Change in the Chrysalids
Change in the chrysalids is viewed as a part of life that cannot be avoided. The novel presents contrasting viewpoints on change, the Sealand woman who embraces change and the people of waknuk who vermently oppose it to illustrate Wyndham's views on the importance of change
The Sealand woman views change as an inevitable fact of life saying that "The essential quality of life is living ; the essential quality of living is change. Change is evolution and we are part of it." She reiterates Wyndham's message on the importance of change, highlighting that the resistance of change results in death, telling us that "if it does not adapt (to change), it will be broken"
The title of the chrysalids also presents the idea of change and how the resistance of it results in death. A chrysalid is a sheltered state of growth of being and it conveys the idea of change from within, even if the outside is unchanging. Like a pupa in a chrysalid, embracing change would result in a transformation for the better, a metamorphosis from a unimpressive caterpillar into a magnificent butterfly. Similarly, the resistance to change would result in the pupa dying inside the chrysalid.
The people of the Waknuk and their obsession with the "true image" have led to them defying change and eradicating everything that is out of the ordinary by burning mutated crops and sterilizing deviants to be send to the fringes. Their stagnant mindset has led to their non belief at the idea of deviations "reclaiming themselves". From black coast slowly turning into badlands that becomes the fringes and subsequently, wild country. Their refusal to change is ironic as in the Waknuk society, they themselves have changed. In the case of Angus Morton's great horses,they have altered the beliefs and laws of their religion for personal gain, taking advantage of the mutation in order and claiming it as a result of cross breeding because of the usefulness of the mutation. In the end, Waknuk's refusal to change
The Sealand woman views change as an inevitable fact of life saying that "The essential quality of life is living ; the essential quality of living is change. Change is evolution and we are part of it." She reiterates Wyndham's message on the importance of change, highlighting that the resistance of change results in death, telling us that "if it does not adapt (to change), it will be broken"
The title of the chrysalids also presents the idea of change and how the resistance of it results in death. A chrysalid is a sheltered state of growth of being and it conveys the idea of change from within, even if the outside is unchanging. Like a pupa in a chrysalid, embracing change would result in a transformation for the better, a metamorphosis from a unimpressive caterpillar into a magnificent butterfly. Similarly, the resistance to change would result in the pupa dying inside the chrysalid.
The people of the Waknuk and their obsession with the "true image" have led to them defying change and eradicating everything that is out of the ordinary by burning mutated crops and sterilizing deviants to be send to the fringes. Their stagnant mindset has led to their non belief at the idea of deviations "reclaiming themselves". From black coast slowly turning into badlands that becomes the fringes and subsequently, wild country. Their refusal to change is ironic as in the Waknuk society, they themselves have changed. In the case of Angus Morton's great horses,they have altered the beliefs and laws of their religion for personal gain, taking advantage of the mutation in order and claiming it as a result of cross breeding because of the usefulness of the mutation. In the end, Waknuk's refusal to change