What Is The Theme Of The Chrysalids Relevant Today

Themes in The Chrysalids that are Relevant Today

In 1955, John Wyndham published a book entitled The Chrysalids. It is one among many books he would publish in his lifetime. Inspired by the science fiction genre, Wyndham creates a dystopian future in which the world is reclaiming itself from a nuclear holocaust. However, Wyndham is less concerned with the actual atomic event and focuses more on a society that tries to make sense of the world that is left. It is a biased and prejudiced society that uses just two texts to govern its population. David Strorm narrates his own story of growing up in a place called Waknuk and describes his difficulties reconciling the rules of his time with the things he observes. This society has strict rules about

The novel takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where most of the progress of today has been lost. This novel has regressed into a primitive society with harsh beliefs and no tolerance for anyone different from themselves. Wyndham's word choice plays a strong role in the theme of time. The word, chrysalid can either mean, a shell that's been discarded, or a transitional state. It can represent something in the past or the present, since Wyndham never actually uses this word in the novel we don't know in which context he was referring. The title expresses the repetitive and cyclical nature of time through its two definitions. If David and the others who can think together are chrysalids transitioning into a new society, they are also leaving a chrysalid of their previous society behind. In Waknuk, the people believe that time progresses linearly toward a better, more moral future. Their goal is to rebuild society in God's image to avoid the tribulation that happened to the societies before them. To accomplish this they must rid the world and their society of all deviations and live by the word of The Bible and The Repentances. In the nov,el the Old People are referred to quite a lot. This demonstrates that they, as a society, look into the past and have a plan for their future. “For it is clear, boy, that however wonderful the Old People were, they were not too wonderful to make mistakes'' (Wyndham 79).

Waknuk operates under a set of rules and laws that discriminates against anything that is different from God's true image. Those who look any different from the description of god's true image, “And God decreed that man should have one body, one head, two arms and two legs: that each arm should be jointed in two places and end in one hand: that each hand should have four fingers and one thumb: that each finger should bear a flat finger-nail.” (Wyndham 10-11) would be sterilized and cast to the fringes. The novel makes a clear statement on the fact that someone's looks cannot determine their personality. Racism in The Chrysalids was based on people looking different from the normal, in today's society some people still think that way. Racial disputes, as well as racial profiling, happen every day in this world. Unlike in this novel society does not cast individuals out into a separate part of their country specifically for the fact that they look different from themselves. “Only the image of god is man” (Wyndham 18) a quote that means that if you don’t look exactly like god then ur not “proper” so you need to die. This ties into the story because the people of Waknuk treat the other townspeople differently if they are not a picture of man. This is an ongoing situation throughout the story. One example of racism in the Chrysalids is when the people of Waknuk were talking about the people of the island and since