Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 16 Quiz: “The Chamber of Secrets”
Mark True statements with a “T” and False statements with an “F.” Answers tomorrow with responses to discussion point posts (if there are any).
1. _____ Professor McGonagall tells her Transfiguration class that exams will “start on the first of June, one week from today.”
2. _____ Ginny is about to tell Ron and Harry an important secret when Fred and George interrupt with a joke about helping Nearly-Headless Nick finally get his head “cut off proper.”
3. _____ Professor McGonagall catches Ron and Harry sneaking to the girls’ bathroom to speak with Moaning Myrtle, takes 50 points from Gryffindor and gives them a detention.
4. _____ Hermione, though petrified, was also given detention because she ripped a page out of a very old library book without Madame Pince’s permission.
5. _____ A Basilisk is the product of a chicken’s egg hatched beneath a toad; it is the bane of spiders but fears “the crowing of a rooster, which is fatal to it.”
6. _____ Ron and Harry go to Professor McGonagall to tell them about the Basilisk in the pipes but they meet Gilderoy Lockhart instead who insists they go into the Chamber of Secrets without the meddling of other teachers.
7. _____ The Heir of Slytherin captures Ginny Weasley and leaves a note under its first that says, “Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever.”
8. _____ Lockhart confesses to writing books about things other people have done without mentioning the other people; he tracked down the real heroes, learned what they did, obliviated their memories, and then wrote up their stories with himself as the hero.
9. _____ Moaning Myrtle tells the story of her death to Ron, Harry, and Gilderoy – and then opens up the pipe that leads “miles under Hogwarts,” down under the lake to a tunnel with animal bones and Basilisk skin.
10. _____ Ron and Gilderoy are separated from Harry by a cave-in of the tunnel walls but they come up with a plan to save Ginny without Harry and push on to the Chamber of Secrets.
Discussion Points: (a) Echoes and differences with Harry’s first trip underground at the end of “Philosopher’s Stone,” (b) most interesting element in this chapter when viewed in the Deathly Hallows rear-view mirror; and (c) the importance of Chapter 16 in understanding the meaning of Chamber of Secrets and the series as a whole.
1. T, 2. F, 3. F, 4. F, 5. T
6. F, 7. T, 8. T, 9. F, 10. F
(a) The echo is in going underground “miles beneath Hogwarts”, disobeying school restriction to common rooms (and taking disobedience to a new high by disarming and kidnapping a teacher?), Harry’s going on alone to face the enemy, and Harry’s “saving people thing.” The big differences are no Hermione, the Freudian yannic imagery (?), and the comic relief of Myrtle and Gilderoy.
(b) Deathly Hallows rear-view: Harry’s delight in telling Gilderoy, “I bet you wish Professor Snape hadn’t taught us that spell,” meaning the Expelliarmus signature so important to Harry’s future, and the emerald eyes of the serpents at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. To my knowledge, these are the only eyes in the books that are green that are described as “emeralds” just as Beatrice’s are in the Purgatorio.
(c) The rubedo begins and we have most of Harry’s adventures in the crucible formula-elements lining up. As a run-up to the adventure in the Chamber with Riddle and the Basilisk, the frenetic pacing, the comic highlights, and the zeal to put oneself at risk to do the right rather than the easy thing is engaging to the point of thrilling. Ms. Rowling delivers us at the Chamber door even more excited than we were in HP1 passing through the flames to confront Quirrelldemort. And as foreshadowing for Harry’s re-entry to the Forest, his trip through the tunnel after the cave-in is excellent prepation for boy hero and reader lost in identification with him.
Excellent Quizes John.
I only missed #1 on this one.
great quiz, i made 100% thanks…..