Chapter 7+8

The Chrysalids Chapter 7+8

Within Chapters 7+8 of the Chrysalids we start to discover how important "the defintion" is to David's society. His mother is pregnant for nine months. She has all the syptoms. She even looks pregnant, but it all goes unnoticed. David, his family, and his community refuse to acknowledge that a woman is pregnant until the child has been examined and is determined to be a true human being with no deviations. His Aunt Harriet comes to their home with her own new born baby to speak to her sister who is David's mother. When Aunt Harriet explains that her baby has a very small deviation David's mother is taken aback. Harriet asks if she could borrow Petra and pretend that she was her own child. The inspector would declare the child an official human and then Harriet would have the birth certificate. David's mother says no and is angry with her sister that she would ask such a thing. David's father kicks her out of the house and she is later found dead in a river with the baby no where to be found. These events I found quite heartbreaking. All this woman wants to do is keep her child. She keeps on saying that it's only a small deviation. Is it as small as Sophie's? David's father basically condemned the baby and Aunt Harriet. What would he do to Sophie? I have a feeling that we will discover what happened to Sophie when her and her family were captured. We also discover all of the other teleopath's names and where they live. I'm afraid that his information will be extracted from one of the children, and David will be on the run. Things are starting to get interesting.