The Final Countdown

"No more than three hours or so can have passed before I was weakened by the click of my latch." (page 122)

At this point in the novel, people have started to become very suspicious of David and the possibility that he might have a deviation. This quote is taken from the beginning of chapter twelve. After David wakes up, Petra informs him that people are coming to get them because of their deviation. David immediately gets up and tells Petra to start running. After David gets some food and supplies, he leaves for the badlands where the people with deviations are sent. He feels this will be the safest place for him and Petra as the gang who is after them won't pursue them that way. This doesn't turn out to be the case as David and Petra are chased far into the badlands. This part of the novel is very exciting as David and Petra must continue to run from the gang that is after them while staying away from the Fringe people.

Petra's Powers

"It was a funny thing about my ittle sister, Petra. She seemed so normal. We never suspected - not one of us." (page 83)

This quote is taken from the beginning of the ninth chapter. At this point in the novel, I have learned a lot as a reader. Because David's society is trying to rebuild in the true image of God, they cast-away any people with deviations to the norm. David has realized that he has a deviation, but it is not something that can be detected by looking at his appearance. David has the ability to speak to people telepathically and he is not the only one with this deviation. This quote is the preface to when he realizes that his little sister, Petra has the same deviation that he has. The odd thing about Petra's deviation is that the power in which she delivers her telepathic messages is unprecedented to David. David also realizes that he has to train Petra in order to develop her ability and teach her how to control it. David must help Petra develop her powers while making sure to keep his unknown from the members of his society.

First Impressions

"When I was quite small I would sometimes dream of a city - which was strange because it began before I even knew what a city was. But this city, clustered on the curve of a big blue bay, would come into my mind. I could see the streets, and the buildings that lined them, the waterfront, even boats in the harbour; yet waking, I had never seen the sea, or a boat..." (page 1)

This quote is taken from the first page of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. The character who delivers this quote is David Strorm, the main protagonist throughout the novel. This quote is very interesting as it gives the reader a false sense of the time period in which the novel is set. After reading this quote, one would assume that this book is set in the past while in reality, it is set in the future. Ultimately, we find out that the Chrysalids is set in a post-apocalyptic era and the society that David lives in is trying to rebuild mankind in the true image of God. As we learn more about David's society, we realize that because of the nucleur apocolypse, basic technologies that we are used to living with every day are absent from David's life. This opening quote did a good job of getting my hooked and interested in what was to come in later chapters.

Broken Windows

"The impetus to engage in a certain kind of behavior is not coming from a certain kind of person but from a feature of the environment." (page 142)

This quote is taken from the power of context chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's, "The Tipping Point". In this quote, Gladwell is saying that people don't normally act based on the kind of person they are. The actions of certain people are based on a feature of the environment around them, or as Gladwell likes to put it, their actions are based on something called the "Broken Windows theory". The "Broken Windows theory", is based on the idea that crime is contagious. In other words, it's an epidemic theory of crime, just as ideas or products can "tip", so can crime rates. A simple explanation of the reasoning of this theory is as follows, "If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes." (pg 141). As you can see from this example, the root of the tipping point does not stem from an individual but from a feature of their environment. A more elaborate example that Gladwell provides is the New York Transit system. When a passenger of one of the subway cars would see that there was graffiti painted on the walls of the car, they would feel that it was alright, they were being invited, to graffiti the walls themselves. What the New York Transit system did to ensure they maintained clean cars was replace any cars with graffiti on them as soon as they could. They would take a car with graffiti off the track, replace it with a clean one and then repeat this process ensuring that they dealt with any problems as soon as they could. This strategy was very successful as it ensured that any "broken windows" were fixed before the problem got increasingly difficult to deal with. The Broken Windows theory allows for insight into why crime epidemics occur. If discipline is enforced for smaller crimes, the environment in which much more serious crimes take place will be taken away, ultimately lowering crime rates and keeping the streets safe.

The Word of Mouth Musketeers

"The answer is that the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts." (page 33)

This quote is taken from "The Tipping Point" at the beginning of Gladwell's second chapter which is entitled Law of the Few. The law of the few is a law that Gladwell uses to explain how certain word of mouth messages "tip" and how others are not so successful. In the quote above, Gladwell refers to the involvement of people with a rare set of social gifts. There are three groups of people that Gladwell feels are essential to creating a word of mouth epidemic. These groups of people are referred to as connectors, mavens, and salesmen. To describe how connectors work, Gladwell used an example called six degrees of separation. Six degrees of separation is the idea that someone chosen at random is only six steps away from being connected to a second person chosen at random. The intriguing fact about six degrees of separation is that not all six of the steps are equal, in other words, most connections can be made through a very small number of people who are linked to everyone else in a few steps. These people are known as connectors. The second group of people, mavens are information specialists. Mavens are people who accumulate knowledge about different markets and are obsessed with finding the best deal, not just for themselves, but for other consumers as well. What makes it possible for a maven to start a word of mouth epidemic is not that they know a lot of information, it's how they pass it along. Mavens have a genuine need to help people, something that Gladwell describes as an awfully effective way of getting someone's attention. The last group of people required to create word of mouth epidemics are salesmen. Salesmen are people with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing. Gladwell explains how salesmen don't just persuade you with what they say, it's how they can connect with you when you're talking. He says that salesmen seem to have some kind of indefinable trait, something powerful and irresistible that goes beyond what comes out of their mouth, that makes people want to agree with them. This is what makes salesmen so influential regarding word of mouth epidemics, people tend to agree with what they are saying and pass it on because they trust them. Word of mouth epidemics are not just created by everyday people. It takes someone special whether it be a connector, a maven or a salesmen to create a message that "tips".

A Magic Moment

"The name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point." (page 9)

The book that I am currently reading, "The Tipping Point", is a study of how little things can make a big difference. This quote, taken from the introduction of the novel, provides the reader with their first definition of what a tipping point is. "The Tipping Point" as Gladwell puts it is the point when an idea or product reaches a certain point and then "tips", becoming extraordinarily popular in a very short period of time. Gladwell feels that tipping points are caused by three major factors; contagiousness, little causes have big effects and finally change happens at one dramatic moment. The third of these major factors, change happens at one dramatic moment, is, in Gladwell's opinion, the rule that makes sense of the first two and allows for insight into why modern changes occur in the fashion they do. The example that Gladwell refers to regarding these three major factors is the Hush Puppy shoe and how it took off in New York fashion after being all but dead until that point. Gladwell explains that in the case of this shoe, the tipping point began at a few clubs and bars in New York where the shoe was becoming very popular. This new found trend spread from the clubs, to a New York stylist and then tipped once the idea reached two fashion designers who used the shoe to peddle something else, haute couture. No one along the way was deliberately trying to create this "epidemic", it just happened. "The Tipping Point" will reveal how something this profound is possible, how an idea or product can "tip" without deliberate effort to make it do just that.

New works, old structure

"I'm not saying there's nothing new in literature: I'm saying that everything is new and yet recognizably the same kind of thing as the old," (p. 23)

This line, taken from Frye's second lecture, comes after an explanation of how very old works are quite similar to newer works. Frye uses the books Odyssey and Huckleberry Finn as examples to back up his position. Frye explains how "Superficially, they're very different, but the better you know both the Odyssey and Huckleberry Finn, the more impressed you'll be by the resemblances:" (p. 23). Frye then goes on to list resemblances between the two works such as "the disguises, the exciting adventures that often suddenly turn tragic, the mingling of the strange and the familiar, the sense of human comradeship stronger than any disaster." (p. 23) After Frye makes these comparisons, he builds on this idea with the line, "I'm not saying there's nothing new in literature: I'm saying that everything is new and yet Recognizably the same kind of thing as the old," (p. 23) This line seems to repeat one of his main ideas in his first lecture, literature is timeless, but at the same time it adds a new thought to this idea. Frye, in my mind, is saying that although litreature can be repetitive, the fresh twist to a story caused by the distinct voice of the writer, makes a work of literature new. Frye's abnormal but brilliant metaphor is a very interesting way of looking at this concept. I had to read this metaphor more than once to gain an understanding of what Frye is trying to say. Frye uses a new born baby to explain is opinion, stating that this new baby is something new but also something very common, a human being. If we replace the new born baby in this metaphor with a book or poem, Frye's meaning becomes quite clear. A new book is something new but it is among billions of other books that have the same structure it does. The thing that makes each work different is not the cover but what's on the inside.

Science is temporary, literature is forever

"Literature doesn't evolve or improve or progress." (p. 9)

This line, found in Frye's first lecture "The Motive for Metaphor", comes after a brief explanation of how the subject of science evolves, improves and progresses. On the counter side of this statement, Frye states that "Literature doesn't evolve or improve or progress." To backup his opinion, Frye writes that "A physicist today knows more physics than Newton did, even if he's not as great a scientist." This is an extreme assumption to make considering how great of a scientist Newton was, but it's an assumption that I agree with. The field of science has progressed so much, due to new discoveries and advancements in theory, that Newton would be extremely far behind. Literature, on the other hand, does not evolve or improve or progress. Authors of different eras all have a different style but the structure of the writing remains similar. I think this is the basis on which Frye develops the opinion that literature is timeless. Plays that were written thousands of years ago, such as Oedipus Rex, are still being read and appreciated today by many audiences. The beautiful thing about literature is that it does not have to evolve or improve or progress, classics are respected in the same way a new work is respected, if not more. I feel there is a connection between this line from Frye's lecture and Mr. McCullough's speech. Mr. McCullough strongly enforces the idea of reading any work you can get your hands on. He tells the audience to read classics of American literature, books on their country's history and books that have stood the test of time, ". Like Frye, McCullough seems to feel that books able to withstand the test of time are the one's worth picking apart and re-reading in order to find the true meaning that lies within. "But take seriously-read closely-books that have stood the test of time." To go back to the line from Frye's lecture, literature is timeless. A classic novel or poem will be analyzed and studied for generations to come.