Chapter 15-17 Reflections

            These are the final three chapters of the book. In these chapters, having recently been captured by the mutants, David is separated from Petra and Rosalind. Sophie finds David in the dark and brings him back to her house where she believes he will be safe. David plans to go and rescue his sister and Petra but Sophie objects and goes for them herself, killing a man to get them back. I was surprised when Sophie came back into the book and I was rather disturbed to hear that she was in love with the spider man, Gordon, because the concept of someone looking like a spider to any extent freaks me out. Sophie and Rosalind meet for the first time and I was startled at how quickly they decided that they were not going to be friends. I feel bad for Sophie because she never got to live her life; as a child she had no friends except for David and then she was cast out to the fringes to live a harsh life concentrated solely on survival. At the end of the book the people from Zealand come in a helicopter and they decide to bring the telepaths back to Zealand with them. One of the boys refuses to return because he does not want to  leave the other telapath girl behind and he is left on his own. When the Zealanders come they kill everyone except the telepaths and I must admit that I was not expecting that. I was a bit disturbed that they could just kill those people and think nothing of it. When the one boy refused to go back without the other girl I thought it was very sweet and I would be curious to hear what happened to them. I was glad that David, Petra, and Rosalind got to go to Zealand in the end.

Chapter 13-14 Reflections

            In these chapters Petra, David, and Rosalind leave because Sally and Katherine have been found and they are being tortured. People are after them and they flee to the fringes in an attempt to escape. Sally and Katherine become unreachable and inconsolable as the torture continues and David decides that, if they are caught, he will kill Petra and Rosalind to keep them from being tortured. I felt absolutely terrible for the girls because they didn’t wan tto tell more than anything but the stuff they were doing to them was awful. I think they were incredibly strong to keep it a secret as long as they did but I think that David was even stronger to be willing to kill Petra and Rosalind before letting them suffer like that.

Chapter 11-12 Reflections

            In these chapters Petra calls out again with her mind and summons the telepaths off to the woods where they find her horse murdered and Petra herself in a state of total terror. They eventually calm her but people are beginning to be suspicious of the telepaths because they keep spearing together for no discernable reason. David begins teaching Petra to control her think shapes and they begin to realise how strong her telepathy is. In chapter twelve David, Petra, and Rosalind have to flee because the inspector is coming for them. I was startled to hear that Petra went off alone in the woods and I was appalled to hear about what happened to her poor horse. I totally understand how that could disturb her to watch that and I think that I would have reacted similarly to that situation. I was startled when they had to suddenly run to avoid being found out and I felt awful for them because they had to leave everything behind.

Chapters 9-10 Reflections

In these chapters they discover that Petra is able to communicate with telepathy and she cannot yet control these powers. In these chapters Anne and Alan get married and he discovers her secret. Later Anne stops communicating and both she and Alan get killed. I find this quite tragic as all she ever wanted was to get married and live a normal life. I am curious as to how Alan found out about her powers and I must admit that I was a bit ashamed of her when I learned that she planned to turn in all the other telepaths as well. I was quite shocked to hear that Alan had died and at first I was suspicious that Anne had actually killed him herself and she had gone psychotic having married a man who was of the norm. After discovering that Anne died by her own hand I was shocked, I thought that she would be able to survive for much longer amongst the norms than she did. I thought it was the coolest thing ever when I learned that Petra has powers of telepathy as well.

Chapters 7-8 Reflections

            In these chapters David's younger sister, Petra, is introduced. Around the same time we learn that David's aunt has given birth to a deviated child and she has not yet announced it because she doesn't want to have to give up her baby. David's aunt tries to get help from Mrs. Strorm but she rejects her sister's pleas mercilessly. David's aunt then vanishes into the night and is later discovered, dead, but the child is not mentioned. David begins to realise that his telepathy is a deviation and if it were ever discovered he would be cast out and he prays to be "normal" so that he can live his life without the constant fear of being discovered. The telepaths begin communicating their knowledge of the way things actually work and they have to be careful not to make what they know evident. The final line of chapter eight is "Until, in fact, the day when we discover that the eight of us had suddenly become nine." I think this is somehow related to the birth of Petra.  I feel terrible for David's aunt, Harriet, because I think someone killed her. It's not fair that she should have to give up her child because it didn't fit the norm and I am repulsed by the fact that Mrs. Strorm flat out told her sister that the child was a defilement and wouldn't even call it a human. I wonder how many people had died as infants because they were imperfect and I believe that it is unfair to blame the mother for the child being deviated as it could just as easily be the father's fault. I feel bad for David when he decides that he wants to be normal as my opinion is that you should never strive to be something you're not.

Chapter 5-6 Reflections

In these chapters David is beat for not telling his father about Sophie and another boy, Alan, discovers that Sophie is a deviation. David’s father whips him for breaking the law and David eventually is forced to tell him everything. I think that David could have kept the secret longer if he were older at the time because he would be closer to Sophie and he would know how important her not being found was. I feel bad for David when his father whips him because even his family isn’t supporting his decisions and sometimes family is all you have left. I think that David was foolish to allow Sophie to go barefoot in public and if he hadn’t encouraged her in this the entire situation could have been averted. I think that this will play in important role later in the book and I am looking forward to finding out if they meet each other again.

Chapter 3-4 Reflections

                When David is home after one of his visits to Sophie he accidentally says that it would be easier if he had another hand and his father becomes enraged. David doesn’t know what his father would do to Sophie if he found her but he has a nightmare about his father slaughtering her like he does with deviated cattle. In chapter four we learn that David possesses the gift or being able to communicate telepathically with others who are like him. In this chapter we have our first encounter with people who are severely deviated. The spider man is said to look uncannily similar to David’s father and he causes Mr. Strorm to go pale as if he’d seen a ghost. I think that this may be foreshadowing that these two men have met before and they know each other. I thought it is sweet that David goes to visit Sophie all the time to keep her company and such even though he might be punished if his father discovered this. I think that the people in this book are like the Nazi’s because they blame all their problems on the few people who are different and they try to create the perfect race. I think that it would be frightening to live in that community because if you were discovered to be different somehow then you would be cast out.

Chapter 1-2 Reflections

                The book starts out describing a bit about the society which David, the books main protagonist, lives in. In this society any sort of a difference in a creature is considered “a blasphemy against the true Image of God and hateful in the sight of God.” This is especially relevant in the book as David befriends a girl who was born with an extra toe on each foot. I believe that this is an absolutely revolting belief for people to have as it destroys the lives of those around them. David’s family is confident in these beliefs to such an extent that they have readings such as, “The Devil is the father of deviation.” displayed on the walls of their house. These signs are frightening in my opinion as they consider all people who are different to be Devil spawn. This is a social injustice because no one should be condemned to a life of cruelty because they are different and they can’t do anything about it. I found it interesting that the people have not yet guessed the cause of the deviations. I find it revolting that they cast out those who are different, burn any deviated crops, and slaughter the deformed livestock. I also found it sad that Sophie, a girl who has six toes on each foot, is forced to live a life of isolation and secrecy without being able to alter her situation at all. It is similar to being cursed since birth.