Chapter 1

In the first chapter David, the main character, describes a dream that he has. This dream

is of a magnificent city by ocean. He remembers telling this dream to his older sister and asking

if the place existed. She tells him that, the city does not exist, but it may have existed long ago,

before God sent Tribulation. She also tells him to never speak to anybody about it because it may

draw unwanted attention.

David walks up a high bank that he often visits, which has sand slopes that he likes to

slide down. While after a few slides, a little girl named Sophie asks if what David is doing is any

fun. David invites her to try it and she agrees to join him. After a few slides down the dune,

Sophie catches her foot in a small crevice. Her foot causes her intense pain but she refuses

David’s suggestion to remove the shoe. After much convincing she accepts but makes David

promise not to tell anyone of what he sees. David than notices that Sophie’s foot has an extra toe.

David helps the Sophie back to her home, where he is questioned by Sophie’s mother. She tells

him not to reveal Sophie’s deformity at any cost, for if people were to discover it they would be

very mean to her. David agrees, sensing the severity behind Mrs. Wender's pleas. Being confused

by the seriousness of his afternoon, David wanders home. He suddenly realizes the reason why

Sophie’s mother made him swear to secrecy, for Sophie’s six toes would go against Gods true

image and she would be considered a mutant.

Chapter 2

After meeting Sophie, David returns to his home in Waknuk. His home is one of the

oldest in the village. David’s father, Joseph Strorm, is a community leader. David’s grandfather,

Elias Strorm, was one of the first to establish himself in the Waknuk district, along with his

younger wife. It is established that it is the individual responsibility of each individual citizen of

Waknuk to look out for Offenses and Blasphemies. This often means destroying mutated

livestock and crops that carry the title of an Offence. David’s father is the farmer whom has been

know to remove the most Deviations in the town. It mentions that Blasphemies are somewhat of

horrific folklore and used to the advantage of the pure people as a means of disciplining young

children. This comes from the fact that sometimes, the deformed outcast have been know to

venture into Waknuk to raid the village of crops and livestock for their survival in their land

called the Fringes.

Chapter 3

In the beginning of chapter 3, David establishes a regular routine of visiting Sophie. Once

Sophie’s foot is completely healed, he brings her to one of the interesting sights in the county of

Waknuk. Sophie is amazed and they talk about the technological advancements the Old People

owned. Once David brings Sophie back home, he sees Mr. Wender, Sophie’s father. There is

tension between John and David and David believes that these feeling come from the fact that

Mr. Wender does not trust him since he is the son of Joseph Strorm who has the reputation in the

purging of Deviations. David understands the severity of the situation Sophie is going through.

David believes that John would be more trustworthy had he know the incident David had

been through recently. While splitting wood one day, David got a splinter. After trying to piece of

wood from his hand, it began to bleed. He went to the house to bandage the wound and everyone

was too busy to help him. Cursing under his breath, he said how convenient it would be to have a

third arm. After this statement, there was a long pause and David’s father was mortified. He

harshly punished his son for wishing to be a Blasphemy. He was then sent to his room for the

remainder of the evening, where Joseph gave him a beating. That night, sleep came uneasily to

David. He had a terible dream about one of the ceremonies where his father purges the farm

Offences. But there is one distinct difference: instead of a deformed goat or an imperfect stalk of

corn, Joseph Strorm is killing Sophie. David suddenly awakens and remembers feeling terrible.
Chapter 4

One day David sits in the yard talking with his half-cousin Rosalind. David is speaking to

her with his mind (telepathically) while she is at home on her own family farm. Uncle Axel

comes across David speaking to mid air. He decides to question David. David explains that he is

able to speak to certain people through his mind, people far away. Uncle Axel tells him to keep

this gift to himself and not to speak aloud when talking like this. David realizes now that this

ability is abnormal. After making this connection, David contacts all the people he is able to

exchange thoughts with and explains the risk of them being discovered. They all agree to secrecy

also. All telepaths are all children, scattered around Waknuk and the neighbouring communities.

There names are David, Rosalind, Michael, Rachel, Anne, Sally, Katherine, and Mark. There was

another who was cut off recently. Axel identifies him as a boy killed in a logging accident.

Soon after, David hears of an invasion from the Fringes. During the siege, the villagers

capture two of the enemy leaders. David is shocked to notice that one of the men captured looks

almost identical to his father and the long spider-like limbs which are his deviation. This spider-

man escapes and disappears. After the attack Uncle Angus Morton, Rosalind's father, brags of

acquiring two great horses measuring 26 hands high. Joseph claims that the creatures are

Offences. He asks the town inspector to these horses. The inspector tells him that the horses are

government approved.
Chapter 5

The following spring has a lot less deviations. David sneaks away often to be with

Sophie. They much enjoy fishing for shrimps in a small stream. David try’s to catch one barefoot

and eventually Sophie does the same. On one occasion, they are surprised by the son of the local

blacksmith, Allan. Allan asks who the young girl is, and then notices that on a rock, there is a wet

footprint with the imprint of an extra toe. He then deduces that this footprint is Sophie’s and

prepares tell the public. David attacks him to try and stop him. After a small fight, Allan falls

limp. Sophie had knocked him out with a rock. David immediately takes Sophie home. They

explain to her parents what happened, and Sophie’s parents decide to leave town because Sophie

is at risk. David asks to go with them but they refuse, because it would be to dangerous. After

they are gone, David decides to sleep at Sophie’s empty house.

The next morning he goes home, hoping to get to his room early enough to pretend that

he was not even gone. This did not work though. David’s father was worried about his son’

absence, and was with the local inspector. They question David about Sophie and David

pretended he new nothing. This makes David’s dad’s temper rise and David is once again in for a

beating. David lies in his bed after it and cry’s because of the secret he had told.
Chapter 6

After having a harsh beating from his father, David is left alone in his bedroom and he

talks to his friends and tells them about Sophie and her secret. While he slept he dreamt again of

the Big City. David decides to escape from Waknuk. The next morning, the inspector questions

him. They are interrupted by David’s father who tells them that the Wender’s had been captured.

The Inspector had to reassures David that the capturing of the Wender’s was purely chance and it

was not what they had spoken about that had given them away. A few days later, David talks to

his Uncle Axel and tells him he plans on running away. Uncle Axel strongly disagrees. Uncle

Axel tells him of the world beyond the county of Waknuk. He explains what is south and he

explains that the land outside of their territory is filled with dangerous mutants. Uncle Axel

explains how there are many different races outside of Waknuk and that there are many different

definitions of what normal is and how each of these different races believe they are of the true

image of God. He also says how inaccurate the book Repentances is. The possibility of other true

images tells David that he and the others who have his gift could be closer to the true image of

god as anyone else. Uncle Axel asks david how many people he can actually speak to and David

explains that there were eight but he hasn't ben able to talk to the eighth member for awhile and

he worries that something bad has happened to him and that it happen to all the others who share

their gift. Uncle Axel promises to discover the reason why this has happened.
Chapter 7

David’s mother gives birth to a child. The child has to get its certificate of normalcy

before it can be classified as alive and existing. The Inspector was late and this makes Joseph

Strorm angry. After his arrival, he takes his time and this makes Josepheven more mad. The new

baby turns out to be perfectly normal and is certified. A few days after Petra’s birth, David’s aunt

comes for a visit with her own child. They are happy for their new children until Harriet says that

she hasn’t certified her daughter because she knows her daughter will not meet the normalcy

standards. She tries to convince David’s mom to let her to borrow Petra to have her certified

instead of her own daughter. She says that her husband would leave her if she were to have

another deviation and that is the only chance she has to save her child. Harriet’s sister refuses.

She is outraged that her sister brought such a thing into her home and tells her sister to leave.

Joseph arrives and tells her she has sinned and even thinking of such horrible thing. Harriet

leaves and the next day she is found dead in a river with no baby.
Chapter 8

After hearing of Harriet’s death, she is mentioned in the evening prayer but only once.

She is almost wiped from knowledge. Scared by the recent events, David develops wants to

become normal and never be in a position like his aunt. He begins to pray constantly to lose his

ability. One morning, Uncle Axle gets David to help him fix a plough. David tells him his fears

of being caught. Uncle Axel convinces him to accept his ability. Then Uncle Axel reveals that the

boy who David and the others have lost contact with died while cutting timber and was crushed

by a tree. David tells his other friends. There names are: Michael, Sally, Katherine, Mark, Anne,

Rachel, and Rosalind. The one named Michael goes to school in a different area and learns

things that the rest of the children don’t. He shares what he learns with the them. A sense of

group is formed for roughly 6 years until a 9th person is suddenly revealed.
Chapter 9

Six years after Harriet’s death, David is working out in the fields one day and he

suddenly feels a unstoppable need to run. This force seems urgent and he has ever never felt it

before. The mental cries are painful and continue until he reaches a river where his youngest

sister Petra is about to drown. He saves her and then Rosaline also arrives. She also felt the cries

and says that the calling was stronger than anything any of them are capable of. When they

return they are questioned by people asking how they could have known what had happened to

Petra. They state that her cries of distress were very loud and they were surprised no one else had

herd. That night, David has terrible dreams of a purging ceremony, not of a crop or animal, but of

his sister Petra. The next morning David tries to contact his sister through thought shapes but is

unable to. He believes this is due to her young age and does not know of her ability. David thinks

about telling her but decides not to because it would only make him more vulnerable to

discovery and that he would tell her when she is older.

David feels as if something bad may happen soon. Last year there was a high deviation

level and his father had lost 3 fields. There was a total of 35 field burnings due to Deviations.

This slowly goes away over time until they discover that Anne, one of the people who can send

thought shapes like David, is getting married

Chapter 10

The man Anne is going to marry happens to be Allan the son of the local blacksmith. The

same Allan who discovered Sophie’s secret during childhood. At first people of the group did not

worry about this because they didn’t think they’d get married because of the differences between

their families. They soon started to worry because the marriage was going to happen. Anne is

determined and refuses to listen to the others complaints. The other people in the group are

uneasy knowing full well how dangerous this could be for them. David explains this to Uncle

Axle and he strongly agrees with David. He even suggests that it might be a good idea to kill

Anne to protect their secret. David refuses this option. Once Anne is officially married, she gets

rid of any connection she had with the other people who send though shapes. During this,

Rosaline and David become in love. But since Rosaline is the Son of Angus Morton, there is

some familial rivalry, which complicates their love causing them to hide their secret. Six months

after Anne marries to Allan, he is found dead in a forest with an arrow through his neck. David

and the group all attempt to reach Anne and convince her they had nothing to do with it. The next

day Rachel tries to talk to her by going to her door but there was no reply. Terrified, Rachel goes

to the neighbor and they break into the house only to find Anne hanging from a beam with a rope

around her neck. Next to her body there is a letter for the inspector. The neighbor finds it but

since she can’t read, she guesses it is for the girls family. Rachel opens the letter and finds that it

has the names of all the people who are able to send thought shapes. The letter is destroyed. The

murder of Allan is still unsolved.

Chapter 11

The spring after Allan’s death is mostly deviance free. There is only 2 fields burned.

David’s little sister Petra grows up and becomes adventurous. On one occasion, she goes off into

the forest on horseback. David is once agin struck by a powerful thought shape and follows it to

the source. The call also brings Michael and Rosaline to do the same and they find a terrible

Deviation eating away at Petra’s pony. They kill the Deviation and rescue Petra. All others in the

group also meet in the forest having also heard the cry. This is the first time they all meet in

person. Suddenly Jerome Skinner, who followed them in to the forest, surprises them all. They

manage to get away from being questioned. As a group they decide that Petra’s calls should be

handled by David and Rosaline. But if it become too uncontrollable, the first one to reach Petra

must make her loose consciousness immediately. David makes another attempt to talk to his

sister thought shapes and help her control her power. She shows that she is able to hear people

further away than David can. David returns to Uncle Axle who tells David that people are

starting to suspect things. He also confesses to having killed Allan because he knew that Anne

had told him everything. Alan was on his way to tell the Inspector when he was killed. David

talks with the others and Michael suggests that they should all be on their guard and be ready to

leave on short notice if things go wrong.

Chapter 12

One night, David awakens from the signal of others telling him that some of the group

have been captured. In a panic he gets Petra and they meet with Rosalind. Then they escape from

their homes into uncharted and dangerous territory. Soon after, Michael tells them that they are

being followed and should be careful. This is soon followed by an incident where Rosalind kills

a man threatening them. David and Rosalind decide to travel only at night. The next day they

hear the desperate cries of one of Katherine. She is being tortured for information by the

inspector. The inspector only finds out about David, Petra and Rosalind. The inspector then

places a reward for the capture of either one of them. David and his group decide to venture into

the land of the Fringes to lose their followers. Michaels says he will see if he can fake the deaths

of the group running away to end to the chase. When Michael talks with Petra she asks him why

the messages he sends are mixed with messages of another mystery person. This mystery person

turnes out to be a girl who Petra feels she can trust. She tells this person their location and they

exchange information. When Petra talks with David he realizes that the description of Petra’s

new friends home matches David’s dreams from long ago.

Chapter 13

On their journey, a man on their path intercepts the group. Caught, they knock him off his

horse and ride on in a hurry. Petra continues to talk with the girls from David’s dream city. She

explains to them that she is sending help to rescue them and bring them to a safe place but until

they arrive, Petra must be protected. Soon after, Michael tells the group that the pursuit is back in

movement. They are shot at while traveling and they chose to take cover in the woods. When

they think all is safe, they reach a clearing and suddenly something from above falls on David

and he looses consciousness.

Chapter 14

When David regains consciousness, he notices that they have been captured by the Fringe

folk and are being taken prisoner. They also notice that they can now all talk with Petras friend.

When the Fringe people reach their destination David meats with the spider-like man he once

met during a raid in his hometown many years ago. This man turnes out to be David’s uncle.

David’s uncle’s abnormality was not discovered until he turned four. His mother saved him from

being captured but Gordon, the spider man, still vows revenge on the ways of the people of

Waknuk. The people of the Fringes decide to keep the two girls traveling with David for

breeding purposes. Gordon encourages David not to protest and he is driven outside the Fringe

village where he is beaten unconscious again.

Chapter 15

Once David regains consciousness, he notices he is being dragged by his old friend

Sophie. Because of her deformity she lives with the rest of the Fringe people. She is jealous of

the new prisoners because they can have children and she can’t. She still decides to help David

back into the Fringes town and rescue his friends. Michael contacts David and tells him that the

team following he Petra and Rosalind are making slow progress because of the attacks from the

Fringe people. Sophie is going to creep into Gordon’s tent where the girls are and she must

rescue them unnoticed. She explains to David that he must tell the girls to make absolutely no

noise once she arrives. Sophie’s plan is successful and Petra David and Rosalind are reunited.
Chapter 16

After escaping, Sophie tells to David that they are safe with her but that they must lay low

until the search is off because the Fringe people will look for them after they notice that their two

prisoners are missing. Rosalind doesn’t trusting Sophie. Michael is with the group attacking.

Michael hopes that they can count on the help from the girl from Sealand. She tells them that she

is roughly eight and a half hours away. Sophie leaves the group for awhile and when she returns,

explains the details of the fight. David thinks of what he would do if he had to confront his father

in battle. Sophie leaves again and returns one hour later saying that the Waknuk group is closing

in. David talks with Michael and tells him to stay back from the frontline of the attack to avoid

getting hurt. The Sealand girl talkes the group agin to let them know that she will arrive an hour

earlier. Sophie heads back out to see the progress just as the Fringe people and the Waknuk party

start to fight. In the battle Gordon shoots Joseph Strorm in the chest with an arrow killing him.

The Spiderman picks up Sophie who was next to him they run away. Soon he is attacked by a

cloud of arrows and dies. Sophie attempts to run away and is shot in the arm and neck and dies.

During the battle, a craft suddenly appears in the sky. Hovering over the battle, the fighting stops

and some of the people run away while others watch. David calls Michael to come because this

is the craft from Sealand. The craft shots a sort of cobweb-like substance on the people below

and paralyses them all. This substance also reaches David becomes entirely paralyzed. The lady

from Sealand come out and releases them from the substance and brings them into the ship and

back to Sealand. When they get there they are ammazed by the thousands of people sending

thought shapes back and forth.

 Essay Summery

The Chrysalids is written by John Wyndham. Its storyline is hard to understand, but still

is relatable to our own lifestyles. The storyline has many moments that are completely

unpredictable. There are a wide variety of characters who each have their distinct personality.

The unpredictability of The Chrysalids is due to the many twists and turns in this unique

story. These twists are created by the change in the characters.In The Chrysalids you only brush

the surface of these characters. The characters make split second decisions that can completely

change the outcome of the book. They seem to do things or decide on things randomly and it is

very difficult to connect with these characters. This makes it difficult to determine what is going

to happen next. An example of these twists and turns created by the complexities of the

characters is when Anne marries Alan, putting the rest of the chrysalids group at risk of

discovery. This relates to our own life in a way the we too make strange and complex decisions

or handle situations in ways that are unpredictable to others. This makes the characters in the

story seem like real people.

Characters in The Chrysalids had a wide variety of characters, yet they were still related

in many ways. There were the peolpe made in the image of God, and also the mutants. Within

these are the extremely religous, the normal who didn’t completely reject offences, the half

mutant chrysalids, the people of the fringes, and those from Sealand. He created all of these

character to give a complex plot that could be taken in any direction depending on the influence
of any one of these characters. Sophie, who has six toes, is introduced at the start but is then

quickly taken away until near the end of the book. Had she stayed the entire book could have

been different. This also made The Chrysalids more realistic because the amount of involvment

of someone in another persons life can make huge changes.

To sum up The Chrysalids, it is a very complex, interesting book and had many unique

aspects. The Chrysalids was a difficult book to understand and was not written to appeal

everyone. The twists and turns created by the unpredictability of the characters and the constant

shifts of the reader’s attention.

Chapter Summaries and Book Review on The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Sam Fresia

Oxford Regional Education Center

Wednesday, May 17
English 10
Ms. H. Lemoine