The Chrysalids

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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.

A]bsolutely and completely brilliant… The Chrysalids is a top-notch piece of sci-fi that should be enjoyed for generations yet to come.”– The Ottawa Citizen 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. So how has it stood up? Remarkably well but with big reservations, an ending that seemed very ham-fisted. The major protagonist David tells the story in the first person, and what a riveting tale it is of those that are not normal in his fundamentally religious society. After a nuclear holocaust, much of humanity has not survived. In a small patch in Labrador, those that did were full of fire and brimstone towards those that they found in their midst that were not in the image of man and women as they interpreted the surviving bible. So an individual that had 6 toes, for example, was outcast into the fringe lands. David and a few others find they are able to communicate via a form of telepathy but once found out had to make a run for it. It was a well written and stirring adventure that covered the story well in a YA type of delivery. David tells his telepathic community of friends, via thoughts, about the incident with Sophie. In a conversation with the Inspector, David finds out Sophie and her parents were caught. Later, David confides in Uncle Axel and tells him that he wants to run away because he feels scared about his own deviance from the norm. Uncle Axel convinces David not to run away until he is older, and reasons that no one really knows what the real norm of humanity is. Axel bases this knowledge on his experience as a sailor, where he heard about numerous other societies with mutations that they thought were the norm. Uncle Axel also talks of the geographical aspects of Waknuk and the surrounding badlands. The apocalyptic Cold War era science fiction classic of a young boy’s quest for freedom in a post-nuclear religious extremist society

by John Wyndham

There are a few weaknesses to the book - the "wise uncle" character is a bit too good and knowledgeable to be true, and once our characters are on the run, the plot feels a bit rushed... but... There were a few things about "The Chrysalids" that I really loved. For one thing, the post-nuclear ruins of the world were fascinating and eerie, and the community's reverence for "the Old People" (namely us) was spooky. The setting was well-imagined with its fanaticism and emotional detachment. The themes of Naziism and metaphorical racism were applicable to the social and political issues we face today. The way that "deviants" were treated echoed our current struggles as a society to accept one another. I liked that it was reminiscent of "The Giver" and "Brave New World." David was also a noble, capable, and trustworthy protagonist.

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. The adolescents are betrayed when one marries a “norm” only to commit suicide after confiding in her unsympathetic spouse. Uncle Axel murders the callous husband, but Petra’s awakened and uncontrolled powers send psychic blasts that paralyze the others, arouse suspicion and a witch hunt, and draw telepathic responses from Sealand (New Zealand), which sends an aircraft to rescue them. Pursued by Joseph Strorm and his troops, David, Petra, and Rosalind battle their way to the Fringes, where David’s banished uncle, Spider, captures them. Spider brutally beats David and leaves him to die, having announced his carnal designs on Rosalind. Sophie, her innocence corrupted, conceals David and murders the albino guarding Rosalind. As the posse descends for the kill, the Sealanders arrive, annihilating everyone except the young telepaths, whom they transport to Sealand to help build the world anew. The Chrysalids' success can be attributed in part to the successful novel that Wyndham published in 1951, The Day of Triffids, which garnered support and media attention. On top of that, Wyndham’s insight from serving as a government censor for the Ministry of Information for the British in World War II served as inspiration for this novel. As with some of his other novels I would have loved a sequel to find out how the characters fared on the next stage of their journey, but maybe thats the sign of a good writer, leave the reader wanting more. 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.

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Another interesting (and damning) perspective comes from one of these other societies, called Zealand, one that has advanced and re-built and where think-speaking is treasured and encouraged - a utopia, in fact, for Davie and his friends: The novel was adapted by Barbara Clegg as a single 90-minute drama for BBC Radio 4, directed by Michael Bartlett, and first broadcast on 24 April 1981. The cast includes: Another symbol that is introduced in these chapters is the Steam Engine, a paragon of technology in a world that has only very basic farming, transportation, and communication methods. The Steam Engines represent the power of the Old People, and serve as a way of showing how far the Waknuk people have come; at the same time, the Steam Engines are juxtaposed to the world that David dreams of, with horseless vehicles and flying machines. Initially, David believes this dream city may be a world of the Old People. However, this image is actually a foreshadowing to a place that David will learn more about later in the novel. 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.

Unfortunately, the villagers get wind of the strange abilities of David and the others. Ah! Their small group must escape the clutches of all those intolerant, fundamentalist village bigots, journey miles beyond to lands unknown, to encounter new worlds. Thus, on a second level, we have an exciting young adult adventure, one requiring stamina, endurance, courage and resourcefulness. Do you know a twelve-year-old or teenage booklover? If so, The Chrysalids would make the perfect gift. On the way home, David suddenly realizes that in his religion’s texts, it states that any person who falls outside of the guidelines of the correct number of body parts, etc., is not considered human and is considered a “Blasphemy against God.” David is puzzled and perturbed: he does not understand how it would be possible that Sophie is not an ordinary little girl. Revill, Joanne. "The John Wyndham Archive, 1930–2001". SF Hub. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014 . Retrieved 19 September 2010. 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]J. Francis McComas, reviewing the American release for The New York Times, declared that the "outstanding success" of the novel lay in Wyndham's "creation of humanly understandable characters that are, after all, something more and less than human" and concluded that the novel "will be well noted and long remembered". [9] 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. Sophie Wender is a young girl born with six toes on one of her feet. Sophie lives with her parents in an isolated cottage somewhere north-west of Waknuk. Her deviation from the "norm" keeps her from associating with other children. She befriends David after he discovers her secret but promises not to reveal it. There is critical disagreement regarding whether the intervention of the Sealand culture at the end of the novel should be considered a deus ex machina. [11] If you've yet to savour THE CHRYSALIDS, a perennial front runner in the field of soft science fiction, I can't think of a better time than right now. Highly recommended indeed.

John Wyndham is often described in rather disparaging term as the main proponent of cosy catastrophe. This based on the allegation that his protagonists tend to be English middle class white males who are not much inconvenienced by the apocalypse, somehow continuing to live it up while the rest of the populace suffer. Having read three of his books I find that while the allegation is not entirely unwarranted it is also not quite fair. I hope to write more about this issue when I get around to reviewing The Day of the Triffids.Well let's be honest, who reads the same book twice in one year, erm me, it appears. It seems like déja vu but I had no intention of reading it again this year, until the group Apocalypse Whenever nominated it as their (our) December Book Club Read. And any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. It is neither man nor woman. It is blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God.”