Nuclear War:
1. Could not be realistic – Canada not a superpower, so might not have been a target.
-whole seaboard is empty and USA was in Cold War with Russians sot htat would have been a prime target
Deviational plants and humans seem unrealistic – p. 58 “But the women are very tall and strong, they rule the country and do all the work…keep their men in cages.”
“There is one tribe where both the men and women are hairless and another where they all have white hair and pink eyes.” P 62
Sealand probably would have been the safest place to live and could have retained modern tech.
“It’s a place with lots and lots of houses, different fromm Waknuk houses and much much bigger, and there are funny carts without horses running along the roads, and things in the air with whizzing things on top of them.” P. 136
Makes sense geographically that damage would be heavier along east coast of US and not so much in Labrador and NZ
“The only way I know is south….there’s plenty of Badlands coastline…soon you’re following around a big bay and you get to where there’s no gaps, it’s all badlands.” P. 59
2. “They created vast problems and then buried their heads in the sands of idle faith.” P. 156
Irony: “However wonderful the old people were they were not too wonderful to make mistakes and nobody knows or is ever likely to know where they were wise and where they were mistaken.” P. 79
-religion says they are god kind of…putting themselves in control of their own fate, but we are obviously not.
p. 153 “The Old People thought they were the tops too, had ideas…”
- we think we are in control in our world, but when the aspect of war comes into play and people fight each other it changes the world.
“It is not pleasant to kill any creature,” she agreed, “but to pretend that one can live without doing so is self-deception.” P. 195
- Refers to us about how killing always happens and we’ll never stop killing each other….kind of like the revolving wheel of life…
- Is this true? Do we all live with killing?
- War is caused by people with different sets of beliefs and this is displayed by the feud between the Fringes people and Waknuk
- There are killers and there are people who do nothing about it….
“The Old People brought down Tribulation and were broken into fragments by it.” P. 182
- The way war is fought could be thought of as a sin b/c of what causes war.
- As the Old People it is important to remember that diputes should be resolved peacefully if possible to avoid war and nuclear war.
3. Even if this is the golden age we need to solve political disputes peacefully and control the use of our weapons.
It mankind a long time to reach the “golden age” and it can be reduced to nothing overnight.
“The mountains are cinders and the plains are black glass still after centuries….it is frightening to think that a whole race could go insane.” P, 179
-if we did have nuclear war it would be insane and this is a conclusion we can draw from the book.
“The Old People, when in their superhuman fashion, had cut away half a mountain in order to find something or other that interested them…” p 17
-obviously they think of us as people who go to extreme lengths to get what we want.
-if there was nuclear war it would have a devastating effect, if mining could do such as taking away half a mountain. We need to control our use of technology.
COMMUNICATION:
1. Pessimistic –
“arrogant they are, true image and all that….want to be like the old people. Tribulation hasn’t taught them a thing.” 153 Fringes man
“Maybe he didn’t shuffle quite enough, the same sequences seem to have got kind of stuck together in some places.” 153
“One day he’s going to get pretty tired of the way they can’t learn a lesson and start showing them another trick or two.” 153
“Do you know what the length of a man’s arm should be? No. I admit it. Nor do I, but somebody in Rigo does, some expert on the true image.” 161 – spider man
-all show that history repeats itself and those who follow the same path and don’t learn will have disasters happen again, like those who have fallen.
2. “….to see the steam engine….there wasn’t another steam engine within a hundred miles….” Community has already advanced through technology.
“…it’s a place with lots and lots of houses…” 136
-example of advances through science and proof that eventually will discover new ways to communicate
Given time it is possible that a better power of human communication will develop. In the setting of the book, this would be achieved through evolution. Doesn’t seem likely in reality.
“…She says I’ll get better still if I work at it, and when I grow up I must have babies who can have strong think pictures.” 145
-Sealand is already trying to breed and spread the abilty to communicate telepathically so everyone can do it.
“She paused seeming to wonder if she were attempting an explanation beyond the understanding of such primitives as we.”
-Sealand woman regards Waknuk norms as primitive and Sealanders as more advanced. Discrimination
“We are able to think together and understand one another as they never could.” 193
-old people less advanced than New People
-lack of communication could bring down “tribulation”
3. A universal language would not necessarily solve communication issues b/c there would still be misunderstandings, miscommunications and misjudgments. People would still persecute one another just like Emily did to Harriet after learning about H’s idea about saving her baby.
“I think you must be mad Harriet” 71
-talking same language but disagreeing
‘It’s you who haven’t thought Michael, or any of you.” 92
-Anne disagreeing with group
4. If no telepathy – body signals or language, hands or facial expressions, or what can be expressed with written language
“My father checked his step. With an ill-tempered gesture, he threw the whip back on the table. He glared at the inspector and turned to follow me.”
52
-if talking fails, beat your child
“It was worth while” she said in words….” 193 -talking as opposed to using telepathy.
“As they were leaving she noticed a folded sheet of paper lying on the table.” 101
-Anne’s suicide note
“Rachael read it through twice and carefully burnt it.” Stops intended communication 102
“She was sure of herself, with a serenity of confidence.” 192
-Sealand woman’s description
-discern confidence through body language
Chrysalids: similar to chrysalis, which is the outer covering of a larvae or pupa as it changes into a butterfly, but more importantly it represents the change of one thing into something else, evolution…
-protected and isolated it changes on its own
“For ours is a superior variant and we are just beginning” 196
“It is not easy to explain in words how one can make intelligible thought shapes, all of us had first found for ourselves.” 112
-had to change and grow to develop abilities, be who they had to be not what community wanted them to be.
TOLERANCE/INTOLERANCE:
Intolerant: disallow differences
Tolerant: allows differences without active opposition
Religion and philosophy causes lots of discrimination
Eg Hitler executed people b/c of race, this also happens in The Chrysalids.
People not of Norm are outlawed and despised and others adopt this philosophy b/c they want to belong.
The author is trying to say that religion can cause intolerance, eg the Norm is the image of God.
Religion of Waknuk states that any creature not meeting definition is not human.
This is similar to seeing people of other races as not fully human and thus not human or dehumanized.
“Any creature that shall seem to be human but is not formed thus is not human.” P 13
Some characters such as David and Sophie have a tolerant attitude toward deviation b/c they question the Waknuk religion.
David indicates this when Sophie is expelled to the Fringes
54 “I couldn’t help it” Betrayal is evidence of fact that he tolerated her and found her persecution horrible.
In modern society people who have deviations are tolerated, even though people try to avoid them, and the law protects them. People get out of comfort zones with different people.
Waknuk lacks tolerance for deviants, and David can’t stand the idea of Petra mutilated and thrust naked into Fringes country. 120
We would think this is extreme and bigoted, but there have been instances where this has happened.
Eg hunting down witches because of own fear of difference
The woman from Sealand says that the people who are not telepathic are only “ingenious half-humans, little better than savages.” 156
-this is just like Hitler persecuting Jews, or discrimination against blacks.
2. Intolerance of mental and physical deviations…
Waknuk only tolerates Norm
Only the image of God is man 18
In the past people believed this philosophy.
Hitler and Jews = Waknuk and Fringes
Judge by appearance rather than personality
