'Til all my sleeves are stained redFrom all the truth that I've saidCome by it honestly I swearThought you saw me wink, noI've been on the brink, so

Tell me what you want to hearSomething that were like those yearsI'm sick of all the insincereinsincereSo I'm gonna give all my secretssecrets away

We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows. - Robert Frost

What are the dangers of secrets being kept, on a small or large scale?

The Chrysalids

Chapter 9 Seminar

Setting

Chapter 9 takes place in Waknuk, more specifically in the East Pasture

It is six years after the death of HarrietDavid is harvesting

Plot Summary

David is working out in the fields and is suddenly “struck” with mental pain

He runs to the river until he finds his younger sister, Petra, who is about to drown

Rosalind arrives and announces that she, too, has felt the cries, which are stronger than anything the other nine telepaths are capable of

David and Rosalind are interrogated by people around them as to how they could have known what was happening to Petra

They simply claim that they do not understand how others could not have heard her

David has nightmares that night of a purging ceremony, during which Petra is at the hands of her father because of her deviation

Plot Summary Continued

He is deeply disturbed by this dream, which is the main reason for his avoiding openly telling Petra about her abilities

It seems she was only able to communicate with him through telepathy because she was in intense danger

David thinks back to a conversation that he had with Old Jacob, a villager who has lived through many trials

Jacob attributes the extremely high level of deviations, as of late, to corruption in government and carelessness of the youth

To him, these represent the beginnings of a new age of Tribulation

David feels an even more intense need to be secretive about his deviation, since people will be more intently on the look-out for deviations

Character development

DavidShows increasing maturity and

responsibility “All of us knew that it was not easy to keep

on watching each word all the time, even when you’ve had to practise it for years. We decided to postpone telling Petra…” (85)

Uncle Axel His role as a confidant and advisor to David

is enhanced through their conversation Petra

The importance of her telepathy is foreshadowed through David’s conversation with Uncle Axel

Literary devices

Simile“Then there was pain, a demand

pulling like a fish-hook embedded in my mind.” (83)

The intensity of the pain is depicted effectively through the image of a fish-hook

Suspense“I kept on running, I did not know why,

except that it was urgent; across half the twelve-acre, into the lane, over the fence, down the slope of the East Pasture towards the river…”

The build-up of David’s descent to Petra causes the reader to rush through the passage, just as David rushes to her

Suspense“Next year’s going to b ea bad one,

too. People will listen to them more then. They’ll have a sharp eye for scaegoats…” (90)

Uncle Axel’s warning to David creates suspense and foreshadowing

Find another example of a literary device used in Chapter 9

Thematic development

Secrecy and fear – what new secrets must be kept in this chapter? Petra’s telepathy The pressure to keep this

deviation a secret intensifiesintensifies as David recalls his conversation with Old Jacob

Thematic development

Religious extremismOld Jacob represents the extreme “right

wing” of Waknuk religionWhat exactly does he believe in? He believes that mutants should not be

cleansed; they must be driven to the Fringes

Key quotation

“The other kind is the worst,” [Old Jacob] snapped, “it is the Devil mocking the true image. Of course they should be burnt like they used to be. But what happened? The sentimentalists in Rigo who never had to deal with them themselves said: ‘Even though they aren’t human, they look nearly human, therefore extermination looks like murder, or execution, and that troubles people’s minds…” (88)

Key passage

“The stupidest norm was happier; he could feel that he belonged.” (86) Discuss with your partner what this

quotation meansDavid and the others feel that their

telepathy is more a curse than a blessing – it would be easier to be normal, though simple

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.” Confucius

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism

The Chrysalid is a term taken from biology The state through which a larva must pass before

becoming an insect

The larva is wrapped in a hard case or shell, takes no food and is totally inactive

Joseph Strorm and his kind are trying to maintain and force this very state on humanity

Are we guessing what life is all about? Frost suggests that those who are ignorant do

not really know and are guessing The ‘secret’ represents something that is to be

known, the centre of true knowledge Human beings will, at some point in life, stop

dancing endlessly and move closer to the all-knowing secret

Only then will they be freed from a vicious cycle of suppositions and gain true knowledge