John Wyndham’s Warnings to Society In the middle of the twentieth century, many novel-catastrophes were written. The Cold War and the associated arms race frightened and inspired the best writers, including John Wyndham. What did those writers want to tell us, the future generations? Can it be their warning to modern society? The John Wyndham’s novel The Chrysalids was published in 1955, just a decade after World War II and the first uses of nuclear weapons. John Wyndham used the future apocalyptic theme as a warning about the continuing development of nuclear weapons. The nuclear disaster that wiped out the "Old People" is a strict warning from the author to humanity regarding what can happen to us if we continue research into nuclear weaponry. …show more content…
There are countries where humans are still judged by color of skin, their sexual or religious orientation. The recent violence in Myanmar and the case of gays from Chechnya are just few examples to name. What I like about The Chrysalids is that the author tries to teach that there are events when people must adapt to new conditions, but they do not have the right to lose humanity at the same time. Another warning included in John Wyndham's book is to show how fear and religion can be used to control the society. In The Chrysalids the residents of Waknuk are scared of mutations because they think that mutants are imitations of humans sent by the devil, and that deviations will reproduce until the whole of Waknuk is deviated. As an example, North Koreans are willing to die for their country even if they know that they are starving because their regime tells them that if democracy comes they will suffer even more. The novel The Chrysalids is full of warnings for today's society: the bias that leads to intolerance of others, the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, and the way society can be manipulated by fear and religion. There are many warnings in novel but so far we don't seem to listen … even though that according to Darwin’s theory the humans should