David's Changing Views In The Chrysalids Essay

David's mother got worse and she began to think of new ways to torture David. David was one of a few brothers, but only he was targeted. The other brothers pretended he wasn't even there. There was only one person in the family that still loved David was his father. David’s father would fight for David and would protect him from the mother. But, he would always lose. Whenever David's father went to work, David would get beat. Dave became the scapegoat for his mother's mistakes. David became a slave of the house and did all the chores. If he did not finish his chores with an unreasonable time, he did not receive dinner. David was starved for three days at a time. Once, David got stabbed by his mother for not completing her dishes. Whenever David came back from school his mother forced him to throw up to see if he got any food at school. This happened every

Although both the previous events did put David into an adverse position, the following experience changed David’s outlook on life for the better. Finally there was someone to tell David the true meaning of mankind, Uncle Axel. Uncle Axel tells him to be proud of his telepathic abilities, instead of praying to be what everyone else thinks is the true image. Uncle Axel also changes David's outlook on the true image of man, he explains to him how it's not one's physical features that define him, but what's in his mind.

To start with,in The Chrysalids, John Wyndham established that blind acceptance to traditions and strict social conformity points to the elimination of human beings by the perpetual hint that deviations are denying them their Utopia. From a young age the people of Waknuk are taught the Definition and to

David learns a great lesson about morals from all the events that occur. Marie is found dead a few days after Frank goes in to see her. Frank claims she died of pneumonia. David’s next-door neighbour, Daisy McAuley, goes to their house to comfort Gail. Daisy treats David maternally and wants him to leave the “scene of the crime.” So she tells him to go over to her house and have a piece of pie. While he’s there, David encounters the deputy sheriff, Len McAuley. Len is drunk and reveals the

As we examine the heroes of the faith outlined for us in the Old Testament, we would be hard pressed to find a more faithful man that King David. After the death of King Saul, David became the King of the Hebrew people. David, who was meek and pious, steadfastly believed in the true God and tried to do His will. He had endured much persecution from Saul and other enemies but did not become bitter, did not lift his hand against Saul, as he was the Lord’s anointed, but placed all his hope in God, and the Lord delivered him from all his enemies.

Another predominate lesson in the novel is, how change is possible, but quite difficult to become accustomed to. David proves this point in a conversation he shares with Uncle Axel. Since David was raised in a society where change was not an option, but instead it was mandatory for the people of Waknuk to move towards Gods true image and move away from all deviations. David and many others had a hard time going against their way of living. David admits that he is reluctant to change saying, “Moreover, I was reluctant to admit the flaw in the tidy, familiar orthodoxy I had been taught (pg 64). Similarly, Waknuk is against change and always resisted when change was an option. David reveals that change is quite difficult to become accustomed to when he states, “The place may have been called Waknuk then, anyways, Waknuk it had become; an orderly, law-abiding, God- respecting community of some hundred scattered holding, large and small” (pg 17). This shows that their town, Waknuk, had never become anything different through-out many years. Also Joseph Strorm was a very strict and rigid man who unfortunately was at a point where he and many others who lived in Waknuk were brain washed with the Bible, and Nicholson’s Repentances. Therefore change was a possible option but hard to go forward with it. In this novel it therefore teaches us how change is possible, but overall very hard to do.

The society of Waknuk is taught to follow the laws of God and the ’Definition of Man’ for they fear the punishment that they will receive if they do not so. This fear has blinded the people of Waknuk, so much so that they cannot differentiate between right and wrong, devotion and discrimination.

The Chrysalids takes place in Waknuk, a society based on rigid laws and a strict religion. The citizens value what they believe to be normal, enforcing harsh consequences for those who go against the norm or possess traits that are undesirable or feared. Their society developed with strong influences from The Bible and Nicholson`s Repentances, with laws and customs put in place to keep Tribulation from happening again. Deviations and otherwise undesirable traits are not tolerated in this society, anything in question or suspicious is carefully inspected to ensure it is not an offense. The people of Waknuk are a very traditional, law-abiding community built on generations of fear and extreme regulations.

The society of Waknuk attempt to destroy all change in their society and they will certainly fail and suffer. To begin with, deviations or blasphemies that fight against their own kind will get nothing better than anguish. Anne decides to marry Alan Ervin, an enemy of change, then someone murders Alan and in the time of sorrow for Anne, her neighbour discover “Anne upstairs in her bedroom, hanging from a beam” (101). Anne betraying her friends to fight against the deviations is like Anne hoping for a life of misery, she put her own desires in front of everything that right. Meanwhile, the society wastes their time and sometimes life to destroy the deviations. A man is following Petra, David and Rosalind because the trio are and Rosalind’s reaction to the situation was to kill him which deeply upset her, David was thinking “Nothing, but assure her, as

At the age of 5 years old, not only did he began to take showers with his father, but when they went to the beach club, his mother bathed him in the shower in the presence of other naked women. By the age of 6 years old, David noticed the power men had over women, “when a male entered the women’s side of the bathhouse, all the women shrieked”. (Gale Biography). At the age of 7 and 8 years old, he experienced a series of head accidents. First, he was hit by a car and suffered head injuries. A few months later he ran into a wall and again suffered head injuries. Then he was hit in the head with a pipe and received a four inch gash in the forehead. Believing his natural mother died while giving birth to him was the source of intense guilt, and anger inside David. His size and appearance did not help matters. He was larger than most kids his age and not particularly attractive, which he was teased by his classmates. His parents were not social people, and David followed in that path, developing a reputation for being a loner. At the age of 14 years old David became very depressed after his adoptive mother Pearl, died from breast cancer. He viewed his mother’s death as a monster plot designed to destroy him. (Gale Biography). He began to fail in school and began an infatuation with petty larceny and pyromania. He sets fires,

Sophie allows for doubt to pierce its way into David’s life for the first time. At the start of the novel, when David first meets Sophie, he gets an insight into a deviant’s life. She has proven to be the first blow to efficiently impact David’s thoughts and make him question the authenticity of his society’s belief system. “It is hind-sight that enables me to fix that as the day when my first small doubts started to germinate.”

To start off, Joseph Strorm has control over the people of Waknuk. For example, “He still continues to preach frequently on Sundays and to explain with practical clarity the laws and views … Upon a variety of matters… For the rest of the time, he saw to it that he, and all within his control, continued to set a high example to the district” (Wyndham 17). Joseph preaches words from Nicholson’s Repentances about how differences are terrible. This book is what the society of Waknuk has developed their religion from, so the citizens don’t have any other ideas to believe in. Joseph has manipulated the way the people of Waknuk think, using the Repentances and it has gotten to the point where families will go at each other's throats to report a deviation. Of course, this is what he wants; everyone divided, so they will not rally against him. Unity is true power.

his father and dead mother. David's father has an idealized vision of his son as

Throughout the novel, David, the protagonist is abused and tortured several times by his very own father, Joseph Strorm and his recently discovered Uncle, Gordon. David’s father is a strict believer in his religion and is unyielding on the subject of mutations and blasphemy’s. If anyone neglects to follow his beliefs and rules, he has serious consequences for them, like with David, once Joseph found out that David knows a blasphemy, he immediately subjected to abusing him for answers. David’s father continues to beat him until he receives the information he demands. David has been abused more than once by his father and this is evident when David says, “I knew well enough what that meant, but I knew well too, that with my father in his present mood, it would happened whether I told or not. I set my jaw,

Throughout the book Sophie had an exponential effect on David development even when not present. Firstly, when David meets meets Sophie and learns about Sophie’s supplementary toe, David accepts Sophie for who she is. “ It was all twisted and puffy - I didn't even notice then that it had more than the usual amount of toes...” (Wyndham 9). This is critical to David's development as it influenced him to ignore the rules of the uneducated town of Waknuk. Secondly, when Sophie is a suspected deviant David helps her run away to the fringes evading the law. “I managed to find some candles and light them,and when I had blown up the fire and put some more on, that helped to make the place seem less lonely.” (49). In this quote David is trying to make the house seem occupied so the people of Waknuk do not get suspicious. This is imperative as for the first time in his life David rebelled against the rules