Wednesday, January 20, 2010

According to David, how did it happen that he and Rosalind fell in love in The Chrysalids?

David says that he has loved Rosalind as long as he can remember.


All of the telepaths are very close.  Being able to read another person’s mind is an intimate thing.  David and Rosalind grow to love each other while they are young, and as they get older they realize that they will marry one another someday. It just seems natural.



Quite when it was that we had known we were going to marry one another, neither of us has been able to remember. It was one of those things that seem ordained, in such proper accord with the law of nature and our own desires, that we felt we had always known it. (Ch. 10) 



When Anne falls in love with a man who is not a telepath, Allen, she tries to explain to the others that they will not understand because none of them have been in love except David and Rosalind.  The others tell her that she can’t marry a normal person, but as Uncle Axel tells David, you can’t question a woman in love.


David and Rosalind’s relationship is forbidden because of a feud between their parents.  It does not stop them.  Their love and their unusual abilities make them above such considerations.  Still, they have to meet in secret.



We used to meet, discreetly and not dangerously often. No one but the others, I think, ever suspected anything between us. We had to make love in a snatched, unhappy way when we did meet, wondering miserably whether there would ever be a time when we should not have to hide ourselves. (Ch. 10) 



Because of their secret, David wonders what would happen if Rosalind got pregnant.  His parents would not approve of the marriage, and his father is powerful.  Eventually, the telepaths will have to go on the run. 


Everything from Anne blows up, and their cover is blown.  Alan is killed and Anne thinks one of the telepaths did it and commits suicide.  Soon after, Petra panics when her horse is being attacked by a mutant and calls the others.  They have a hard time explaining how they knew to go there since she made no sound, and their secret is out.

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