Religion In The Chrysalids By John Wyndham

Religion can be very important in people’s lives, but for some, religion can cloud their vision of what is wrong and what is right. In the novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, the protagonist’s father, Joseph, abuses his religious power. Joseph Strorm forces his religion on others, he uses his religion to destroy anything that is different and controls his life to a dangerous point. Therefore, Joseph Strom’s religious theories are seriously flawed. Throughout the novel, Joseph tries to force his religion onto a large number of people. He spends his Sunday’s at church as a preacher, where he is able to communicate his religious thoughts to anyone who is attending. This could be dangerous because Joseph tends to have extremely harmful and destructive views that many people do not

Every hour of every day, Joseph revolves his life around The Bible and Nicholson’s Repentances. All around the Strorm household are quotes and passages from these two holy books. David narrates about all of these sayings, “artistically burnt into [wooden panels]. The one on the left of the fireplace read: ONLY THE IMAGE OF GOD IS MAN.” (18) Along with this one, there are many others covering the walls of Joseph’s home. This would not be so horrible, except that all of the passages are about how horrible mutants are and the desire of them being gone. Also, Joseph has become so passionate with religion, where he has reached a point that has him believing that anything not within the perfect visions of his religion is a sin. After injuring his hand, David exclaims that he could have fixed it himself, if he had a third hand. Joseph bursts with anger because the thought had even crossed David’s mind. He can not even tolerate an expression that goes against the true image, very much so that he abuses his own son for it. Consequently, the religion begins to control his life and makes him a horrible