The Chrysalids is set in the future after a devastating global nuclear war. David, the young hero of the novel, lives in a tight-knit community of religious and genetic fundamentalists, who exist in a state of constant alert for any deviation from what they perceive as the norm of God's creation, deviations broadly classified as 'offenses' and 'blasphemies.'
Offenses consist of plants and animals that are in any way unusual, and these are publicly burned to the accompaniment of the singing of hymns. Blasphemies are human beings; ones who show any sign of abnormality, however trivial. They are banished from human society, cast out to live in the wild country where, as the authorities say, nothing is reliable and the devil does his work. David grows up surrounded by admonitions: KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD; WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT.
At first he hardly questions them, though he is shocked when his sternly pious father and rigidly compliant mother force his aunt to forsake her baby. It is a while before he realizes that he too is out of the ordinary, in possession of a power that could doom him to death or introduce him to a new, hitherto-unimagined world of freedom.
Review (Spoilery):
The Chrysalids was an interesting novel to read even though it was not always pleasant as it explored many difficult issues. Nevertheless, it was definitely gripping as I wished to find out what would happen to the central characters.
The Chrysalids, which is set in a post-apocalyptic world after a catastrophic nuclear disaster has taken place many years before, relates the events in the life of David Strorm and his fellow telepaths in a society where deviating from the norm of strictly regulated physical features and overall appearance had dire consequences.
It is related in first person which provides instant access to the narrator’s thoughts, feelings and impressions. David, as an individual from a society where deviating from the prescribed norm, was inevitably affected by this attitude despite having a telepathic ability which was definitely not ordinary.
One memorable incident which was hard to stomach was when David’s aunt asked his mother to swap babies for a few days so that she could get her daughter certified as normal as she had a slight defect and was cruelly refused. Both women had previously had two abnormal births and three abnormal births would result in the mother being thrown out of the house. Wyndham uses incidents such as these to highlight the hypocritical attitudes of people in any society.
As a reader, I cannot help but feel angry at David for Sophie’s banishment to the Fringes and his failure to help her in any way after this point and especially when he meets her again many years later. However, disappointing though it is, I think David’s attitude of moving on and mostly forgetting about his friend after her forced exile was very realistically portrayed by Wyndham.
In David’s society of Waknuk, plants and animals which have mutated from the norm are considered to be offensive and are burnt, but humans who have mutated even slightly such as a person who has six toes rather than five, such as Sophie, are considered to be blasphemies and consequently are sterilised and banished from the society. The use of sterilisation in the novel is eerie as it is reminiscent of occasions in history when disabled people were sterilised to prevent procreation.
The novel had a good, well-constructed plot and the suspense is maintained successfully till the climax. I found the ending quite disappointing as I prefer novels to be neatly rounded off with all loose ends tied. Furthermore, the people who come to the aid of David and his friends are no better than the prejudiced people they are striving to escape. Despite this, it was still a worthwhile read as it is one of the classics in dystopian fiction. I would recommend this book to fans of post-apocalyptic fiction as it deals with society and psychology.
Rating: 3/5
Concept: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
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