Symbolism In The Chrysalids

557 Words2 Pages

The Waknuk society, after the devastating war, have to re-build and remodel the societal views and actions that have perished with previous generations. having lost almost all known ways of living, follows the only two books left to form their ever-growing society: the Bible and a book called Nicholson’s Repentences. These two books causes the surviving society to be very fundamentally Christian, and very strict about Christian laws. The so called founder of the Waknuk society is Elias Strorm, David’s grandfather, who is only mentioned in the book for he is dead. Elias is very religious and very influential to the people of Waknuk. "Respect was frequently on his lips, and fear of the devil constantly in his heart" (Wyndham, 16). His responsibility in guiding the Waknuk society is passed down to his son, Joseph Strorm, who is very religious in following the two sacred books mentioned before. Joseph’s strong beliefs taught by his father, alike nearly all of the community, leads him to see very little room for acceptance of those who …show more content…

In The Chrysalids case, the lasting effect takes its form in the deformation of plants and animals from thenuclear radiation, called Deviations. Deformities also occur in humans, but these occurences are called Blasphemies. Since the Waknuk community is so crucially religious, their way of dealing with these supposed troubles is by ceromoniously killing or destroying the plants and animals that have any kind of difference from the image God has made for they should look like, whether it be size, shape or colour. When it comes to humans with differences that are noticable visually, they are sent to The Fringes. In the Fringes, there is barely any food and water, and it is located distant to the Waknuk community. For anyone in the Fringes to gain food or weapons for hunting, they must raid the Waknuk community, and hope that they are not caught when doing

Open Document