Discrimination In The Chrysalids

Have you ever felt like an outcast, or as an outsider to society? This may be due race, health, gender or even personality. According to the oxford dictionary, marginalization is the “treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral”. I have always thought of it as a phenomenon where people are cast out of society or seen as powerless. This kind of treatment is an example of a person versus society conflict.

It is a primary psychological driver of children and young people to ‘belong’. Young people are compelled to identify with a particular group to satisfying their need for belonging, even if the group is at odds with another group.

Change, the essential of life, it can be tranquility or turbulence, change has no set goal, it occurs all around us without us knowing. In the novel, The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham, change is the major problem in the society even though it is hidden in different aspects of life. To the society, change is their enemy, but it is themselves who are their enemies without knowing it. A society that fails to realize the inevitability of change will indubitably agonize.

Isolation is seen everywhere and it generally pushes the human conscience to extremes. As shown in The Chrysalids novel and The Outsiders movie, isolation reveals that human beings can be very strict and judgmental towards certain social groups; however, in the future, it can lead to constant war and the extinction of mankind. As depicted in The Chrysalids by John Wyndam, Waknuk is a community brainwashed by tribulation that causes the citizens to believe that being normal is the main focus in life. Similarly, in The Outsiders, people that come from a lower economic status were isolated and they were not accepted. Both communities becomes an unfriendly environment totally narrow-minded of differences, which causes judgment, discrimination,

“We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us and wealth classified us.”(Minds). The word human is defined as “of, relating to, or characteristic of humans”(Webster Human). This definition gives us a perfect example of why the meaning of this term is so ambiguous. Debates over what truly defines a human have been going on for decades. The disputes over this have ranged from Frankenstein’s monster to Data the android from Star Trek. The question still remains, what truly defines a human? More importantly, can this be defined for us by society?

John Wyndham wrote the “The Chrysalids”, as a science fiction novel, in post-war England during 1955. The atrocities of the past decade, the Holocaust in Europe, the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and the beginnings of the Cold War between the Americans and the Russians, had affected the whole world. Although Wyndham wrote this as a science fiction novel, it can also be interpreted as a social commentary about the effects of war and mass destruction on humanity. Similar atrocities of ignorance and bigotry, hypocrisy and inhumane acts are evident in the novel as well as in society past and present.

The views of change in Waknuk and Zealand are conflicting. While one embraces change and thinks that it is essential in life the other frowns upon change and believes that it is the devil working. In the sci-fi novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, David and other children have telepathic abilities, but living in Waknuk, a rural Christian town, deviations are outlawed, causing the group to keep their abilities to themselves. Petra, the strongest member of the group, begins to communicate with a far away source in a city called Zealand where telepathic communication is put on a pedestal. The group begins learning new ideas regarding change in Zealand and realizes that Zealand might be their only place to escape to. In John Wyndham’s novel The Chrysalids fear of change affects Waknuk and Zealand because the Waknuk society is built around change being unacceptable due to firm religious views while the Zealand society has embodied change as it is a necessity to them.

Many factors affect the rise and fall of nations, but it is conformity that plays an integral part in the prosperity of a community. It has such devastating effects on its followers that one cannot comprehend how dangerous it might end up being. The Chrysalids, a post-apocalyptic novel by John Wyndham, exhibits the significance of diversity and change. It reveals how compliance and blind acceptance of traditions can cause permanent damages to a society, such as isolating individuals and tearing families apart.

“If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies how very different our ideals of beauty would be.” This quote is ideal, but throughout history, society is so preoccupied with the “perfect image” that we ignore and isolate the people who do not qualify. Which unfortunately are the people who need the most compassion and care. This essay will support my thesis statement which is discrimination a serious issue that is relevant today, in our modern times and People who experience discrimination cannot live meaningful lives, to their full potential. Therefore we cannot expect things to get better, unless we change are attitude towards this controversial matter.

Ostracism is the product of group exclusivity, occurring in all circumstances in which a unified and cohesive faction, family, or society elects to exclude an individual. This occasion for various internal self-inflicted or external, predetermined reasons can determine the character of an individual catalysing a different perception of the value of society and autonomous purpose within that society. The role and struggle of the outsider is integral and reoccurring through Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones. Ostracism in all its repercussions, reasons and situational milieus is explored predominantly but not exclusively through the Jasper Jones, ‘Mad’ Jack Lionel and

Does the Genetic YA formula really a formula to determine if a book success or not? There are many books that follows the genetic YA formula and it is a good book. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham is a popular book for young adults. The Chrysalids were written not long after World War II and in the midst of the Cold War. The story's background is related to the real world when the author write this book. Most of the book follows The Generic YA Fiction Formula,which is a formula for a success book, but not for every novel. How does this novel fit The Generic YA Fiction Formula, and what is the actual formula for The Chrysalids?

This drawing represents the theme of the deviations of Zealand versus the true image of Waknuk. In the book of Chrysalids, Waknuk is a place where the people think they are pure and perfect, just like the Old People. On the other hand, Zealand is the opposite; people there have what the Waknuk people call “deviations”. If anyone is seen with any physical defects, he or she would be called a mutant, or blasphemy, and would not considered an image of God, and therefore sent to the Fringes.

Being identified with a group can shape one’s thoughts on theirself, and what is expected of them within their society. Some things that in one’s mind seem so normal and expected may be far from

It is common to see, in both literature and in real life, people judging those who are different than people around them. This is a universal idea, and is present in the novels of Age of Innocence, where we are introduced to the glamorous lifestyle of the elite New York society, and also in Ironweed, which focuses on those suffering from the effects of the Great Depression. People often think of themselves as superior to those who do not follow social norms of society, as seen with Ellen’s forced isolations, Helen refusing to do things that are “below” her, and finally in my own life, when I travel to India and am judged based on my own differences caused by growing up with a different societal rules and codes.

We as humans tend to relate to those that are similar to us, and tend to alienate those that we deem as different than us. Whether it is by race, gender, culture, or religion, it is something that is almost always present in human interactions, and often times can be completely subconscious. In our textbook Interpersonal Communication by Kory Floyd, an ingroup is defined as “A group of people with whom one identifies.” An outgroup is conversely defined as “A group of people whom one does not identify.” Henri Tajfel first coined this terminology while he was working to devise his social identity theory. These ideas of classifying people into ingroups and outgroups can lead to many