Chrysalids Essay Skeleton

Science-fiction is a common book genre that appeals to every reader. The Chrysalids is a novel that has many characteristics that make it a science-fiction novel. John Wyndham's ‘’The Chrysalids’’ is of science- fiction genre because the story is realistic and logical, there are futuristic elements and it sends messages to society.

A. The Chrysalids is realistic and logical novel.

1. It’s the life after a nuclear attack in North America

1.1. Waknuk is considered to be geologically in Atlantic Canada. Wyndham's inspiration was the events of the Cold War. Logically, if the Soviets were to attack the United States with a nuclear weapon. The Badlands would be considered the United States and Ontario. The Fringes would be Québec and where communities like Waknuk existed would be in Atlantic Canada.

2. People discriminating one another throughout the book.

2.1. The book emphasizes on how Deviations are different from their society's vision of the norm. It was made clear from the start of the book that they are not accepted in the religious community of Waknuk. The inspector tells David ''Well, every part of the definition is as important as any other; and if a child doesn’t come within it, then it isn’t human, and that means it doesn’t have as soul. It is not in the image of God, it is an imitation, and in the imitations, there is always some mistake. Only God produces perfection, so although deviations may look like us in many ways, they cannot be really human. They are something quite different'' (Wyndham, 23 ). There is an issue of discrimination that is still present in every society, therefore making the story realistic and logical.

3. This book may have been the author imagining the outcome of the Cold War.

3.1 The novel is set centuries after an attack that ruined everything. This may be the future that Wyndham has imagined if a nuclear attack actually happened.

B. A science-fiction novel should contain a number of messages that the author is trying to pass onto the reader.

1. Change is inevitable if people refuse to change they will stay stuck in time.

1.1. The Sealand lady says that if Old People don't change, they will be the only ones who don't and they will stick with their ideas until they die. ''“The Old People brought down Tribulation and were broken into fragments by it. Your father and his kind are a part of those fragments. They have become history without being aware of it. They are determined, still that there is a final form to defend: soon they will attain the stability they strive for, in the only form it is granted—a place among the fossils.” (Wyndham, 198)

2. The message of discrimination is very clear throughout the book.

2.1. The book has many cases where Deviations are mistreated and executed for being different. For example, the girls getting caught and tortured, the many cases where deviations risk their lives and run into the Fringes to avoid torture, humiliation, and death.

3. Evolution is also

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