What is a Chrysalid?
Chrysalids refers to
chrysalisis, which is the
transformation of a caterpiller
to a butterfly
Why the title?
The Setting
•Waknuk – David’s home town and
name of father’s farm
•Labrador – Christian civilization
following the “Tribulation.” Society
matches the 1700s-1800s.
•Capital of Rigo, Island of Newf
•Wild Country
•Fringes – Lawless land full of danger
and mutations
•Badlands – Dangerous area
•Black Coasts – Dangerous area
affected by radiation
•Sealand – Technology exists here.
Universal telepathy
The Setting
•Society is based on farming and
agriculture
•People are controlled by rigid beliefs
about morals and religion
•Religious beliefs are cruel and
OPPRESSIVE
•People believe TRIBULATION
caused world to be this way as a
punishment from God
•“OLD PEOPLE” refers to us – the
current readers
•Radiation has caused mutations
•Chrysalids is a novel set in the future
with a setting of the past
Social Life
•Purpose in life is dealing with Tribulation
•Need to follow ETHICS to climb back
into God’s grace
•Church is the ultimate authority
•“Rules” found in Nicholson’s Repentances
•Anything not normal must be destroyed
•Anything not normal is an insult to God
•Mankind’s greatest duty is to see that the
human form is kept true and proper
•Nicholson’s Repentances describes true
human form
Chapters 2-4
CHAPTER 2
• History of David’s family and household
• Background: Religious family – Focus on
“Repentances” and Bible
• David’s father (JOSEPH) – Strict religious
leader. Grandfather (ELIAS) – Founder of
Waknuk
• Individuals responsible to watch for
BLASPHEMIES and OFFENSES – Including
killing animals
• Information about Blasphemies and their
relationship with the Pure People (Raiding
farms)
Chapters 2-4
CHAPTER 3
• David spending more time with Sophie
• Steam Engine: Technology of Old People
• Tension between Sophie’s Dad and David
• David remembers getting a splinter and
nobody helps him at home so he wishes to
his father for a third arm. Gets punished –
pray to God, received beating
• David dreams of Sophie being killed by
Joseph
• David wants Sophie’s Dad to trust him
Chapters 2-4
CHAPTER 4
• Telepathy with cousin Rosalind
• Uncle Axel finds out but keeps it a secret
• David’s telepathy = Sophie’s toe
• Group of telepathic people get together to
keep secret: David and Rosalind, Michael,
Rachel and Anne, Sally and Katherine, and
Mark.
• Fringe people planning on invading
Waknuk. Some are captured and appear
normal
• One guy looks like David’s father but has
long arms and legs: Spider-Man
• Uncle Angus: loves to annoy Joseph.
Argument about selective breeding: Giant
horses and tail-less cat
• David spends more time with Sophie and
starts teaching her school stuff
Theme
THEME:
Theme is the main topic, lesson, or idea that is
the focus of a story/narrative
• Novels often explore more than one theme
What THEMES have been introduced?
Comment on Our Society
Genocide
Religion
CONFLICT:
Conflict is the tension or problem between
different forces or characters in a story.
• You should already know conflict from short
stories. Conflict includes:
• Character vs. Character
• Character vs. Nature
• Character vs. Society
• Character vs. Self
Change
What types of CONFLICT have you seen
in The Chrysalids so far?
David vs. Waknuk Beliefs
Joseph vs. Blasphemies
Fringe People vs. Waknuk
Character
CHARACTER SKETCH:
A character sketch is a description of the
different TRAITS of a character, including
their personality, relationships, emotions, and
actions based on events in the story.
Character’s ACTIONS lead to TRAITS, which
are words that describe the character.
Personality
Relationships
Family: Mom and Dad
Protective
Sophie
Loving
Uncle Axel
Curious
David
Energetic
Other telepathic kids
Emotions
Actions
Anger
Dishonouring Father
Guilt
Befriends Sophie
Curiosity
Wants to Run Away
Sadness
Defends friends
Chapters 5-6
CHAPTER 5
• Spring proves to be free of Deviations
• Waknuk wins “Purity Record” – All good!
• David and Sophie sneak off together
• While fishing barefoot, they meet Allan, who finds a
“peculiar footprint” – says he will tell everyone
• David attacks Allan and he’s knocked unconscious
• Sophie and David tell Sophie’s parents. Family forced
to disappear
• David returns home and finds Inspector at house
• David lies about knowing Sophie. Receives beating
• David worried about telling/holding secrets (THEME)
Chapters 5-6
CHAPTER 6
• David uses telepathy to talk to friends about Sophie
• David has vivid dreams about Big City
• Inspector continues to question David
• David begins doubting his culture/beliefs
• Joseph announces that Sophie’s family has been captured
• Uncle Axel and David discuss the world beyond Waknuk
• Rigo (Capital); Black Coasts; “Unspeakable monstrosities”
• David learns of different races outside of Waknuk – and
that each believes they are the “true image of God”
(Comment on different religions / THEME)
• Axel and David talk about telepathy. Eight people other
than David, though eighth person hasn’t answered
• Axel will find out what happened to this person
Dystopia
Why is the world such a dark, bad place in the future in so many novels and films?
Challenge
Leadership/
Governemnt
Warning
Social Commentary
What THEMES
are you seeing in
the novel so far?
MAKING
CONNECTIONS:
-text to text
-text to world
-text to self
How does The Chrysalids
compare to other
novels/films that explore
similar ideas?
Chapters 7-9
CHAPTER 7
• David’s mother gives birth. Child must be certified
“normal” before it is allowed to exist
• Tension between Joseph Strorm and Inspector
• Petra Strorm certified as normal
• David’s Aunt Harriet comes with new baby – uncertified
because not normal
• Harriet wants to borrow Petra for certification. Answer is
no. Harriet chased out of house by Joseph
• Harriet found dead next day by a river. Baby is not there.
Chapters 7-9
CHAPTER 8
• Harriet is wiped from knowledge/existence after her death
• Suggestion that her death was a suicide
• David prays to lose his ability – just wants to be normal
• Axel helps David calm down
• Missing Telepathic boy died in a wood-cutting accident
• Reader is introduced to other telepathic children. Michael
teaches rest of kids new information (he lives in a different
area)
• Chapter ends with a new Telepathic person revealed
Chapters 7-9
CHAPTER 9
• Big jump in time. Now six years later.
• David gets urge to run – runs to river and finds Petra about to drown
• Rosalind comes, too. People suspicious of how they knew to help
• David fears that Petra will be killed. Tries to telepathically warn her.
• Last year was a bad year for Deviations. Lots of “purgings”
• Old-Timers blame Deviations on “corruption in government and
carelessness in youth” (SOCIAL COMMENTARY HERE?)
• Society getting paranoid – fearing new Tribulation (More COMMENTARY)
• Everything calming down until Anne (telepathic person) announces she is
going to get married
Chapters 10-12
CHAPTER 10
• Anne marrying “normal” son of man who discovered Sophie’s secret
• Telepathic group uneasy and warn against marriage. Anne blocks them out
• Uncle Axel suggests considering killing Anne to protect secret of group
• Anne marries and cuts off connections with group
• David falls in love with Rosalind but this is kept secret as their bond forms
• Anne’s husband found dead six months after marriage
• Anne is found in her house dead, a victim of suicide
• Letter Anne left found by an illiterate neighbour. Letter calls out telepathic
group. Letter is destroyed.
• All tension relaxes.
Chapters 10-12
CHAPTER 11
• Next Spring is very quiet. Few Deviations (none beloning to family of Allan
(the Mortons) or Joseph Strorm
• Petra is growing up. Takes off into a forbidden forest on her pony.
• David feels urge to run. Calls Michael and Rosalind to join her. They find a
freaky Deviation eating Petra’s pony. Deviation killed and Petra rescued.
• All other Telepathic People also meet in forest
• Group agrees on how to deal with Petra’s calls as David tries to teach his
sister about what’s going on with her mind. Petra reveals she hears people
from far away
• Uncle Axel suggests people are becoming suspicious of David. Axel killed
Allan because he was telling people about the Group.
• Group ready to leave if people come after them.
Chapters 10-12
CHAPTER 12
• David receives a messages that some of the telepathic kids – the Chrysalids –
have been captured. He calls Petra and Rosalind and with a horse, the three
leave Waknuk.
• Group is followed and kills a man who threatens them. Secrecy and stealth
are key.
• Find out Katherine being tortured by Inspector and is revealing information.
• Inspector issues reward for capture of David, Rosalind, and Petra so he can
learn about the Chrysalids and prevent the Deviations from happening again.
• David decides to head to Fringes. Michael plans to fake their deaths to protect
them.
• Petra starts communicating with a mystery girl. The group head towards her.
David realizes this is a girl from his dreams.
Chapters 13-15
CHAPTER 13
• David, Petra, and Rosalind continue their journey to and through Fringes
• Group meets a man – they attack him but do not kill him
• Petra continues to talk with girl from David’s dreams
• Petra must be protected at all costs. Girl communicates that help is on the way
• Michael tells group that they are being pursued by Waknuk forces
• Group hides in woods from pursuers
• Something falls on David knocking him unconscious
Chapters 13-15
CHAPTER 14
• David awakens to realize they have been captured by Fringe people
• David and Rosalind now able to communicate with girl from dreams. She is
from Sealand.
• David meets up with Spider Man. Readers learn that this is David’s uncle
• Background: David’s uncle’s deformity was discovered four years after his
birth. His mother saved him from death but the man – Gordon – still vows
revenge on the people of Waknuk – especially his brother.
• Fringe people decide to keep the two girls for “breeding purposes”
• David forced to accept this and is taken out of the village and beaten until
unconcious.
Chapters 13-15
CHAPTER 15
• David wakes up to being dragged along ground – by his old friend…Sophie!
• Sophie explains that she is in love with Gordon (Spider Man) but she was
rendered infertile because of her deformity upon her banishment from
Waknuk.
• Sophie is jealous of Rosalind and Petra because of their ability to bear
children
• Sophie and David form a plan to rescue Rosalind and Petra.
• Michael is contacted and informs them that the pursuers are making slow
progress tracking the three fugitives because of Fringe people attacks.
• Sophie explains her plan to rescue the girls from Gordon’s tent
• As girls are rescued, Sophie is seen leaving Gordon’s tent cleaning
blood from her hands
Chapters 16-17
CHAPTER 16
• Sophie joins David, Rosalind and Petra but warns them to lay low as Fringe
people will miss their “breedable women”
• Jealousy between Rosalind and Sophie
• Michael and Waknuk people approaching. Girl from Sealand coming, too
• Fight between Waknuk people and Fringe people. David considers
confronting his father
• Sealand girl convinces David to let go of his father and the way of life he
represents – dying views of society (discrimination, etc.)
• Joseph Strorm killed by his brother, Gordon. Spider Man then dies, too.
• Sophie pummeled by several arrows and dies
• Random ship shows up and shoots a spider web-like substance on everyone,
paralyzing them.
Chapters 16-17
DUEX EX MACHINA
An unexpected (and sometimes unrealistic) intervention that rescues the story’s
protagonist(s) to resolve the story’s conflict.
PROTAGONIST:
WHAT IS THE MAIN CONFLICT?
The HERO of the story. The
Society: Accepting differences
person trying to solve the
Waknuk people vs. Fringe people
main conflict or
ANTAGONIST of the
story.
Everyone is dying…
Gordon, Joseph, Sophie
And then a spaceship comes out of nowhere and saves our main
characters, taking them away from the main fight.
Chapters 16-17
CHAPTER 17
• David cannot move. He talks to Michael, wondering if they should have run
away from the space craft
• Random woman calms their fears as doors open and removes main characters
from the webs. Figure dressed in white from head to toe.
• Woman talks about training and teaching Petra
• Woman explains that the ship has limited fuel so can’t save anyone else – and
that everyone else caught in the web is dead
• “Unfortunate but necessary price to pay for the survival of their species”
• Petra communicates to other Chrysalids that the group is safe and they will
return to rescue them in the future
• Group heads to Sealand. David recognizes it from his dreams. They hear
conversation of entire society speaking telepathically.
Plot Review
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Fight between
Waknuk and
Fringes
PLOT GRAPH
Introduction
Inciting
Incident
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Conclusion
4.
Arrive at
city. All
happy
David
begins to
question
rules
1.
6.
2.
Intro to Waknuk society
-David, Sophie, Joseph
Sealand
woman
rescue
7.