The Chrysalids

554 Words2 Pages

The Chrysalids

A society is an organized group of individuals. In the novel, The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham the Sealand society and Waknuk society are both similar and different in the way they live. The Sealand and Waknuk societies are both egocentric and ignorant, but the Sealand society accepts changes, where the Waknuk society does not accept change and would rather stay the same.

Both the Sealand and Waknuk societies experience egocentricism. The Sealand society believes that Waknuk and other societies are uncivilized. An example of this is when the Sealand woman suggests that Waknuk is primitive and David and the thought-shape group are close to being primitive too. The Sealand society also shows eocentricism when they come for Petra, David and Rosalind because they kill everybody who is unable to send thought-shapes. The Waknuk society is egocentric because they banish people who are different to the Fringes or destroy and kill crops and animals because they are offences. Another example that shows Waknuk is egocentric is that they believe they are the “true image” and all other societies are primitive and the work of the devil. Not only do these two societies show egocentricism, they are also ignorant.

These two societies are ignorant because they do not know a lot about the world. The Sealand society was unaware of how huge the world really was when they came for David, Rosalind and Petra. They think that the “true image” should be able to send thought-shapes. The Waknuk society was unaware of what the world really looked like. They were afraid of what was beyond the Badlands, so therefore they did not know much about the rest of the world. The people of Waknuk did not know that the people of the Fringes believed in God. An example of this is when David is talking to a Fringes man, “God’s little game of patience I reckon it is, but He certainly takes His time over it.’ ‘God?’ I said doubtfully. ‘They’ve always taught us that it’s the Devil that rules in the Fringes.’” pg. 153. Although the Sealand society and Waknuk society seem similar, they are also different.

The Sealand society wants change where the Waknuk society wants to stay the same. Unlike Waknuk, Sealand does not want to be like the Old People. This is shown when the Sealand woman tells David, “We are the New People – your kind of people.

Show More
Related

  • Thesis Statement For The Chrysalids By John Wyndham

    94 Words  | 1 Pages

    The characters in John Wyndham’s novel, The Chrysalids may believe that belief and principle are taught, but it does not necessarily mean it is correct.

    Read More

  • Different Points of View and Beliefs in "The Chrysalids"

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just because people within a family are blood related and living together, it does not mean they are identical in their beliefs and actions. In some cases the generations of people in the family have the same way looking at things and understand the same sets of rules and believe in same kind of moral behavior. Unlike that, in the novel, “The Chrysalids”, the protagonist, David Strorm and his father, Joseph, the antagonist have very different characters and conflicting points of view.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Anthem

    319 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the book anthem the societies are a collective. Meaning they work as one. “One for all and all for one”. In this essay I will be comparing a collective society to an individual society. We live in a society supporting individualism.

    Read More

  • Basseri and The Nuer

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many cultures throughout the world, which may be far apart and yet still have similarities. Two of those such cultures, the Basseri, that live in Iran, and the Nuer, whom live in Sudan, have their differences, but also have some similarities. Many of the differences and similarities come from their subsistence strategies and the social and political organization of their societies. With the regions of the world, both the Basseri and the Nuer live in, they’ve had to adapt to the environment they live in along with the limitations imposed by that environment.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Hope In The Chrysalids

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despair is evident throughout the book, more so from Waknuk citizens oppressing those who are different. “Katherine, a girl from a neighboring farm who could produce thought shapes similar to David’s was found out and taken to the inspector, where, she was ”broken”. Sally, who was also taken with Katherine to the inspector, said to the rest of the thought shapers, “They’ve broken Katherine…Oh Katherine darling… [t]hey’re torturing her…She’s all clouded now. She can’t hear us.” Her thoughts dissolved into shapeless distress.” (Wyndham 130). Clearly Katherine had been severely hurt enough to reveal her ability of producing thought shapes which would put all the thought shapers in danger and tortured enough that Sally sends distress showing how hopeless they indeed are. Furthermore when David found out his father was apart of the party coming to battle the Fringe people he is in sheer distress. He states, “ ‘Purity…’I said. ‘The will of the Lord. Honor thy father…Am I supposed to forgive him! Or try to kill him?’” (182). David is conflicted and rather flustered between his respect and love for his father yet as a deviant they are fighting for different sides and he knows either he or his father will die in the end. Additionally, during the battle itself, one of David’s most loyal friends parishes before his eyes. D...

    Read More

  • The Chrysalids - Role of Women

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    The women in Waknuk are also protective of their loved ones. While there are people like Mary Strorm who will follow everything her husband says and not question him or his religion at all, there are...

    Read More

  • The Chrysalids - Utopia or Dystopia ?

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    One could describe the novel "The Chrysalids" as a dystopian novel as apposed to utopian. The town in which David and the rest of shape-thinkers live is deffinatly not a utopia as well as the new land to which they move, Sealand.

    Read More

  • Iks by Lewis Thomas

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the “Iks” by Lewis Thomas, the author describes how a small tribe of hunters from northern Uganda called the Iks tries to survive after being forced by the government to give up their homes and living area and move to a poor hills and become farmers. Society is extremely harsh towards the Iks and this causes them to rebel and become abnormal. The Iks were a bunch of selfish people who only cared about themselves, left elders to starve and die, and did not cared about the children. They didn’t share things with each other and they find joy in the other’s misfortunes. Anthropologist were sent to observe the Iks, an anthropologist described the Iks to be ill- mannered fashion. Over the two years he had studied there, he was constantly being harassed and disgraced. After he had published his book, he wrote how he despised the Iks. Thomas then went on to say that he now sees similar behaviors implying on nations and cities compared to the Iks making points saying that the Iks share common characteristics of greed, cruezl, and selfish just like different nations fighting against each other.

    Read More

  • Use of Persuasive Argument in 12 Angry Men

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macionis, John J.. Society: the basics. 12th ed., Annotated instructor's ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2013. Print.

    Read More

  • Part II - Colonies Quiz

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society is a word that can mean so many different things, and it can involve so many different people. Like today, all of the colonies were contained of many different people, or they were diverse. Although those people may not have been from that many divergent areas, that doesn’t mean that they would not run a whole group of humankind in a whole contrastive way. This can be verified just by reading about the New England colonies. Varying areas in New England (Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony-Boston, Providence, Connecticut, and New Hampshire) all took their ways of life, or culture, in a completely discrete fashion.

    Read More

  • -The Chrysalids-

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today’s society is accepting of differences, where as in the Chrysalids if you had any type of difference that was visible, you didn’t get a certificate, you were sterilized and sent to the fringes. Conformity was the only way of having control over the people of the Waknuck society and they didn’t want mutants or deviations to take over. Another story about mutants is portrayed in the movie X-Men First Class, all the normal people are afraid of them. They are afraid because of what they can and could possible do and they had no way of controlling them without making them come out of hiding. They would have to tell the government what they could do and the government would then decide whether or not they were too dangerous for the public. The Waknuck society was not into have individualism, just like in the Hunger Games. In the movie people were separated into districts and every year to remind them of why they were separated, they have one male and one female from each district between the ages 12-18 as tributes. This happens because of the rebellion Seventy-four years before and every year all twenty-four tributes are to fight to the death until one lone victor remains. In the Chrysalids they are to keep to their jobs in their district and to report any deviants. They control conformity through and by historical beliefs, for example the only two book’s left from the “Old People” were the revised Bible to tell them what the true image really is and the book Repentances. Furthermore the Chrysalids is about how conformity after devastation may not be the greatest idea.

    Read More

  • The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    In John Wyndham's The Chrysalids, the repercussions of the static community of Waknuk and the community that the Zealanders built, that is willing to change, are derived from the influence of the Old People. After the tribulations, the people of Waknuk did not accept change they felt as though the Old People's ways were best. Their goal was to reach the same standard of civilization, but that was only achievable if they lived exactly how the Old People did. However the Zealanders believed that change was necessary in order to live life. This choice that both communities made affected their growth as a society. The Waknuk community remained static whereas the Zealanders advanced their society in respect to technology.

    Read More

  • German Ideology Summary

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    a large group of people who live together in an organized way, making decisions about how to do things and sharing the work that needs to be done. All the people in a country, or in several similar countries, can be referred to as a society."Society Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary." Society Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Cambridge Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Genesis And Egyptian Creation Myths

    418 Words  | 1 Pages

    While the Hebrews and Egyptians creation theories bear resemblances and differences, the study and comparison of both the Egyptian myths and the biblical account allow us to comprehend the religious views of ancient civilizations in a better light. One may come to the conclusion that the Hebrews were influenced by the cultures of Egyptians by creating similarities in their own beliefs, or by drawing a line of defense of what is in their terms true, by separating from the mass ideals of the Egyptians and establishing distinct

    Read More

  • Creole Society And The Social Theory Of The Caribbean

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    A society is a body of people that are characterized by culture and population among other things. Through research it was found that there are three theories that can explain the formation of a Caribbean society. These three theories are Creole, Plantation and Plural society and they all were able to explain a lot about the Caribbean society over years. However when it comes to the Caribbean today one theory seems to stand out more than the rest.

    Read More

More about The Chrysalids

Open Document