'Til all my sleeves are stained red From all the truth that I've said Come by it honestly I swear Thought you saw me wink, no I've been on the brink, so Tell me what you want to hear Something that were like those years I'm sick of all the insincere So

1

• '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, soTell me what you want to
  hearSomething that were like those yearsI'm
  sick of all the insincereSo I'm gonna give all
  my secrets away

2

• 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?

3
The Chrysalids

• Chapter 9 Seminar

4
Setting

• Chapter 9 takes place in Waknuk, more
  specifically in the East Pasture
• It is six years after the death of Harriet
• David is harvesting

5
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

6
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

7
Character development

• David
• Shows increasing maturity and responsibility
• All of us knew that it was not easy to keep on
  watching each word all the time, even when youve
  had to practise it for years. We decided to
  postpone telling Petra (85)

8

• 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 Davids conversation with Uncle Axel

9
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

10

• 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 Davids descent to Petra causes
  the reader to rush through the passage, just as
  David rushes to her

11

• Suspense
• Next years going to b ea bad one, too. People
  will listen to them more then. Theyll have a
  sharp eye for scaegoats (90)
• Uncle Axels warning to David creates suspense
  and foreshadowing

12

• Find another example of a literary device used in
  Chapter 9

13
Thematic development

• Secrecy and fear what new secrets must be kept
  in this chapter?
• Petras telepathy
• The pressure to keep this deviation a secret
  intensifies as David recalls his conversation
  with Old Jacob

14
Thematic development

• Religious extremism
• Old Jacob represents the extreme right wing of
  Waknuk religion
• What exactly does he believe in?
• He believes that mutants should not be cleansed
  they must be driven to the Fringes

15
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 arent human, they look
  nearly human, therefore extermination looks like
  murder, or execution, and that troubles peoples
  minds (88)

16
Key passage

• The stupidest norm was happier he could feel
  that he belonged. (86)
• Discuss with your partner what this quotation
  means
• David and the others feel that their telepathy is
  more a curse than a blessing it would be easier
  to be normal, though simple

17

• 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

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20

• 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

21

• 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