Book Review of The Chrysalids The future society depicted in "The Chrysalids" is still suffering the after-effects of a disaster sent by God, which all but destroyed the ancient world of the Old People. The survivors called the disaster Tribulation. No one knows why it happened, but the narrator, David, attributes it to "a phase of irreligious arrogance", which God, in his anger, punished. Only a few legends of the Old People remain. Centuries (millenia?) have passed, and the descendents of the Old People continue to pick up the pieces. "The Chrysalids" is a book that deals with the issue of normality. Basically, to be considered normal you have to be in the majority. In the world David describes anything "not right" is deemed an "Offence" or a "Blasphemy". Mutants are seen as the spawn of the devil and must be destroyed to preserve the true image. (Throughout history people have always needed someone to persecute for the world's ills.) The reader will probably have guessed that this is a world after a nuclear holocaust. But we don't actually know for sure. Other reviewers have criticised the scientific validity of radiation and its effects. For all we know it could have been a weapon even more powerful than an H-bomb that caused Tribulation. (Who knows what scientific marvels the 21st century will bring? No one imagined nuclear weapons at the start of the 20th.) I like the way the book has a go at the self-righteousness of religion. How much cruelty and suffering has been inflicted on innocent people in the name of religion? The way mutants are treated ... ... middle of paper ... ... that anyone forced to read it in high school should give it another try, if they hated it. Being forced to read this book and write about it and discuss it destroys any enjoyment (at least it did for me). Give it another shot. I am not a big science fiction fan, but this story was very good. I really felt for the characters. I was saddened when certain characters died. I didn't want the story to end. This is a great book. I have just, this afternoon, finished readind it for school. And I can say this is one of a few great books that I have ever read. There are only two really. (Good Ones that is. Not ones that I have read.) If you are into science fiction, or even if you are not this is the book for you. No huge space battles, no complex things like what they mumble about on Star Trek nothing but a great read.
Updike, John. "A & P" Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
The characters in John Wyndham’s novel, The Chrysalids may believe that belief and principle are taught, but it does not necessarily mean it is correct.
Within every story of tragic events there is always a visible spark of hope. The novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham is a story of great despair and tragedy yet with hope prominently noticeable. The protagonist, David as well as his companions face various challenges, which result in double edged swords exhibiting despair throughout; however, nearing the end the desperation breaks apart letting hope shine through.
Today’s society is accepting of differences, where as in the Chrysalids if you had any type of difference that was visible, you didn’t get a certificate, you were sterilized and sent to the fringes. Conformity was the only way of having control over the people of the Waknuck society and they didn’t want mutants or deviations to take over. Another story about mutants is portrayed in the movie X-Men First Class, all the normal people are afraid of them. They are afraid because of what they can and could possible do and they had no way of controlling them without making them come out of hiding. They would have to tell the government what they could do and the government would then decide whether or not they were too dangerous for the public. The Waknuck society was not into have individualism, just like in the Hunger Games. In the movie people were separated into districts and every year to remind them of why they were separated, they have one male and one female from each district between the ages 12-18 as tributes. This happens because of the rebellion Seventy-four years before and every year all twenty-four tributes are to fight to the death until one lone victor remains. In the Chrysalids they are to keep to their jobs in their district and to report any deviants. They control conformity through and by historical beliefs, for example the only two book’s left from the “Old People” were the revised Bible to tell them what the true image really is and the book Repentances. Furthermore the Chrysalids is about how conformity after devastation may not be the greatest idea.
Harper American Literature, Inc. Harper & Row Publishers: New York, 1987, pp. 113-117. 1308 - 1311 -.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
John Wyndham made a very strong impression on any reader who has happened upon his book “The Chrysalids”. He brings to mind a harsh reality that is exaggerated within the novel, the fear of unknown powers. “Respect for God was frequently on his lips, and fear of the devil constantly in his heart, and it seems to have been hard to say which inspired him more.” The previous quote summarizes the basic thought process that the characters in the novel have. The people of Waknuk are terrified by the devil and inspired by God, which causes them to do unruly things. John Wyndham conveys social warnings for the human race by presenting our reality through a harsher light, showing normality versus difference, and by providing a prime example of human fear for a higher power.
As Harriet Braiker once said: “Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” There are many people that always seek for being perfect, but what does that leads to? In Waknuk society, “perfection” just led to destruction. Joseph Strorm, the father of the main character David Strorm and the leader of this society, started forgetting about the values he should have had and also he was forgetting about the love he needed to give to his family. In addition, God sent Tribulation because He wanted society to become better than what they were being. The citizens in Waknuk were seeking to look more like God, according to the people from the Fringes, which were people who were sent to another place because they were born with a deformation. At last, Waknuk was getting farther from perfection because they were trying to be more like the people from the past, the Old People, but at the same time there were many others like the Sealanders that saw perfection as something new; something any other society had had before, which was being able to communicate with telepathy. This and many other reasons are clues that show that Waknuk was getting father from perfection. In The Chrysalids by John Wyndam, diverse characters like Joseph Strorm, The Fringes People, and the Sealanders view perfection in three diverse ways.
Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol A. New York: W.
The Chrysalids relates to the world in many ways. To begin, religion plays a very strong role in both the story and our everyday lives. Waknuk is a civilization that strictly follows the Bible and Nicholson's Repentances. If one does not conform to the specific characteristics of the "perfect image" such as an extra toe, the consequences are extreme. This mirrors today's society because people still live this way. If some don't live up to certain standards or follow fixed rules, they can be punished, though not quite to the extent within the novel. While individuals in The Chrysalids cannot be different in any way, people today remain hesitant too. The majority want to fit in and it is looked down upon to be unusual or out of the box.
Levine, Robert S. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th Edition. Volume B. New York: Norton, 2007. 1696. Print.
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
Contact from an un-identified being can be unnerving, however Dr. Ellie Arroway has spent years looking for other life form outside of Earth and when she first heard a possible message coming from the Vega star system she was ecstatic. After spending close to 10 years listening for radio signals Dr. Ellie had finally heard a message from a life from light years away. As news of the signal spread through the world, outbreaks of both panic and amusement occurred by everyone who heard. In the message was an encrypted video feed that included design plans for a wormhole generator. One trillion dollars later it was built and after a hard thought out vote, Dr. Ellie was nominated to be put in the machine. After two attempts she makes her two-hour journey through time toward the Vega galaxy. She arrives and sees the “alien,” who explains to her why they contacted earth. The “aliens” return Dr. Ellie and she comes back to earth with no evidence of the encounter. This causes a conflict with the people on whether to believe in her encounter with aliens.
Novels for Students. Presenting Analysis, Context and Criticism on Commonly Studied Novels. Detroit, MI: Gale Group, 1999. Print.
Baym, Franklin, Gottesman, Holland, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1994.