tom Riddle relishes watching Harry die. The pain starts to leave Harry, but he realizes that he is not dying: the wound is healing. Harry remembers suddenly that phoenix tears have healing powers.
Harry’s loyalty to Dumbledore leads Fawkes to deliver the sword, which enables Harry to kill the basilisk. The sword also becomes a key part of Harry’s understanding of his identity, which Dumbledore points out later. The sword belonged to Godric Gryffindor; therefore even if Harry believed that he might have been fated to be in Slytherin, his choices have led him to become a true Gryffindor.
Themes
Riddle is aghast, and he raises the wand to try and finish Harry off. But before he can cast a spell, Harry grabs the basilisk fang and plunges it into Tom Riddle’s diary. Ink spurts out of it, and Riddle writhes and twists, screaming, until he disappears. Harry collects his wand, the Sorting Hat, and the sword.
The irony in Riddle dying from the basilisk fang highlights another key difference between himself and Harry. Harry was able to escape because of the deep bonds of friendship and love he has with Dumbledore. But Riddle has no such love, and so he dies alone, with his death caused by the only creature who might have been his ally.
Themes
Ginny wakes up and confesses that she is the one who’s been attacking the students. Harry tells her that it’s okay, and that Riddle is gone now. They walk back to Ron, who has made a sizeable gap in the rock barrier. He is overjoyed to see Ginny alive. Lockhart is also there, his memory wiped from the Charm that backfired. Fawkes flies Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Lockhart through the air and back up to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.
Harry’s success affirms that sometimes it is necessary to break rules in order to do the right thing: if he had not done so, he would not have been able to solve the mystery of the Chamber, rescue Ginny, and defeat the basilisk. At the same time, Ron and Hermione’s roles in his success also affirm the fact that he could not have done it without them.
Themes
