The Chrysalids

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David is upset by what happened to Aunt Harriet. He eventually confides in Uncle Axel. Uncle Axel shares some of his philosophy about how the true image of man is unknown: he points out that the Old People caused the Tribulation; thus, they were not perfect either. At the end of the chapter, the telepathic group, which includes a few other characters apart from David and Rosalind, share their names and locations with each other so that they can be more aware of each other in case of any emergencies. The Chrysalids is set in a future world some centuries, perhaps even millennia, after civilisation has been destroyed in a nuclear war. We aren’t specifically told what happened, but it’s clear from numerous references in the book. When Wyndham wrote this novel in the mid-1950s, nuclear war was the favoured means by which the apocalypse was delivered in literature. Nowadays of course it has lost popularity to pandemics and climate change. The Chrysalids begins with a conversation between David and his sister Mary Strorm about David’s dream of a city he has never seen before. Mary warns him not to tell anyone about the dream because in Waknuk, the town where they live, it is best not to stand out. This proves to be good advice when David meets Sophie, who has six toes. According to the Waknukian religion, anyone whose body does not comply with the Definition of Man is a Blasphemy, and must be sterilized and banished from the community. This belief is based on the idea that God makes man in the image of himself, and God does not make mistakes, so anyone who does not look like the Image of God must not be a man, and consequently, must be the work of the devil. In describing his grandfather, David states that Elias came from the East. His grandfather may have left his homeland because of their “ungodly ways”, but David suggests Elias may have been forced out. Elias, at age 45, arrived in the area that is now Waknuk before it was developed. He found a young lovely wife, who died soon after their second son was born. Elias raised his son, Joseph Strorm, with a strong faith, both from the Bible and from Nicholson’s Repentances. David describes his father as a man of "local consequence” who preaches in the local church. He married David’s mother because their views were in harmony with one another. While The Day of the Triffids is Wyndham’s best known work, The Chrysalids is often cited as his best. It is not hard to see why. Beside being a fast paced thrilling story the underlying message of the story is also heartfelt. The book is clearly a metaphor for the plight of ethnic minorities and the disenfranchised. Compared to the other Wyndhams that I have read The Chrysalids is the most compassionate. The plea for tolerance is already evident early on in the book where the narrative focuses on a charming innocuous friendship between the outwardly normal David Strorm and a nice little girl called Sophie. Sophie is almost normal except for a small extra toe on each foot. Once her “deviancy” is discovered the friendship has to come to an abrupt end and she has to go on the run with her family.

Another wonderfully written Wyndham book. Similar to some of the other reviewers I find that Wyndham's writing draws you in, and before you know it an hour has passed (Not lost as reading is never about losing time) and you want to carry on to continually find out what happens next. I asked myself this question many times and, on many occasions, to understand how and in what ways was I different to those around me. While this is all wildly subjective, I didn’t understand the true and inescapable nature of this quandary until one winter evening I walked into a pub in South West of England. This is the story of David, a young boy who has a troubled upbringing in a rural farming community. He's brought into a culture where 'Deviation' is seen as Devil-work and anything that 'Deviates' in any way must be exterminated. This extends through all the crops that the farmers grow, right through to the children they birth. Any abnormality will mean death or desertion of children/burning of crops. Nothing is allowed to go against the True Image, and David's father is one of the most staunch in the community about enforcing this rule.

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David describes his family as consisting of his mother, his two sisters, Mary and Sarah, and his Uncle Axel. There are also maids and farm workers and their families who live in their complex of houses, and everyone shares meals together in their big room at the end of the day. Waknuk is a very busy farm, and David often avoids work by sneaking away when no one is looking, hiding away playing until dinner time.

Science fiction always tells you more about the present than the future. John Wyndham’s classroom favourite might be set in some desolate landscape still to come, but it is rooted in the concerns of the mid-1950s. Published in 1955, it’s a novel driven by the twin anxieties of the cold war and the atomic bomb…Fifty years on, when our enemy has changed and our fear of nuclear catastrophe has subsided, his analysis of our tribal instinct is as pertinent as ever.”– The Guardian (London)

David introduces John Wender, Sophie’s father, with whom he has a serious “man to man” understanding. David reflects that years later he could appreciate how grave the situation was for the Wenders, given that David knew their secret and was the son of one of the most powerful men. In a post-nuclear-war society, life is restricted by radioactive no-go zones. Physical mutations are common, but, at least in the strict, religious, patriarchal village that is all young David has ever known, mutants - animal, vegetable or human - are ruthlessly weeded out. He's never questioned the morality he's been raised with - until the heavy hand of the law falls upon a childhood friend - and he realizes that he himself may be a new (and unprecedentedly dangerous) kind of mutant. Not only that, but his young sister, Petra, may share his mutation. He is not alone - but will a small group of young people be able to survive in the face of the firmly-held convictions of even their dearest friends and family? Davie lives in Labrador - at least, that's what they think the Old People called it - and at birth passed inspection. The Bible and a book written after the Tribulation, the Repentances, clearly outline what the True Form should be, and that Mutants are an abomination to God and Man. Even at a young age when none of this is really understood, though, he instinctively keeps his ability to think-speak with several other children in the area, including his half-cousin Rosalind, a secret. It is only as he grows older, especially after he loses his friend and playmate Sophie, whose parents have done all they can to hide the six toes on each of her feet, that he really begins to understand the dangers of being a Deviant.

The community of Waknuk and David’s family home serves as the setting for a large portion of the book. Specifically, David describes the solid architecture of his home, and how it was the first home that was built in their settlement. The Strorms’ home represents the solidity of the foundation of the community, based on religion and the power of the genetically pure. The dream that David has of Sophie being sacrificed in a Purification ceremony serves a few literary purposes. The Purification process itself is an allusion to the sacrificing that took place in the Old Testament, as a way of pleasing God by sacrificing a lamb. The dream is also a hyperbolic form of foreshadowing how David’s community will treat Sophie when she is discovered as a mutant. In addition, it is an allegory for the morally exacting way David’s society feels about people who fall outside of their definition of pure. An Offence to the religious decrees of the Repentances usually consists of some form of genetic mutation. Sometimes the mutation occurs in an animal, requiring that a ritual “Purification” slaughter of the animal takes place at dawn. The ritual consists of singing hymns and slitting the throat of the mutant animal. Other times, the Offence is a vegetable that mutates or is malformed, and the entire field needs to be burned. If there is an question or disagreement about whether something qualifies as an Offence, the inspector is called in to judge. David notes that his father has a “keen eye” for Offences and that some community members feel that their community would have an overall improvement in their “deviation rate” if Joseph Strorm were not so vigilant about pointing out Offences. The inland village of Waknuk ( Wabush) is in southwestern Labrador. Labrador has become a much warmer place in the fictional future, with large tracts of arable land. Rigo ( Rigolet) is the capital of Labrador and the fictional government in the book, a fairly large river town near the east coast. The port of Lark ( Lark Harbour) is mentioned as a way-point on the west coast of the island of Newf ( Newfoundland) where sailors may obtain provisions. Galaxy reviewer Groff Conklin praised the novel as "so skillfully done that the fact that it's not a shiny new idea makes absolutely no difference". [14] Anthony Boucher similarly found the novel made "something completely fresh" out of a familiar theme, commending Wyndham's "accumulation of minutely plausible detail" and "greater depth and maturity than he has shown in previous novels". [15] Writing in Astounding, P. Schuyler Miller reported that Wyndham "has made the Mutant theme believable in a way that Odd John, Slan and the stories of the Baldies never quite were". [16]The novel was adapted for BBC radio by Barbara Clegg in 1982, [6] with a further adaptation by Jane Rogers in 2012. [7] It was also adapted for the theatre by playwright David Harrower in 1999. [8] Plot summary [ edit ] The Chrysalids is a story where those who are different live a short and precarious life. Their ‘uniqueness’ is perceived as an abomination and a threat to the community, and hence something that must be culled at any cost. This belief is held supreme, even more important than family and love. And within this setting, our main characters learn to survive and make sense of their situation. Case Two: We’re in the future and the United States needs to immediately take over all Middle-Eastern oil fields. It’s a matter of life and death. Via military superiority, such a takeover can be effected next week, no problem. Again, “survival of the fittest” requires this action.

As Rosalind, David, and Petra venture deeper into the Fringes, they are captured by a group of men who bring them to their leader, Gordon. Gordon turns out to be Joseph Strorm’s brother and David’s uncle. He is bitter over having been exiled for his overly-long limbs, and wants revenge on Joseph and on Waknuk. Fortunately, Sophie, whom David has not seen in years, is in a relationship with Gordon and helps Rosalind, David, and Petra escape from his camp. Sophie lets the fugitives stay in her cave and hide from the Waknukian forces that are pursuing them. David is born into this world with the power of telepathy. No one is able to detect this and thus he managed to survive in this cruel world. First he was happy that his mutation did not affect his appearance but as he grew, he understood the repercussion of getting caught. Then things took a turn for worse and he along with two others embarks on journey to the distant land. But I am MOST bitter about the ending. At the risk of giving too much away, I must say: I fail to understand how the murders of TWO full communities can be justified by the explanation that they were "intellectually underdeveloped," when the whole point of the novel (up to that point) was to accept everyone for their differences. (The consequence of failing to do so, is the creation of a cold, harsh, stringent, and unhappy society where everyone lives in fear of everyone else). Perspective is a matter of one's environment, and there is none superior to the other. But by the end of this, the author seemed to be saying: "All perspectives are equal, except for this one, which is more equal than all the others." Can you tell I've read "Animal Farm"? ;) The disturbing post-apocalyptic novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, author of The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes and dramatised on BBC Radio 4. If you enjoyed The Chrysalids, you might like Arthur Miller's The Crucible, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Imagine a world where a little deviation from the norm in physical appearance means burning and banishment because you are far from what God created. Why there are imperfections when we know perfect exists? God creates perfect humans, plants, and animals, so no deviations have the right to live in the world. They're the work of Devil. A world where people have to give away their loved ones because God has not made them perfect. These deviations or imperfections are known as offenses and blasphemies. Plants, animals fell in to first category while the humans found themselves in the latter. Excellent writing as ever from JW or JBH or whatever combination of names you know this author by (can you end a sentence with by ?? ) For once it is not set in England, his native country, but although that normally means a lot to me, this book just delivers the feeling, the hopelessness, the bigotry, the narrow mindedness of what could be port apocalypse anywhere in the Western world. Great novel. Chapter 4 begins by introducing Uncle Axel into the novel. He is portrayed as an individual who cares about David’s well-being, and David confides in him about his telepathic abilities to communicate with other nearby people, including David’s cousin Rosalind, via “thought shapes." Uncle Axel tells David sternly not to let anyone else know about his telepathic abilities. An invasion from the Fringes occurs in Waknuk. Gordon Strorm (or the "Spider-man"), who is Joseph’s brother and who was banished into the Fringes, meets David briefly. After the Fringes incident passes, the Inspector and Joseph disagree over the deviance of Angus Morton’s great-horses, which are larger than normal horses, but government-approved. The chapter ends by telling the readers more about the status of Waknuk as a society, and David shares that he passes his knowledge from his schooling onto Sophie. Michael is the most objective, perceptive and decisive of the telepaths, the best educated, and in many ways plays a leading role in the group despite his physical absence from events in the story. His telepathic abilities remain secret, and during the pursuit into the Fringes he joins the leading posse to give updates and warnings to David, Rosalind and Petra as they flee. The inhabitants of post-apocalypse Labrador have vague knowledge of the "Old People", a technologically advanced civilization they believe was destroyed when God sent " Tribulation" to the world to punish their forebears' sins. The inhabitants practise a form of fundamentalist Christianity; they believe that to follow God's word and prevent another Tribulation, they must preserve absolute normality among the surviving humans, plants and animals, and therefore practice eugenics. Humans with even minor mutations are considered blasphemies and either killed or sterilized and banished to the Fringes, a lawless and untamed area rife with animal and plant mutations, and suggested to be contaminated with radiation. Arguments occur over the keeping of a tailless cat or the possession of over-sized horses. These are deemed by the government to be legitimate breeds, either existing before or achieved through conventional breeding. The government's position is considered both cynical and heretical by many of the orthodox frontier community, and it is suggested that they support the usage of these animals for the sole purpose of their greater efficiency.