Rowling's Chamber of Secrets (Spoilers ahead - yes, I mean it)

This, faithful reader, is the story of a pleasant deception.

Last weekend, I read J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Up until the very end, I was skeptical and ready to be scathing if need be, for reasons which I hope will soon become clear. But I'll say right here, I think I jumped to my conclusion a little too soon. To paraphrase Plato, Rowling fooled me with a pleasant foolery.

My first impression of the book was actually one of excitement. The beginning chapters were promising; they had a compelling emotional realism and forceful unity with the previous book that was beyond my expectations. Our first images of Harry are of his intense longings for companionship. His friends seem to have abandoned him, and he is stuck with the despicable Dursleys. In addition, he is warned off from going back to Hogwarts by a mysterious house elf. But as Harry's loneliness gets most despairing, with the suddenness of the rising sun, Ron Weasley and his twin brothers Fred and George fly over in their enchanted car and rescue Harry. I confess that as a college student, away from home, I think I found Harry's overwhelmed joy at the Weasleys' arrival and his appreciation of the very real Weasley home, which had all the trademarks of a well-lived in house, most comforting and heart-warming.

But almost immediately afterward, at about the middle of chapter three, my heart completely sank and my fists went up, prepared to batter Rowling's work to pulp. Having arrived at the Weasley homestead, Harry and his readers discover that young Ginny Weasley can barely be in the same room with Harry, let alone talk to him. Her crush becomes more and more painfully obvious, and as the knowledge of it hit me, I set my jaw.

Good grief, I thought, this is a children's novel; why in the world did Rowling have to fall into that typical "time for the youngsters to fall in love because, well, because that's just normal" pattern followed by just about every book on the young adult fiction library shelves. Pardon the tirade, but I simply don't believe in love at young age - it's cheesy and nauseating. Not only that, but it encourages children in need of guidance to commit such behavior. And so, as I hold such moderate views, I was ready to beat the novel to shreds as corny and anything but special.

As the novel progressed, I found myself in a quandary. The rest of the novel was so enjoyable; if it hadn't been for that one thorn in my side, I would have been completely at home and engrossed. The world of the wizards was more enchanting than ever and the mystery which forms the plot was far more satisfying to me than that in the former. Someone has opened the Chamber of Secrets, from whence a mysterious creature comes into the school and begins petrifying students. In addition, Rowling's humor was funnier than ever before. In one particular scene Ron's mother send him "a Howler", a letter which delivers a yelled message verbatim. In short, had it not been for Ginny's foolishness, I would have enjoyed the whole book immensely.

And then in the next to last chapter (I don't know why, but the last or next to last chapter in Rowling's novels always seems to be the one that shocks and impresses me most) Rowling sprung one of her secrets on me. The final confrontation is between Harry Potter and a memory of Lord Voldemort, back when he was called Tom Riddle, a memory which has come from out of his old diary. On the floor between them is Ginny Weasley, whose life is slowly but surely slipping over into Tom Riddle, making him more and more alive the closer she comes to death. At first, Harry believes he can trust Riddle but almost immediately he grows suspicious. He asks, "How did Ginny get like this?" And Riddle's response, as written by Rowling, knocked me off my feet.

"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to a stranger...The diary," said Riddle. "My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, telling me her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how" - Riddle's eyes glinted - "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her"

"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me. No one's ever understood me like you, Tom...I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in...It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket.....So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted...I grew stronger and stronger on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul into her"

Riddle reveals that Ginny has been writing into the diary and that he responded with exactly what she wanted to hear when she was lonely and complaining. And soon, Ginny found herself possessed by the evil soul of Lord Voldemort himself which had slipped over to her, completely unseen. Now, I confess that passage was far deeper than I would have expected from Rowling. In a few pages, Rowling (perhaps unintentionally) completely condemns the idea of a little girl meddling in such an adult matter as eros. She shows that such behavior from a little kid only opens up their soul to evil, and doesn't prepare them for future good things. Ginny's foolish dabbling in adult affairs, and her selfish concern with her own small cares, makes her a prime target for lurking evil. Never before had I read anything remotely like this before in modern young adult fiction. The depth there, though not Dostoevsky, was greater than I had expected.

In a brief conclusion, I'll just say that The Chamber of Secrets had a far greater unity as a novel and was, I felt, much better planned and written. It still wasn't Lewis or Tolkien, but it is built better than the last, I'd say. Of course, all of my previous points remain true; for example, I wouldn't give Harry Potter to a poor reader. But on the whole, I feel like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was better than the first novel.

Now, I have begun the third novel and it appears young Ginny still fancies Harry, so the reproach on this attitude may have been accidental on Rowling's part. But I'm inclined to think not; at this point, I think I'll trust Rowling to pull another little bit of magic out of her sleeve.