Power In The Chrysalids

The Chrysalids is a book full of hatred, unethical behaviour and evil. The evil taking place in Waknuk is the intolerance of those who are different . Of all the characters in the Waknuk society, Joseph Strorm is the most evil. Due to his unethical beliefs, religious perversion and hateful violence, Joseph Strorm is the epitome of evil in the Waknuk society.

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.

Adversities are hard to avoid in one’s life; everyone has to face them at one point in their life. The effect it has on a person’s life can change their perspective towards the world. When problems arise individuals traditionally become stunned to such difficult situations that they face. The adversity becomes a brick wall that is challenging to break down. An individual's true character in addition to their nature is revealed when they face a conflict in their life or a challenge. In the novel, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham has his protagonist David go through some conflicts, which he overcomes throughout the story. David struggles to find a life where people would appreciate his uniqueness, not sameness which has an impact on who he thinks

Secondly, John Wyndham's novel The Chrysalids shows the consequences of going against the beliefs of closed society through major conflicts in the novel. Firstly, Joseph became enraged and accuses David for wishing to have another hand. Wyndham writes, "you- my own son- were calling upon the devil to give you another hand!"(26). To explain, this creates a conflict between David and his dad, Joseph Strorm. David’s father is a strict believer in the Waknukian faith.

This meand he is being selfish and makes perfection farther away. Secondly, Joseph does not tolerate people thinking outside the box. This character responded the following to his when he was trying to tie his tie, but could not do it, so he said that if he had another hand he could tie it all right: “You- my own son- calling upon the Devil to give you another hand!” This shows hoe Joseph Strorm wants everything as it is written and he does no encourages creativity. Now in day, creativity is needed to invent new identical things, and this things are the ones that get closer to perfection. Thirdly, David also shows the image he has about his father. In one of David’s dreams, Joseph was killing a friend David had made called Sophie, just because she had 6 toes on her feet. “I explained my dream of my father treating Sophie as he did one of the farm offences…” David said. Joseph Strorm seeks so much for perfection, that he is willing to kill people who have small defects. People who want to kill show the poor love they have for everyone else, and a society without love will never reach perfection in any way. To have a society where everything is perfect, a lot of values are needed, and Waknuk had a clear lack of them.

3. David’s father and grandfather are very alike. Grandfather’s principles and virtues were shared with his son and they had very much in common, though the one difference was that Joseph Strorm was more legalistic.

In the book The Chrysalids, “the image of God” is essential in Waknuk, if you want to live well. What is “the image of God”? “The image of God” consists of one head, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears, a neck, a body with proportional two arms that have five fingers, and proportional two legs that have five toes. If you’re not “the image of God” you’re very vulnerable you’ll be sent to the Badlands and suffer, there is a scarce amount of food and resources you will not live long. The characters that were vulnerable were Sophie due to her six toes, David’s telepathy and Aunt Harriet desire to keep her deviate baby.

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.

David’s dad strongly disapproved his son to even think about being a mutant. It was a serious sin to want to be or think to be a “human” imaged against God’s will. It was obvious that the Waknuks were injustice to the mutants.

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.

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.

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,

David Strorm is the protagonist in the book, "The Chrysalids." He is a telepath in a dystopian era where genetic mutations are believed to be works of the devil. His father, Joseph Strorm, is a strict religious leader in their community, strongly against mutants like David. He doesn't know about David's mutation, but if he did, he would surely banish him like they do all deviants, even though David is his son. These two characters, despite them having different beliefs, can be similar. David and Joseph Strorm are the same because they both think they are doing the right thing and are both seen as leaders. However, they are different because, while David accepts deviants, Joseph is strongly against them.

King David proved to be a wise and effective leader for Israel. However, it can be said that his son, Solomon, made several mistakes during his reign. Many of his problems originated from his Temple, a stucture that was conceptualized by his father to be a deterrent against the paganism, which infested the land. Yet, it seemed as if several of Solomon’s policies actually encouraged paganism rather than deter it.