Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:

1. Have you read the The Sorcerer's Stone? If so, did The Chamber of Secrets pick up as you thought it would? If you haven't read The Sorcerer's Stone were you able to easily understand this book?

2. Why do some characters, for example Moaning Myrtle and Nearly-Headless Nick, not leave the world after death? Is it a choice they make themselves? Why isn't Harry able to interact with his dead parents?

3. Do you think that Professor Lockhart is a malicious character or is he simply egocentric? How did your opinion of him change throughout the book?

4. If you could mix up a batch of Polyjuice Potion who would you want to be and why?

5. Why is Harry terrified that he may have some connection to Salazar Slytherin? If Slytherin was so wicked, why is one of the Hogwarts Houses named after him? And why would any student hope to be placed in that House?

6. If Albus Dumbledore is considered one of the greatest wizards of all-time, why is he suspended as Headmaster of Hogwarts? What kind of danger does that leave the school and its future in?

7. Ginny feels foolish for falling under the spell of the diary, especially since her father always warned her "never to trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain." Knowing that, as well as the return of Lord Voldemort, how and why did Ginny get consumed by the diary?

8. In The Chamber of Secrets and The Sorcerer's Stone, Harry is always praised as the hero and gets most of the glory for defeating enemies. Would he be successful without the help of other characters like Ron and Hermione, Dobby, Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid, etc? Why don't they get as much credit as Harry does?

9. Professor Dumbledore tells a doubtful Harry, "It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (page 333) Do you agree?

10. Will you continue the series and read the third Harry Potter book, The Prisoner of Azkaban? Where do you expect it to pick up? Discuss other predictions for the book.

(Questions by Katherine O'Connor of LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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