![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingSummary: "Chamber of Secrets" from Ginny's point of view. In this chapter Tom reveals pieces of his past, Ginny sleepwalks again, an Herbology class presents unforeseen challenges, Sprout is unexpectedly kind, and Halloween arrives.
The grand point of this chapter is, of course, Halloween and all that implies. Before that, it's sort of a two-track deal. On the overt level, Ginny settles in to her life at Hogwarts. She continues to be socially isolated in her own House, but gets to know Xanthe's Hufflepuff friends and also receives an invitation to join Professor Sprout's extracurricular Herbology club. On the covert level (at least from Ginny's perspective), she falls more and more under Tom's control, both when awake (because she trusts his advice and interpretations of troubling events) and when asleep (because of possession).
We open with Ginny in the common room, talking to Tom. Or rather, writing to Tom, but I made an executive decision at the start of the story that Ginny's writing would be in the same format as dialogue, while Tom's would be in italics. (Sir Vladislav's writing is also italicized later on.) This was partly because too many italics can get visually annoying to read, but also because I wanted to emphasize the way Ginny's perception of Tom blurs into treating him as a flesh-and-blood friend.
Anyway, there's a brief discussion of her crush on Harry, after which they both talk a bit about their families. Everything Tom says here is true. He's just leaving out a LOT of things. Ginny then deepens her stated trust for him by inviting him to be an honorary member of her family -- a brother who is constantly there for her because he doesn't have school or other friends to distract him.
Then we move onto a dream scene. This is where Ginny kills the first rooster, which is necessary before she can summon the basilisk later on. She notices the physical results of her sleepwalking -- dirty feet, feathers in her hair -- but Tom explains that she must have wandered into the Owlery while asleep. This is perfectly reasonable and Ginny buys it.
The Gryffindor first years discuss the upcoming Halloween banquet, and readers will notice that Ginny's social isolation is mostly her own fault. The others are not hostile toward her at all, whereas Ginny takes an innocuous action -- Apple forestalling a fight between Colin and Danny -- as evidence that Apple shouldn't be trusted.
Then we hit the extended Herbology scene. Ah, Herbology! :-) As with the Potions lesson in chapter 4, this is probably too advanced for a bunch of eleven-year-old kids -- or, more accurately, too advanced for a bunch of eleven-year-old kids as portrayed by J. K. Rowling -- but I don't care. This scene serves three basic purposes: 1) to show Ginny being awesome and competent in an area she loves, 2) to show Ginny and Xanthe's growing friendship (note that they are much more relaxed around each other) and also introduce Caroline Addo and Anne Wilkinson, and 3) to give Professor Sprout a chance to invite Ginny to join the Herbology club. (The club is never referred to as such, but that's what it is.) This is the start of Professor Sprout's mentoring relationship with Ginny; she spends a lot of the story somewhat awkwardly and delicately trying to figure out how to help one of her new favorite students. Ginny agrees to join the club even though it will mean less time with Tom.
We then get another Ginny-and-Tom conversation, where Ginny complains about the trope of boys rescuing distressed damsels and Tom assures her that she's more than capable of rescuing herself. This is a tricky bit, because on the one hand he's right -- girls and women are the heroes of our own stories -- but on the other hand, there's no shame in asking for help. Insisting on doing everything alone is a sign of stupidity as much as strength. After all, male heroes can get help without being called weak. Tom also makes another play for sympathy by reminding Ginny that all his real-life friends are now 70 years older than he is.
And then, Halloween! As before, note that Ginny's isolation is her own fault. Susan is interested in talking to her, perhaps in putting their fight behind them, but Ginny blows her off and Susan get angry all over again. Ginny is left alone in the common room after she briefly spies on the Trio heading off to the Deathday Party, and a combination of the fire, a comfy chair, and Tom's influence sends her to bed early.
Whereupon she dreams.
I quite like this dream sequence. They are all written in a much more stylized narrative voice: a bit archaic, a bit rhythmic. This is the first one where Tom appears as a dream figure -- the dark man -- to match Ginny/the princess and the basilisk/dragon. Also, if you've read CoS it is immediately obvious what's going on, but I hope it's also easy to see that Ginny doesn't have the necessary pieces to figure out what her dream symbols correspond to.
Anyway, she wakes up in the first year girls' bathroom trying to wash red paint off her hands and out of her nightdress. She's upset and nervous, and works to hide the evidence -- at first just because she doesn't want people to know that she's been sleepwalking. Then once the other first year girls come back and tell her about Mrs. Norris and the message on the wall, she really starts to panic because she's sure she must have been involved somehow. Tom then talks her down, using logic to "prove" that she can't have been behind the attack and must simply have stumbled across the Heir while sleepwalking. He also persuades her to keep quiet so she won't be accused the way Harry is being accused.
This is the point where Ginny really should have gone to a teacher or a family member and said, "Hey, I've been sleepwalking and having weird dreams, and I think last night I ran across this Heir while he or she was Petrifying Mrs. Norris because I woke up with red paint all over; can you help me?" And then the entire plot of CoS would have derailed, since any professor she would have trusted (probably Sprout, McGonagall, or Dumbledore) would've picked up really fast that something was Very Wrong. But Tom's been training her to distrust anyone other than him, to keep secrets, to do everything on her own, and here at the first major sticking point, that foundation holds. Ginny follows his advice and falls deeper into his grasp.
Bechdel Test = PASS! (Let me count the ways: Susan and Jia-li talk about the Halloween banquet [very brief]; Sprout, Ginny, Xanthe, Caroline, and Anne talk in various combinations about various things all through the Herbology lesson; Ginny asks how long Apple will stay in their dorm room [very brief]; Susan tries to persuade Ginny to come to the Halloween banquet; the Gryffindor first year girls talk about the Heir's attack [somewhat questionable, since they discuss Harry in the process, but the description of Mrs. Norris and the painted message should count].)
The grand point of this chapter is, of course, Halloween and all that implies. Before that, it's sort of a two-track deal. On the overt level, Ginny settles in to her life at Hogwarts. She continues to be socially isolated in her own House, but gets to know Xanthe's Hufflepuff friends and also receives an invitation to join Professor Sprout's extracurricular Herbology club. On the covert level (at least from Ginny's perspective), she falls more and more under Tom's control, both when awake (because she trusts his advice and interpretations of troubling events) and when asleep (because of possession).
We open with Ginny in the common room, talking to Tom. Or rather, writing to Tom, but I made an executive decision at the start of the story that Ginny's writing would be in the same format as dialogue, while Tom's would be in italics. (Sir Vladislav's writing is also italicized later on.) This was partly because too many italics can get visually annoying to read, but also because I wanted to emphasize the way Ginny's perception of Tom blurs into treating him as a flesh-and-blood friend.
Anyway, there's a brief discussion of her crush on Harry, after which they both talk a bit about their families. Everything Tom says here is true. He's just leaving out a LOT of things. Ginny then deepens her stated trust for him by inviting him to be an honorary member of her family -- a brother who is constantly there for her because he doesn't have school or other friends to distract him.
Then we move onto a dream scene. This is where Ginny kills the first rooster, which is necessary before she can summon the basilisk later on. She notices the physical results of her sleepwalking -- dirty feet, feathers in her hair -- but Tom explains that she must have wandered into the Owlery while asleep. This is perfectly reasonable and Ginny buys it.
The Gryffindor first years discuss the upcoming Halloween banquet, and readers will notice that Ginny's social isolation is mostly her own fault. The others are not hostile toward her at all, whereas Ginny takes an innocuous action -- Apple forestalling a fight between Colin and Danny -- as evidence that Apple shouldn't be trusted.
Then we hit the extended Herbology scene. Ah, Herbology! :-) As with the Potions lesson in chapter 4, this is probably too advanced for a bunch of eleven-year-old kids -- or, more accurately, too advanced for a bunch of eleven-year-old kids as portrayed by J. K. Rowling -- but I don't care. This scene serves three basic purposes: 1) to show Ginny being awesome and competent in an area she loves, 2) to show Ginny and Xanthe's growing friendship (note that they are much more relaxed around each other) and also introduce Caroline Addo and Anne Wilkinson, and 3) to give Professor Sprout a chance to invite Ginny to join the Herbology club. (The club is never referred to as such, but that's what it is.) This is the start of Professor Sprout's mentoring relationship with Ginny; she spends a lot of the story somewhat awkwardly and delicately trying to figure out how to help one of her new favorite students. Ginny agrees to join the club even though it will mean less time with Tom.
We then get another Ginny-and-Tom conversation, where Ginny complains about the trope of boys rescuing distressed damsels and Tom assures her that she's more than capable of rescuing herself. This is a tricky bit, because on the one hand he's right -- girls and women are the heroes of our own stories -- but on the other hand, there's no shame in asking for help. Insisting on doing everything alone is a sign of stupidity as much as strength. After all, male heroes can get help without being called weak. Tom also makes another play for sympathy by reminding Ginny that all his real-life friends are now 70 years older than he is.
And then, Halloween! As before, note that Ginny's isolation is her own fault. Susan is interested in talking to her, perhaps in putting their fight behind them, but Ginny blows her off and Susan get angry all over again. Ginny is left alone in the common room after she briefly spies on the Trio heading off to the Deathday Party, and a combination of the fire, a comfy chair, and Tom's influence sends her to bed early.
Whereupon she dreams.
I quite like this dream sequence. They are all written in a much more stylized narrative voice: a bit archaic, a bit rhythmic. This is the first one where Tom appears as a dream figure -- the dark man -- to match Ginny/the princess and the basilisk/dragon. Also, if you've read CoS it is immediately obvious what's going on, but I hope it's also easy to see that Ginny doesn't have the necessary pieces to figure out what her dream symbols correspond to.
Anyway, she wakes up in the first year girls' bathroom trying to wash red paint off her hands and out of her nightdress. She's upset and nervous, and works to hide the evidence -- at first just because she doesn't want people to know that she's been sleepwalking. Then once the other first year girls come back and tell her about Mrs. Norris and the message on the wall, she really starts to panic because she's sure she must have been involved somehow. Tom then talks her down, using logic to "prove" that she can't have been behind the attack and must simply have stumbled across the Heir while sleepwalking. He also persuades her to keep quiet so she won't be accused the way Harry is being accused.
This is the point where Ginny really should have gone to a teacher or a family member and said, "Hey, I've been sleepwalking and having weird dreams, and I think last night I ran across this Heir while he or she was Petrifying Mrs. Norris because I woke up with red paint all over; can you help me?" And then the entire plot of CoS would have derailed, since any professor she would have trusted (probably Sprout, McGonagall, or Dumbledore) would've picked up really fast that something was Very Wrong. But Tom's been training her to distrust anyone other than him, to keep secrets, to do everything on her own, and here at the first major sticking point, that foundation holds. Ginny follows his advice and falls deeper into his grasp.
Bechdel Test = PASS! (Let me count the ways: Susan and Jia-li talk about the Halloween banquet [very brief]; Sprout, Ginny, Xanthe, Caroline, and Anne talk in various combinations about various things all through the Herbology lesson; Ginny asks how long Apple will stay in their dorm room [very brief]; Susan tries to persuade Ginny to come to the Halloween banquet; the Gryffindor first year girls talk about the Heir's attack [somewhat questionable, since they discuss Harry in the process, but the description of Mrs. Norris and the painted message should count].)
