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Gordon Strorm
David’s Aunt Harriet comes to David’s house to plead for help from her sister, Emily Strorm. Harriet’s child has a mutation, and she wants Emily to lend her Petra for a few days so that she can pretend Petra is her daughter and obtain a Certificate of Normalcy. Harriet has given birth to two other Blasphemies, and she fears that her husband will throw her out of the house when he finds out about the third. Emily and Joseph refuse to help Harriet and kick her out of their home. The next day, Harriet’s body is found floating in the river. David is unable to forget Aunt Harriet’s suicide, and her death helps motivate him to flee Waknuk.
Aunt Harriet Quotes in The Chrysalids
The The Chrysalids quotes below are all either spoken by Aunt Harriet or refer to Aunt Harriet. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
“You have sinned, woman, search your heart, and you will know that you have sinned. Your sin has weakened our defenses, and the enemy has struck through you. You wear the cross on your dress to protect you, but you have not worn it always in your heart. You have not kept constant vigilance for impurity. So there has been a Deviation; and deviation, any deviation from the true image is blasphemy—no less. You have produced a defilement!”
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“I shall pray God to send charity into this hideous world, and sympathy for the weak, and love for the unhappy and unfortunate. I shall ask Him if it is indeed His will that a child should suffer and its soul be damned for a little blemish of the body….And I shall pray Him, too, that the hearts of the self-righteous may be broken.”
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Get the entire The Chrysalids LitChart as a printable PDF.
Aunt Harriet Quotes in The Chrysalids
The The Chrysalids quotes below are all either spoken by Aunt Harriet or refer to Aunt Harriet. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
“You have sinned, woman, search your heart, and you will know that you have sinned. Your sin has weakened our defenses, and the enemy has struck through you. You wear the cross on your dress to protect you, but you have not worn it always in your heart. You have not kept constant vigilance for impurity. So there has been a Deviation; and deviation, any deviation from the true image is blasphemy—no less. You have produced a defilement!”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“I shall pray God to send charity into this hideous world, and sympathy for the weak, and love for the unhappy and unfortunate. I shall ask Him if it is indeed His will that a child should suffer and its soul be damned for a little blemish of the body….And I shall pray Him, too, that the hearts of the self-righteous may be broken.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
