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The Role Of Minor Characters In The Chrysalids

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The Role of the Characters in The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

In the novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, several minor characters are presented to help convey the themes of the text. Alan Irvin, Sophie Wender, and Axel Morton are several of the minor characters, who are presented in the novel, that assist in the communication of themes to the reader. These characters help develop themes such as intolerance, and the nature of a closed society. John Wyndham also employs various literary techniques including personalisation, and development of character depth, which are imposed upon the characters to better convey the themes of the novel.

Axel Morton is a well-travelled person who has seen much more than most of the people who lived …show more content…

The theme of the nature of a closed society refers to the fact that people who live in such communities aren't able to question what they are taught as they are they are deprived of the knowledge which travelling and other people can teach them.

When reading the novel it is clear that Axel identifies with the text's criticisms of intolerance. Axel disagrees with the intolerance toward things different from the normal, as he himself is not physically the same as others in Waknuk. Axel Morton however is not a deviant because his abnormality was obtained after birth in a sailing accident. "He was standing in the customary way, with much of his weight upon the thick stick he used because his leg had been wrongly set at sea". This quote reveals Axel Morton's difference from the norm, and although it is not a huge variation, he still had to cope with that difference, and his inability to perform certain tasks that others could do. Although this difference from the norm was not deviational, he was still able to sympathise with true deviants, as he knew what it was like to be different to others around him. His difference form the norm was not the only reason for which he sympathised with deviants, but his knowledge also of other places and people, allowed him to have an open mind about certain viewpoints, which others did

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