| The Chrysalids: Final Project |
![](http://images.google.ca/images?q=tbn:qT8PyTwW9PAJ:images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0140013083.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg")
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Another important issue that is also articulated from the beginning of the story to the end is superiority, and in the case of The Chrysalids, superiority is referred to as “the True Image of God”. The citizens of Waknuk find anything or anyone offensive if they have different physical characteristics. They have a specified standard of what is considered to be "normal"; anything or anyone not meeting up to that expectation is referred to as a deviation and is therefore not pure.
| In Sunday Precepts, the citizens of Waknuk were taught the Definition of Man: “. . . and each leg shall be jointed twice and have one foot, and each foot five toes, and each toe shall end with a flat nail. . . and any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed is not a human. It is neither man nor woman. It is a blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God.” |
The people of Waknuk find The True Image significantly crucial and it has had an immense influence on their lives. Their dependence on the True Image is so intense, that they are selfishly refusing to let any blasphemies live in Waknuk, and forcing the mutations to live in the Fringes. They think of themselves as the true image of God, and think of others who have differences are deviations, and that their quality of life is poor and they should be treated brutally, which is inhumane. It is ironic because other social groups with similar mutational characteristics think that they themselves are the true image and think of other groups as deviations. In conclusion, nobody really knows who is the true image of God, and everybody thinks of themselves or their group of people as a superior being and have a higher level of quality. The characters in The Chrysalids are constantly competing for superiority and are constantly trying to purify themselves from what they think is abnormal in God’s eyes and therefore abnormal in their own eyes. The residents of Waknuk also refer to the Old People as the true image and are trying to repeat the past. In attempts to reconstruct a world from the past, they are also denying evolution and causing pain and violence. They can’t continue to cause misery and agony to those who are mutated by the nuclear destruction that occurred in the time of the Old people because they are humans as well and they deserve an opportunity to live life without constant fear and heartache.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
During World War Two, Adolf Hitler, leader of the German Nazi party, was infamous for his treatment to the Jewish people. Hitler hated the Jewish. He wanted to purify the world with "perfect" people, and through his eyes, the Jewish were anythng but perfect. He thought that only humans with blue eyes and blonde hair were "perfect". He killed and tortured those who were Jewish, black, homosexual, and having various other different characteristics which were thought to be abnormal and therefore not perfect. This event in history is similar to that in The Chrysalids because Hitler and the people of Waknuk look down on people who have different and unique qualities and they just wanted them out of their lives and out of the world because they were not considered "perfect" or "normal".
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| Home |
| Social Isolation |
| Superiority |
| The Chrysalids |
| Bilbliography |