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Chapter 4
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
The morning that the Hogwarts Express is set to leave, Harry and the Weasleys drive the car to King’s Cross Station, though they make many return trips to the Burrow on the way for forgotten items. By the time they arrive, it is almost the departure time. They finally arrive at King’s Cross, and Mr. Weasley and Percy hurry ahead into the barrier at platform nine and three quarters, followed by Fred and George, and then by Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. But when Harry and Ron try to go through, they crash into the barrier rather than being able to magically walk through it.
It is later revealed that it is Dobby who prevented Harry and Ron from being able to pass through the barrier, in his latest attempt to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts. He does this out of a kind of loyalty, hoping that he will be able to save Harry from the terrible things that he expects to occur at Hogwarts.
Themes
Harry and Ron don’t understand why they cannot enter the barrier, watching the clock tick until they see that they have missed the train. They worry that Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley won’t be able to get back to them. Harry suggests they wait by the car, but then Ron suggests that they fly the car to Hogwarts, and his parents can simply Apparate home.
Harry and Ron’s worry about what might have happened to the barrier, and what might have happened to Ron’s parents, serves as another example in which their lack of information sparks a kind of fear. They’re not sure why this has happened, and they’re afraid they won’t be able to get to Hogwarts for the year.
Themes
Harry and Ron load the car, and Ron starts the car. He presses the Invisibility Booster, making themselves and the car invisible, but as they start to rise over London, the Invisibility Booster sputters out and the car can be seen again. Ron takes them above the clouds, but then they realize they have to find the Hogwarts Express in order to follow it. They duck below the clouds over London, see the train, and follow it north.
Harry and Ron are so worried about their ability to get to Hogwarts that they decide breaking the rules and flying the car there is the best decision. But it is clear that their fear is their primary motivator: had they taken a few extra minutes to think through their options and garnered more information about their situation, they could have avoided their rule-breaking, as McGonagall points out later.
Themes
A few hours later, Harry and Ron are approaching the school, and Harry imagines how awed the other students will be when they land on the front lawn. But the car engine begins to whine, and Ron starts to grow nervous that they may not make it to the school. They see Hogwarts in the distance, but the car starts to lose speed. When they reach the lake, the engine dies completely. Harry and Ron crash spectacularly into a giant tree, which they soon learn is the Whomping Willow—a tree that can attack with its branches. Ron’s wand snaps in two and the car ejects Harry and Ron before driving away into the darkness.
Part of what enables Harry and Ron’s rule-breaking is that spur each other on and inspiring each other’s bravery. They are also motivated by the idea of gaining even more notoriety from the other students. Thus, unlike some of their other escapades in the books, they don’t quite have the same moral justification here for breaking the rules.
Themes
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Harry and Ron drag their luggage to the front steps, where they can see through a front window that the Sorting has started in the Great Hall. Harry recalls his own Sorting, during which he had been terrified that the hat might have sorted him into Slytherin—but instead it sorted him into Gryffindor with Ron and Hermione.
Harry wonders where Professor Snape is, noticing that he is not at the feast. Harry and Ron speculate hopefully that he has left, or that he has been fired because everyone hates him, until they realize Snape is standing right behind them. Snape takes Ron and Harry to his office, and reprimands them because they were seen flying by seven Muggles. Harry realizes how much trouble Mr. Weasley could be in, because he was the one who enchanted the car.
Harry and Ron have their own prejudice against Professor Snape, but it differs from the prejudice of the Malfoys in key ways: while the Malfoys make harmful generalizations about Muggles and Muggle-borns, Harry and Ron don’t respect Snape because he treated them and other students very unkindly in their first year.
Themes
Snape then retrieves Professor McGonagall, who asks them to explain what happened. After hearing Ron’s story, she asks why they didn’t send an owl. Harry realizes how stupidly they acted. Then Dumbledore arrives, and Harry can hear the disappointment in his voice as he asks Harry to explain what happened. After hearing the story, Dumbledore concludes that he will not expel them, but he says that their offense is a serious one and he will be writing to both of their families. He then leaves Professor McGonagall to dole out their punishment.
While Harry and Ron perhaps did not have to break the rules in this circumstance, Dumbledore understands that they didn’t do any true harm and also believed that they were doing the right thing. Additionally, Harry’s immense loyalty to Dumbledore and his view of Dumbledore as a mentor is shown here in the fact that he does not want to disappoint Dumbledore.
Themes
Harry argues that they acted before the start of the term, and therefore Gryffindor shouldn’t have points taken from it. Professor McGonagall agrees, almost smiling, but she still gives Harry and Ron detention. She then conjures sandwiches and says that they should go straight to the dormitory after they have finished eating. She also tells Ron that Ginny has been sorted into Gryffindor.
It is ironic that Harry uses a technicality about the rules in order to prevent himself from being punished for breaking the rules. Yet Harry is also demonstrating loyalty to his friends, hoping to avoid having the other students in Gryffindor pay for the thoughtless decision that he and Ron made.
Themes
When Harry and Ron return to the portrait of the Fat Lady who guards Gryffindor tower, Hermione is there, asking where they’ve been and about the rumors that they have been expelled for flying a car. Harry notes that they haven’t been expelled, but that they did fly there. Hermione is shocked at what they did.
Of the three protagonists, Hermione is the one who feels the most duty towards the rules—although, as Rowling demonstrated in the first book and continues to do so in this one, Hermione is willing to break the rules as well when it means being loyal to her friends or doing what is morally right.
Themes
When Harry and Ron enter the common room, everyone is cheering and clapping at their “inspired” entrance. However, they see Percy incredibly upset, and head up to bed in order to avoid another lecture. But in their room with the other Gryffindor second-years (Seamus, Dean, and Neville), the other boys are awestruck, and Harry and Ron can’t help but grin.
Percy’s disappointment here foreshadows the negative consequences of what they have done—particularly the punishment that Mr. Weasley receives as a result. And even though Harry is usually quite humble, flying the car is interpreted by many to be arrogant, strengthening Harry’s identity as an attention-seeking celebrity.
Themes
