Prejudice in Chamber of Secrets

Week 2 of the Harry Potter class I’m taking has begun, and the questions are in. The focus is on Chamber of Secrets. Keep in mind, in answering these questions, I am not allowed to refer to later books. Remember, this question answering series is taking us back to Harry Potter basics. Here is my answer to the first question for this week.

Question: What role does tolerence play in The Chamber of Secrets?

Tolerance is central to the plot as well as many of the subplots of Chamber of Secrets. The key issue of the book is the question of pure-bloods vs. half-bloods and muggle- borns, particularly the intolerance of many pure-bloods for the other groups. We see multiple examples of this issue:

- Lucius Malfoy’s disdain for Arthur Weasley, whom he believes has disgraced the name of wizard, being a pureblood who associates with Muggles. (51, 62)
- Draco’s insulting of Hermione, calling her a “Mudblood.” (112)
- “Mudbloods” and other non-purebloods, considered “unworthy to study magic” by Salazar Slytherin, are the victims of the basilisk’s attacks. (150-151)

We also see forms of intolerance in the book’s subplots:

- Myrtle, the victim of the basilisk 50 years ago, was ridiculed in school by her peers. (299)
- The house-elves’ treatment. (178)
- The “Headless Hunt” and the “Deathday Party,” in which Sir Nicholas is ridiculed for being only “nearly” headless. (136)
- Hagrid’s framing was easy for Tom Riddle, because of his status as a half-giant and a “big, blundering” monster-loving oaf. (311-12)

In contrast to all these examples of intolerance, we have the tolerance of Dumbledore, who believes Hagrid’s innocence. (312) We have Hagrid, who is there for Hermione when she is insulted by Draco. (116) We also see glimpses of tolerance in Harry. He is willing to attend Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party, even though he would rather be at the Halloween dinner. (130) He helps Dobby get free from slavery to the Malfoys. (338)

All of this surrounding the issue of tolerance in Chamber of Secrets sets up another one of the key themes to the series: Prejudice. We will see many of these subplots develop in the coming books as illustrations of prejudice. Dobby’s statement that Harry’s victory over Voldemort produced “a new dawn” for his kind, which was in slavery, is foreshadowing to what we’ll learn from Dumbledore about prejudice in the wizarding world in the future books. (178)

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic, Inc. 1999.