Chapter 11: Dischord and Dynne

Dischord and Dynne is the eleventh chapter of The Phantom Tollbooth.

Characters[]

Plot[]

Milo wakes up at 5:22 a.m. and decides that he should let Chroma sleep in and simply conduct the orchestra himself. Things start off well, but conducting the sunrise is much harder than it looks. Things get out of control very quickly, and a whole week rushes by, full of all the wrong colors. The chaos stops only when Milo stops conducting out of exhaustion. Chroma wakes up and starts a new day, completely unaware that seven days have passed. Alec escorts Milo, Tock, and the Humbug to the end of the Forest of Sight, where he bids them farewell and gives Milo a telescope as a gift so that he can "see things as they really are." The three travelers pile back into the electric car and soon drive up to a carnival-style wagon bearing the sign "KAKOFONOUS A. DISCHORD, DOCTOR OF DISSONANCE." Within they find Dischord himself, a man with ears that are bigger than his head. Milo wants to ask the doctor some questions about the route, but the person who greets them has his own agenda. He asks some questions about strange noises they might have heard. But neither Milo, Tock, nor the Humbug has ever heard them. The three travelers go into the wagon as Dr. Dischord keeps asking questions. Dr. Dischord examines the three of them and says they need more noise in their lives. He begins concocting a mysterious potion that will "cure" their sickness. As he mixes it, he tells the three travelers about his business. He works on making noise and harsh sounds, rather than soft or nice ones. When Dr. Dischord explains what his cure will do – make sure the three hear bad things, not good ones – the travelers all refuse it. So, rather than waste it, Dr. Dischord says he'll give it to the DYNNE, his genie-like monster sidekick that appears from a bottle and is composed entirely of smoke. The DYNNE gulps down the concoction, and Dr. Dischord tells the DYNNE's sad backstory: As it turns out, the DYNNE is responsible for most of the noise in the world. A joke the Humbug makes upsets the DYNNE, who cries. Then he weeps some more at the fact that none of the three travelers seem to respect noise in the way that he and the doctor do. Dr. Dischord cheers up the DYNNE by telling him about how wonderful noises are and how important they are before heading out to make their rounds. When the doctor and DYNNE find out where Milo, Tock, and the Humbug are going, they're horrified and say it's dangerous and frightening. In order to get to Digitopolis, the three travelers will have to "pass through the Valley of Sound". For some reason, Dr. Dischord and the DYNNE are scared of the Valley of Sound.

Chapter Guide[]

< A Colorful Symphony (Chapter 10) | The Silent Valley (Chapter 12)>