Intolerance in the Chrysalids by John Wyndham Essay

In the movie, Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton explores that it can be hard to fit in if you’re different. He does this through the three different characters, Edward, Peg and Esmeralda who all have their own reasons for not fitting. While Edward is classified as an outsider because of how he looks, Esmeralda is classified as an outsider because of her beliefs and Peg is an outsider because of how she acts compared to the other townspeople who are gossipy. As soon as Esmeralda is introduced the audience she is depicted as different from the other bright, colourful towns people.

Until an individual addresses an example, the things one learns through rote as a child mean very little. Primarily, in John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids, David Strorm expresses the journey from innocence to experience. It is crucial to recognize certain deviations that reject the Waknuk community’s beliefs. Also, the characters’ thoughts and concerns toward such beliefs are equally important, for they strongly illustrate the journey from innocence to experience. The consideration of a growth in their understanding about Waknuk and the world beyond is important as well. For these reasons, the youth in The Chrysalids, specifically David, clearly displays the journey from innocence to experience.

Being different is okay. But do our societies accept these differences? Not only does the rejection of differences happen today, but has for the past many years. As we all know, in Waknuk, people are devoted to the True Image of Man, which isolates David from not just his community but also his family. The Waknukians consider mutants a threat, as they represent the devil in humans. As the Inspector had stated, “The Devil sends Deviations among us to weaken us and tempt us away from Purity. Sometimes he is clever enough to make a near-perfect imitation, so we have to always be on the look-out for the mistake he has made” (55). Furthermore, David has to hide his true self and he must live in fear, first for himself and Sophie, and then for Petra and the rest of the group. Besides his mutation being a challenge of his it also becomes dangerous

In places like Waknuk people are terrified of being different in anyway in the Image of God. To begin, David, who is the son of Joseph Strorm, is praying in the church for dead Aunt Harriet and he is overwhelmed by what will happen to him if someone figures out that he is different. “Please, please, God, let me be like other people. I don’t want to be different. Won’t you make it so that when I wake up in the morning I’ll be just like everyone else, please, God, please!” (Wyndham 76). This quote tells the reader that even David is scared of being different. His fear was caused by Aunt Harriet’s death because of her child’s small deviation. He finally comes to the understanding of how much trouble he can get into because of his own deviation. Another example of people fearing the difference is shown in the beginning of this novel when David explains that children who do not behave well are frightened by their parents with the Fringes people. “In my father’s childhood mothers used to quieten and awe troublesome infants by threatening: ‘Be good now, or I’ll fetch Old Maggie from the Fringes to you. She’s got four eyes to watch you with, and four

Reading a book about where hate is shown for those who are different makes you realize that we ourselves, do not live in a much different society. Waknuk is a place where if anything abnormal appears along the lines of their definition of normal, the consequences could lead to as serious as death. “The Chrysalids” written by John Wyndham is a clear warning for today’s society portraying the same problems and deficiencies. All in all, the people of Waknuk face constant prejudice, intolerance, and ignorance. There is a relentless lack of compassion and the novel invites its readers to understand how fear can shape the hearts and manipulate society.

The novel The Chrysalids has many interesting parallels to our own time. The persecution of innocent people for a simple difference has happened many times throughout human history, and it still happens to this day. Such persecution is often due to racial differences or differences in religion, with one example being the executions of those who are of an ethnic or religious minority by fighters for an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (commonly known as ISIS). They are murdering thousands of Yazidis in particular, simply due to differences in ethnicity and religion. This is similar to the discrimination in Waknuk, with an unknown number of mutant children being murdered or left to die due to physical differences. Another parallel that exists is

In The Chrysalids, the majority of the characters have an intense and irrational dislike or fear of strangers and foreigners. Even the main character, David, who is in fact a mutant had prejudiced fears towards his first encounter with the fringes people. He expects them all to have a frightening, and disgusting appearance. Also, the villagers in Waknuk are so scared of mutants that they hang sayings on their wall. David declares, “The largest was the one on the back wall, hung to face the door which led to the yard. It reminded everyone who came in: WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT!” (12) In response, the citizens of Waknuk isolate themselves from deviations and mutations because they think that mutants are not considered pure and do not reflect the true image. Contrarily, people should not be punished or killed for not falling into a category or stereotype made by society. In the days of Old Jacob’s father, all deviations including humans, were burnt. Later, the society’s ideals lead to the destruction of their own community in the battle between the Fringe people and the Waknuk people. This proves how isolating a person from others causes violence, pain and war. Individuals have to learn the importance of believing in one’s own thoughts and not letting a controlling society decide one’s fate. Human beings should try to accept others and

David from his appearance and had little belief in him to do anything about the situation with

The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham is a novel that very clearly shows a corrupt society that demonstrates an irrational fear of deviations and offences to their beliefs. One irrational fear in this novel is the fear of those who are different or "Blastphomes" that don’t fir their true image of God. Another example of irrational fear from the novel is the fear of offences or mutated crops, and what they will bring upon the society of Waknuk. This novel shows many cases of unreasonable and illogical fears throughout the book.

‘So, because a few wishy-washy minds did not have enough resolution and faith, there were new laws about near-human deviations… they must be outlawed and driven into the Fringes, or, if they are infants, simply exposed there to take their chance – and that is supposed to be more merciful.” This can be compared with the X-men, where persons

Running away was not a split second decision. Sophie and her parents had been planning to run away at any given moment. Society prejudges Sophie without getting to know her. They do not feel empathetic toward her family. The disputes between society and the two characters transpire because of prejudiced opinions.

Ray Bradbury shows us that people with a difference are ostracised and hated with the example of how the children treat Margot differently for being different to them. He explains by using contrasting sensory imagery just how much just the way that a person acts can make them look different to everyone else and how much they stand out in a crowd. He is also implying to us that just because someone is different it doesn’t mean we have to exclude them just because that’s what normally happens because you might just cost them the joy for the next seven years to

Bravery, loyalty and leadership are humane qualities that are found in present society. However, in reality, these traits are inadequate and are found in very few people. In the novel, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, David, Michael, and Rosalind display humane qualities, regardless of the fears of their strict society. These natural qualities are non-existent in Waknuk, which is referred to as a Dystopia. These qualities are proven throughout the novel: David exhibits loyalty and courage, Michael demonstrates leadership, and Rosalind displays bravery.

Life associated with a strictly religious society is challenging, especially when dealing with judgmental and inequality actions shown towards others. In The Chrysalids, John Wyndham demonstrates that certain people are so attached to their religious thoughts and beliefs that they reject other’s opinions, not realizing the flaws of their theories. The society in The Chrysalids blindly resists to these changes by intolerating the abnormality, making the changes more difficult to achieve positive results in the community; thus one needs to embrace the imminent change instead of fearing it. To begin, the act of intolerance is significantly displayed in the society. More specifically,

There really is no true or perfect human image yet society these days expects people to look and act a certain way and people can be very cruel if a person does not meet these expectations. In the novel The Chrysalids written by John Wyndham and in reality presently, many human rights are violated and these rights will continue to be violated as long as humans exist and people continue to be cruel. In the town of Waknuk, certain people do not follow the human rights but instead they violate them. Throughout the novel, many characters rights are being violated such as the abuse and torture David faces, the intolerance towards woman like Sophie and Petra for being different.