Chapter One - The Chrysalids

For my first reading assignment, I read the first chapter of ‘’The Chrysalids’’ by John Wyndham. The chapter starts off by explaining the dream of a young boy named David. Later on, David tells about his dream to his older sister which advises him not to tell anyone about it. As the chapter unravels, we start getting a sense that the story takes place in a dystopia led by strict religious dictatorship. This is why his sister had advised him not to speak of his dream; to avoid unwanted attention from authorities. A few years later, when David was around 10, he ran off to play in the forest near his home. He met a young girl named Sophie which stuck and hurt her foot between two rocks while playing with him. David helped Sophie free and to her home, and noticed she had six toes. Sophie’s mother made him promise not to tell anyone about her sixth toe for Sophie could get in very big trouble. David realized while walking back home that the reason she could get in trouble, is that according to the bible, if a being doesn’t fit the description of a human, she isn’t one and therefore is hateful insight of god.