Pure Chapter 2 Summary

Partridge (Mummies)

• Our second main character, Partridge, is in Glassings' World History class.
• Glassings lectures about the Dome's history, and how it is a prototype for sustainable living after the Detonations. The people in the Dome and the "wretches" outside the Dome are governed by a "flimsy" military regime. Their hope is to one day take care of the wretches and start a new life.
• Partridge has a memory about a meal his mother made, but now instead of food he takes pills for optimal health.
• He's also dressed in "mummy molds," which are casts that cover parts of his body so only certain parts are exposed.
• During things called "coding sessions," academy boys are taken to rooms and given new skill sets.
• They get vertigo from these, but they get used to it. A little vertigo can't hurt, right?
• Glassings makes a comment about an ancient culture, saying "beautiful barbarism." Partridge notes that he shouldn't be making asides because the government might be watching.
• Dome officials enter the classroom and Glassings thinks they might be here for him for his "beautiful barbarism" aside. But they end up asking for Partridge, saying his father wants to see him.
• Partridge's dad, Ellery Willux, is pretty much the president of the Dome.
• Partridge also has a brother, Sedge, who also went to the academy. But later we find out Sedge died.
• Sedge was a "herd" member, and eventually entered the new elite corps called the Special Forces.
• Partridge remembers a time when he went swimming with his dad. His dad had six small scars in the left side of his chest over his heart, but they were symmetrical and not from an accident.
• He has a pretty bad relationship with his dad. His dad ignores him, and probably didn't even send the seventeenth birthday gift Partridge received — an expensive pen with an illuminated bulb.
• More memories: Partridge thinks about his mother and how she used to write riddles for Partridge to help him find hidden presents. She told him that his father used to do this too, which shocks Partridge because his dad is pretty cruel.
• They meet up, and an awkward conversation about school ensues.
• His dad says something is wrong in Partridge's "behavioral coding." Partridge knows that he has been thinking about his mother more, but instead, he tells his dad that he felt cold during class. Smooth.
• Btw, Partridge and Ellery are the only ones left in the family.
• Their conversation shifts from talking about some blueprint to his mother. Ellery asks about when she and Partridge went to the beach and the mother had Partridge swallow pills. They were meant to make the flu go away, but they made it worse.
• Backstory on the mother: she died trying to help survivors get to the Dome. Ellery barely speaks about her anymore, and he can barely mention Sedge's name.
• Another memory of Partridge: the "swan wife," a song his mother introduced him to. He talked about it to Sedge once, but Sedge said it was a girl's story.
• Ellery mentions how Partridge's mother has always been problematic, which upsets Partridge. Notice how he says, "has always been" problematic. Partridge wonders why that's not in the past tense. Hmm.
• Somehow, Ellery decides this is a perfect time for them to take a father-son picture. Flash. Kodak moment. End of chapter.