Religion is a way of life to mankind, which provides a purpose and meaning in life. It encourages the good and punishes the evil. In the case of the novel The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham, religion creates a dystopian society. This is the result of increased fear amongst the people who fear another tribulation. The increased fear in society causes the people of Waknuk to become extreme, as they start evicting anything or anyone who is abnormal physically or mentally.
Religion is the underlying cause of the dystopia created in the The Chrysalids, as the segregation of the mutants negatively affects families, kills innocent newborns with deformities, and creates a hatred between two groups. Throughout history families have been negatively impacted due to political oppression. Similarly in the case of The Chrysalids families that have a member with a deformity, are often forced to either kill their loved one or move to the fringes. The religious prejudice that people have on blasphemies, changed the life of Sophie Wender; a young girl that has six toes since birth.
Sophie was forced to leave Waknuk and start a new life in the fringes, after her secret was revealed. Negatively changing her entire family’s lifestyle. This incident is identical to the holocaust. Near the early 1940s many Jews went into hiding for years, trying to save themselves and their families from the wrath of the Nazi’s. This had a negative impact on their lives, similar to Sophie, as they were forced to leave their homes and start a new life from nothing. Both cases show how lives change when a family is forced to flee into hiding.
Both utopia and segregation are polar opposite concepts. Hence, the ableism in the town of Waknuk creates a dystopian society. In Waknuk it is believed that the devil is the father of deviation, and the norm is the will of god. This belief drives the “normal people” to expel other beings that are born with deviations; the expulsion is in an attempt to create a pure and holy community. This unethical act destroys the lives of many people. Mothers are often forced to kill their new born if they spot a deviation.
In the case of Joseph’s aunt, Aunt Harriet, she gave birth to a child with a slight deviation. Trying to protect her child she was later murdered for doing so and was found floating in a nearby river, with her “mutated child”. This act of barbarism is similar to the horrors that aboriginal parents faced, when their children were forcefully taken away by missionaries who wanted to educate “uncivilized children”. Both these incidents show the atrocities mothers face when they are forced to give up their beloved children, and it is these types’ heinous actions that creates a dystopia in The Chrysalids.
