The Chrysalids

David makes his way home through the woods, which he is supposed to avoid due to the possibility of large animals. He sneaks into his room through a window.

The district of Waknuk developed over the decades into a God-fearing community shaped by its faith and the land. Approximately 100 families live there. David describes his house as a U-shape with farm rooms and stock sheds on one side and various dairy and farm rooms on the other hand, with a large yard in the middle. Family life is centered around the living room, which is also a kitchen. David’s family consists of his parents, his sisters, and his Uncle Axel, as well as the maids, cooks, farmhands, and their children. The house was built by his grandfather, Elias Strorm, 50 years before, partially with material from the Old World. It is the oldest house in Waknuk.

Elias emigrated from the East due to an undefined conflict he had with the culture there. Elias had “eyes that could flash with evangelical fire beneath bushy brows” (16) and constantly thought and spoke of God. He married a woman 25 years younger than himself, who was light and golden when they met but whom he turned into “a sad, grey wraith of wifehood” (16). She died after having her second son, Joseph, David’s father. Joseph adopted Elias’s faith without a second thought.

Around the house are various wooden panels preaching purity as the means to salvation, such as “The norm is the will of God” (18). When a creature is born that is not within this perfect norm, it is called an “Offence” and slaughtered. When “defects” occur among humans, they are referred to as Blasphemies. The same is true for crops, and the family occasionally burns their entire harvest if Joseph deems it an abomination. Despite this, the farm and family prosper, and their land continues to grow. Outside of Waknuk, which is frontier land converted into agricultural land, lie the Fringes and the Badlands. People who live in the Fringes are called Deviations or Blasphemies, who are cast out due to “defects” large and small. They come into Waknuk to steal supplies, food, weapons, and sometimes children. David refers to an overarching government in Rigo, a place in the East where laws are made.

David starts visiting Sophie regularly, and after she heals, she begins showing him around the land that she lives on. On one such occasion, David takes Sophie to see the Waknuk steam engine, which is the only one for over 100 miles. They watch it for a while before talking about the Old People. Sophie’s father believes that the stories about these people are too fantastical to be true, but David insists that they are. When they return to Sophie’s home, her father, John, has returned from a hunting trip. David and John get along, but David senses an unease from John at times. He thinks this is because David’s father is Waknuk’s most devout evangelical.

He recalls a night a month ago when he splintered his hand and cut it open. While attempting to tie a rag around it, David casually remarked that it would be easier with a third hand, simply as a matter of expression. His father overheard this, and the entire room fell silent as Joseph yelled about how David had blasphemed against the Lord by expressing “dissatisfaction with the form of the body God gave [him]” (27). David protested, but Joseph moved into a lengthy prayer. David was sent to his room and punished, and he lay awake thinking about Sophie and her toe.

When he finally fell asleep, he had a terrible nightmare in which Sophie was captured for Purification. Joseph approached her with a knife as she cried and begged those standing by to help her. Nobody moved or even showed emotion as Sophie was held down and killed. David woke panicked and distraught. He knew that if Sophie’s parents heard how deeply this dream disturbed him, they would not worry about him revealing their secret.

A series of events is set into motion, and David’s life begins to change. One afternoon, he is talking to Rosalind telepathically but speaking out loud because it helps get messages through more clearly. Uncle Axel finds David talking to himself, and when David explains that he was speaking to Rosalind in his mind, Uncle Axel becomes grave and makes David promise never to tell anyone else. Further, he is not to speak out loud while using this form of communication anymore. Uncle Axel tells David he will understand the reasons for this when he is older, and he asks David to have Rosalind make the same promise.

David decides not to tell Uncle Axel that there are other children with the same ability. That night, David brings forth the concern to the other telepathic children, who have long suspected that this is something they should not tell others about. They each agree to keep the secret, and this promise solidifies them as a group.

Soon after, a major invasion from the Fringes takes place, and the Waknuk men battle them. They storm out on horseback and capture some of the Fringe leaders. When they return with their captives, David notices that one of them looks exactly like his father. The man stares at David, seemingly recognizing him, and David notices that the man’s arms and legs are much longer than usual, referring to him as spiderlike. The man beckons David to come closer and asks who his father is, and when Joseph sees the man, he appears to be in shock. Although David is never told who the man is, it is implied that he is Joseph’s banished brother.

When Joseph hears that a distant relation purchased two oversized horses, he goes to see them and finds the sight disgusting. He insists they are Offences and should be destroyed, but the inspector in charge of investigating such matters insists that the horses were bred intentionally and “normally.” David recalls a similar incident in which Joseph found out that a neighbor owned a tailless cat and killed it. The inspector discovered that tailless cats were a “normal” breed, and Joseph made a public apology.

David and Sophie spend more time together, and because Sophie does not have access to books or other people, David tells her what he learns and hears. He tells Sophie of Waknuk’s fabled history. The land was originally called Labrador and got much colder than it does now. David tells Sophie that there are only 300 years of recorded history and that only the Bible and a book called Repentances survived Tribulation. Aside from word of mouth and these two books, people know very little about the past or how long-ago Tribulation was. David intentionally avoids telling Sophie about ethics, which for the people of Waknuk means humanity’s obligation to rebuild itself after Tribulation while avoiding temptation and traps. Most importantly, the human form must be kept pure and perfect if humanity is ever to fall back into God’s good graces.