Themes

THEMES

OTHERNESS

The central theme that drives the story of “The Chrysalids” forward is the idea of “otherness” and the negativity that is applied to those viewed as the “other”. The ancestors of the people of Waknuk had survived “Tribulation” which is not directly identified but alluded to as a nuclear war or disaster. Throughout the generations they have been brainwashed by their leaders who use their surviving religious text such as “Nicholson's Repentances” to identify any living thing with a physical deviation from the “norm” as an abomination. The people who deviate are labelled as “mutants” and scorned upon with great intensity by the idealised pure humans of Waknuk. Even the slightest physical divergence (as with Sophie Wender’s sixth toe) from the perceived “true image of God” will render upon the deviant absolute condemnation, banishment to the “Fringes” or death. Crops and animals born outside the dictated perceptions of normality are also labelled as an offense and had to be burned or killed.

THE POWER AND WEAKNESS OF KEEPING SECRETS

The scriptures however, did not prepare the people of Waknuk for the deviations in the mutants that are not physically identifiable. This is made apparent when it is revealed that David Strorm, his sister Petra and several other young citizens of Waknuk have developed telepathic abilities, a very powerful deviation from the “norm”. They are able to keep it secret for a prolonged period but ultimately they are exposed and must flee Waknuk for their survival. David and his fellow telepaths find themselves identified as the “other” and face the same persecution which was previously relegated to those with physical abnormalities. The story and the idea of the other is completely flipped with the introduction of the “woman from Sealand”, who oversees the combined execution of the people of Waknuk as well as the people of the Fringes. To the “Sealanders” they identify the peoples of Labrador, Waknuk and the Fringes as less evolved or the “others”. Their solution to avoid future confrontation with these lowly creatures is total obliteration. David, Petra and the surviving telepaths again find themselves among the superior race at the end of the book, they are not the others but the “ones”.

EVOLUTION/CHANGE IS NECESSARY

The people of Waknuk held the view that they are the perfection of humanity and are superior to the mutants. They have been extremely resistant to change and have remained developmentally static as a civilization. The unofficial leader of this fervour is Joseph Strorm, who vehemently defends his dogma by condemning his own son and daughter when their telepathic powers are exposed.  Instead of embracing the usefulness of David and Petra’s abilities, he hunts them, clearly showing his denial of evolution/ change as a positive.

The “woman from Sealand” poses the alternative view in her speech, revealing that David and the other telepaths are in fact the superior humans and are much more evolved than the other citizens of Waknuk, Labrador and the Fringes. She asserts that there would be an inevitable conflict between their more advanced species and the less evolved peoples. Her justification for their destruction is boldly evident from this quote "In loyalty to their kind they cannot tolerate our rise; in loyalty to our kind, we cannot tolerate their obstruction."