HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF
SECRETS
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF
SECRETS
Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets is the
second novel in the Harry Potter series, written by J. K. Rowling.
The plot followsHarry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls of the
school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of Secrets" has been opened and
that the "heir of Slytherin"
would kill all pupils who do not come from all-magical families. These threats
are followed by attacks which leave residents of the school
"petrified" (frozen like stone). Throughout the year, Harry and his
friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger investigate the attacks.
The
book was published in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1998 by Bloomsbury and
in the United States on 2 June 1999 by Scholastic Inc.
Although Rowling found it difficult to finish the book, it won high praise and
awards from critics, young readers and the book industry, although some critics
thought the story was perhaps too frightening for younger children. Much like
with other novels in the series, Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets triggered religious debates;
some religious authorities have condemned its use of magical themes, while
others have praised its emphasis on self-sacrifice and on the way in which a
person's character is the result of the person's choices.
Several
commentators have noted that personal identity is a strong theme in the book,
and that it addresses issues of racism through the treatment of non-magical,
non-human and non-living characters. Some commentators regard the diary as a
warning against uncritical acceptance of information from sources whose motives
and reliability cannot be checked. Institutional authority is portrayed as
self-serving and incompetent. The book is also known to have some connections
to the sixth novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince.
