Discrimination In The Chrysalids By John Wyndham

Improved Essays
Discrimination making People to separate from their families, suffer, migrate and die which most people in Waknuk don’t give attention to it unless they see it in their life because they are close-minded and want no change in their life. Discrimination is common in Waknuk, especially people who are normal, highly discriminate others who are different or deviations because they wants to stay as they are in the novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. Sophie the little girl with only one pair of extra toes which looks one millions of devils for the inspector and David’s father. At the same time, Aunt Harriet with the infant baby that is a bit different from the true image of God is not able to get help. In addition, other deviants such as Gordon …show more content…
When Emily or David’s mother had a baby, Aunt Harriet also had one. Nevertheless, occasionally Aunt Harriet’s baby is a deviation so to get the purity certificate she asks her sister Emily to switch baby but Emily’s response is “Joseph send her away .Tell her to leave the house ...” (71). This makes Aunt Harriet to feel lonely, hopeless, do not know what to do with her baby and shows how brutal Emily is. In addition, Aunt Harriet commits suicide because as it is mention there is no one to help her even her own sister refuses. After they hear about Aunt Harriet’s death David tells, “His father include Aunt Harriet’s name in our prayer...but, after that she was never referred again”. Waknuk society does not care if they do any discrimination until they get discriminate and their ignorance to Aunt Harriet, also who knows what happens to the baby the pure soul. Therefore, Aunt Harriet does not get the help that she wants, so it ruins her life and leads her to committing …show more content…
Sophie with six toes migrate to the Fringes with being sterilized, Aunt Harriet that has a new born deviant baby commit suicide because her sister refuses to help her and the baby would live un happy life without his mother. Furthermore, other characters such as Sally and Katherine are tortured in the same condition Gordon who also is send to the Fringes without getting any inheritance. Many people are send away from Waknuk sterilize even when they need help their own family give their back. Waknuk societies are narrow-minded and want to stay as they

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Aunt Harriet is forced to kill her baby girl (and consequently herself) after her sister, Emily refused to help her cover her ‘monstrous’ child. Even David, the son of Joseph Stone is subject to discrimination because of his ability to communicate via thought shapes. Because of David, Rosalind and Petra’s differences they are forced to flee from the district of Waknuk to the Fringes. Sophie, Aunt Harriet’s baby, David, Rosalind and Petra are subject to discrimination and unjust treatment for their seemingly minor…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    David Strorm touches me as a compassionate, selfless, respectful human being who can identify/recognize the hateful dehumanization of human behavior. David is able to overcome the mesmerizing false information in the Waknuk society. The definition of a man has been affected by the touch of human perseverance. David meets a young lady named Sophie Wender, who was born with six toes on each foot due to a mutation from “Tribulation”. 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…’…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Brutality in The Chrysalids Imagine being given a life, and living in the most frightful way possible, with death being more merciful than living. Wyndham's The Chrysalids is a novel that demonstrates various themes throughout the narrative. Waknuk is where it all takes place, where the law is that everything and everyone must be perfect or else they are purified to demolish all abnormalities. Consequently, inhabitants of Waknuk achieve this by resisting to change. Also, a proud supporter of this is Joseph Strorm, a malicious leader of the towns people.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist, once stated, “All men are created equal. No matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about.” Although it is a fundamental American idea that people are created equal, this often is not the case due to personal bias. The similar sentiment, unnecessary racism, is mirrored in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, there are many examples of how hypocrisy, bigotry and ignorance are evident in David’s society. People in Waknuk, including the main character, David, are ignorant to the world around them. Through the first few chapters of the novel, David is a prime example of ignorance, being so young and having a lack of knowledge on what Deviations are actually like. Bigotry is also evident in the Waknuk society, and Joseph Strorm is a prime example of that. Finally, in chapter four, we see an example of hypocrisy through David’s uncle.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Chrysalids Essay Author: John Wyndham In the novel, the Chrysalids written by John Wyndham, the sea land woman justifies the killing of the Fringe people and the Waknuk posse by explaining that their society is too violent and primitive to allow them to exist. It would not allow the natural evolution of the species, and killing the “Thought Makers” would not allow that evolution. I agree that the Sea land women was right about how the Waknuk people could not be allowed to hinder the evolution of the species, but I also think that killing the Waknuk posse and the fringes people was wrong and unnecessary.…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sophie Wender is a significant character in The Chrysalids as she is used to introduce the concept of mutations into the story. This purpose alone would explain her significance, but her growth also communicates some of the themes in the story. At first, Sophie strikes the appearance of a fearing, curious and obedient child. She is in her own chrysalid, so to speak. As she comes to age, her transformation develops her convictions as well as it does to change her behaviour.…

    • 1567 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Some key points of the story that influence the children of Wat Opot is the cultural beliefs of the people around, but also the people in the US. The other belief or value that influences the children is the variety of religion in the village effects how each person treats the children. People around the world just believe that this village of Wat Opot is a dangerous and scary place to go only because of children having HIV. People are afraid of HIV, so people are afraid of the children of Wat Opot. Children of Wat Opot are influenced by this severely because they don’t have anybody to talk to, and also they are afraid to go to places because they know they will be looked at differently.…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the movie, racism is not well address because it doesn’t present the reality of blacks, at this period of time. In the other hand, in the novel, perfectly describes the truly emotions of the characters; their challenges and how they conquer those discriminations. Discrimination is wholly addressed in the book with a complete chapter and multiple scenarios of concrete examples: separated but equal societies, schools, neighborhoods, stores, and even morgue services. In the contrary, the movie shows a few illustrations of black characters as Grant, and Jefferson being reminded they were black, whether they were in jail or were educated. For instance, at the beginning, Grant is forced, by guiltiness from his aunt and from Miss Emma to visit Jefferson, who is sentenced to die for the death of a white man; act which he didn’t committed, but had to pay for.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sophie with six toes migrate to the Fringes and sterilized, Aunt Harriet that has a new born deviant baby commit suicide because her sister refuses to help her and the baby would live unhappy life without his mother. Furthermore, other characters such as Sally and Katherine are tortured in the same condition, Gordon who also is send to the Fringes without getting any inheritance. Many people are sent away from Waknuk sterilize even when they need to help their own families to give them back. Waknuk people are narrow-minded and want to stay as they…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the evolution of society men and women had always faced social discriminations regarding their races, genders, religions just to cite a few social issues. People who faced discrimination before the 20’s, died for the most part harshly. An important woman figure who had fought for discrimination against the preaching of her religion during the 17th century was the Quaker Mary Dyer or Mary Barrett as maiden name. Originally from England, her exact day of birth is considered unknown for the most part, but she was reportedly born in 1611.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Diverse Society in the Novella “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck The 1930s was the era where in most parts of the world the society was a host of inequality, the novella “Of Mice and Men” takes place in the 1930s as well. The author John Steinbeck has written this novella legitimately based on diversity in the society of 1930s. There are three main aspects of discrimination in the story that are being applied to certain characters in the story. The three aspects of discrimination are Racism, Sexism, and the smart people picking on the less smart people.…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Question 5 a) In the text it was mentioned that the Waknuk women had a cross stitched to their dresses, and the women believed strongly in religion they also practiced it. Their hair and clothes were clean, pretty and not sterilized. But the Fringes Women were the rejects of Waknuk, as most of them were sent away because of a discovered deviation. Those women had tattered clothes, wore no crosses, did not practice or believe in religion as the Waknuk people did.…

    • 1306 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One of the significant female characters is Sophie. She is one of the bravest characters throughout The Chrysalids. She first met David when he had gone off by himself. It is also where she got her foot stuck when sliding down the sandy runnel. While David helped her in getting the foot free, she kept the pain in by making ‘no more than puppy noises’ (9).…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Discriminate- make an unjust or prejudicial distinction in the treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, sex, or age. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama during the Great Depression. The story follows Scout, the tomboy daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch who is given the task to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of rape. During the time the story takes place, there were many racist and prejudice impressions, primarily about black people.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays