This book reinforces my love for dystopian novels.
To begin, I wondered why its called The Chrysalids? I found my answers in a comment for this book on goodreads.com. “A chrysalis is a stage of development for an insect from one form to another, usually juvenile to adult. So I am guessing Chrysalid is a (invented) word that echos this process. This book is about changing states or evolution of species, predominantly human in this narrative. The constant changing of life and natural hierarchy. In nature nothing is static. Most of Wyndhams novels and short stories seem to flow with this in mind.”
This is a story about David Strorm, the telepathic protagonist and his telepathic friends. They live in a rural region called Labrador, and the district Waknuk is ruled by fascistic religious zealots. In this post apocalypse world the “Tribulation” (nuclear holocaust) has caused wide spread mutations among all life forms, and mutations of any kind are regarded as blasphemies and hateful in the sight of god. From a young age, David has been enculturated into a certain kind of thinking.
“Only the image of god is man.
Keep pure the stock of the lord.
Blessed is the norm, and in the purity our salvation.
Watch thou for the mutant!
The norm is the will of god, reproduction is the only holy production, the devil is the father of deviation.”
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is quoted as saying "change is the only constant in life." I reckon this phrase is also the backbone of this novel.
This idea was emphasised at the end of the novel when a Sealand woman was giving advised to David on his dilemma if he should forgive his puritan father or to kill him (because he was after them). She believed that his staunch thinking will not survive long in the world because they have fulfilled their ambition- they have nowhere more to go. “But life is change, that is how it differs from rocks, change is it’s very nature. Who, then, were the recent lords of creation, that they should expect to remain unchanged? The living form defies evolution at its peril; if it does not adapt, it will be broken. The idea of completed man is the supreme vanity: the finished image is a sacrilegious myth.” It is as if “they have become history without being aware of it” They are so determined on attaining the ultimate form and gaining stability that the only form granted to them would be ‘a place among the fossils...’. That stuck with me long after I finished those sentences. It is a futile entanglement to cling on to this ultimatum state of being.
“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 a soul. It is not the image of God, it is an imitation, and in the imitations there is always 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.”
This quote from the book challenged me to be more aware that just because a lot of people say a thing is so, doesn’t mean it actually is so. Nobody really knows what is the true image. Uncle Axel claimed that perhaps David and Rosalind could be closer to the true image than any of them because of their ability to communicate with one another over a long distance through thought-shape.
The hearts of those supposedly “pure” people are actually filled with self-righteousness because they regard themselves above and beyond those who are deviant. This hit home for me as a Christian who has to acknowledge my utter disability to be right before a pure and holy God. Many a time we fall into the ‘I am above thou’ mindset when we come into contact with both Christians and non-christians. Our acceptance into God’s family is completely at the mercy of His love and a free gift. We have done nothing to gain it, be it by birth rights or any earthly association to religious groups. Only through the blood of Jesus Christ are we a step closer to the true image (of Christ), and I pray I’d be more like Him each and everyday.
turnnoffyourmind
romaincrisis
dailybridgerton