Review: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Posted: 03 Dec 2013, 16:58
What makes us human? Mind? Soul? Something in how we appear physically?
In this novel, one thing the post nuclear apocalypse variations on human have in common is that they see their own type as the chosen people and everyone else as at best bystanders, at worst enemies. The rural society in which David Storm grows up even has its own version of scripture to back up these beliefs - declaring how many fingers and toes someone must have to be true to the image of God. In fact David's zealot father Joseph believes that the subtler the difference between a mutant and a norm, the more insidious and dangerous is the devil-made affront to God. This thinking is unfortunately true to human nature; some of the worst wars have been between those with small genetic differences - e.g., I recall reading that DNA research showed that Arabs and Jews are 'genetic brothers'.
While The Chrysalids shows the destructiveness of intolerance it doesn't seem to carry a straight "can't we all just get along?" message - in fact if you read it that way the ending is likely to come as a shock. Rather the book explores whether building a society without an "us vs. them" mentaility is even possible. For instance, David and some of his friends find that they are able to communicate telepathically, but while they express the anxiety and frustration of having to hide their difference in a society that would label them abominations, they are unanimous in their belief that one telepathic character who wants to marry a norm is signing up for the equivalent of tying herself to a "cripple". Sounds like bigotry to me.
Despite telpathy offering accelerated education and people close to him being hurt by xenophobia, David's views are also coloured by the teachings of his father - David can fire off anti-mutant sentiments by rote - so he is a complex character who seems destined to repeat some of his father's mistakes even - or especially - as an outcast.
This isn't a book that offers easy answers to the problems of groups defining themeselves based on their intolerance of other's differences, but it is full of ideas, well-written, and compelling on a "what happens next" level. I don't quite see it as a classic but it's always possible I am missing something. Maybe if the mutants' powers were as cool as those of the X-men.
In this novel, one thing the post nuclear apocalypse variations on human have in common is that they see their own type as the chosen people and everyone else as at best bystanders, at worst enemies. The rural society in which David Storm grows up even has its own version of scripture to back up these beliefs - declaring how many fingers and toes someone must have to be true to the image of God. In fact David's zealot father Joseph believes that the subtler the difference between a mutant and a norm, the more insidious and dangerous is the devil-made affront to God. This thinking is unfortunately true to human nature; some of the worst wars have been between those with small genetic differences - e.g., I recall reading that DNA research showed that Arabs and Jews are 'genetic brothers'.
While The Chrysalids shows the destructiveness of intolerance it doesn't seem to carry a straight "can't we all just get along?" message - in fact if you read it that way the ending is likely to come as a shock. Rather the book explores whether building a society without an "us vs. them" mentaility is even possible. For instance, David and some of his friends find that they are able to communicate telepathically, but while they express the anxiety and frustration of having to hide their difference in a society that would label them abominations, they are unanimous in their belief that one telepathic character who wants to marry a norm is signing up for the equivalent of tying herself to a "cripple". Sounds like bigotry to me.
Despite telpathy offering accelerated education and people close to him being hurt by xenophobia, David's views are also coloured by the teachings of his father - David can fire off anti-mutant sentiments by rote - so he is a complex character who seems destined to repeat some of his father's mistakes even - or especially - as an outcast.
This isn't a book that offers easy answers to the problems of groups defining themeselves based on their intolerance of other's differences, but it is full of ideas, well-written, and compelling on a "what happens next" level. I don't quite see it as a classic but it's always possible I am missing something. Maybe if the mutants' powers were as cool as those of the X-men.