The Chrysalids Character Analysis

You cannot judge a book by its cover - is a known saying that is understood by most. In his novel, "The Chrysalids", John Wyndham shares to readers the story of people from a town called Waknuk that judge others based on their appearance of normality to tell whether they are created by the Lord or the devil. The Waknuk people believe any living thing which possess imperfections, once identified, must be dealt with. A new race of people called the "telepaths", emerge in Waknuk, having a more liberal mentality compared to the Waknuk people. For instance, these "telepaths" possess traits such as open-mindedness and selflessness. Whereas the Waknuk people display selfishness and ignorance. In "The Chrysalids", the characters David, Rosalind, and Michael display beneficial human attributes that are absent in majority of the Waknuk people.
First of all, David is the main character telling the story in first-person point of view, and as a result, the audience first gets an idea of David's personality. In particular, his distinct compassion, outgoingness and self-sacrifice. David's …show more content…
The Waknuk people are quite narrow-minded and conservative in their thinking, being overly strict for unnecessary reasons. However characters like David, Rosalind and Michael bring in the qualities that the Waknuk people should try to portray in order to be good people. It is true, some of the Waknuk people do retain traits with resemblance to these three characters, but portray them in a different mentality - a mentality where they will show these qualities only if the other person is a "norm". Despite being brought up in a society so strict and mislead, these characters are able to accumulate such beneficial human attributes - all by themselves. As a result, they represent the true good that all people should strive to