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The Chrysalids (aka Re-birth)
John Wyndham was probably the most widely read science fiction author in the British Commonwealth in the 1950s and 1960s. This was largely due to his being publicised outside the genre and for his attention to the interests and attitudes of a wide audience unfamiliar with science fiction tropes. The first half of his career - before the Second World War - was undistinguished. He wrote under a number of names, usually variations on John Beynon Harris, but settled on Wyndham when he returned to writing after the war. At this time he developed a type of science fiction often referred to as "cosy catastrophe", where disaster strikes and the world is plunged into chaos which the protagonists must survive so that they can begin to rebuild.
The Chrysalids is an example of Wyndham at the height of his powers. It is set centuries after Tribulation ended the world as we know it. The population of Labrador seeks to rebuild the society of the Old People with the aid of the Bible and writings from the time of Tribulation which codify the Image of Man. Any being which does not match the True Image is `hateful in the sight of God' and must be destroyed as an abomination or exiled from human society. This position extends to all known flora and fauna and is enforced by government inspectors. It quickly becomes apparent that this is an attempt to keep the genetic stock pure after a massive nuclear war. The book's narrator, though outwardly normal, has an ability along with a number of others to "think together". As the book opens, he has no real awareness that he is any different from anyone else. As he grows older he comes to the realisation that the memorised lines from the Sunday service have a real relationship to the world around him and his place in it. He has the good fortune of an uncle who offers him advice that fires the instinct for caution into active self preservation. Gradually, events put the group under suspicion and they face significant trials with scant possibility of survival.
The Chrysalids is skilfully written, displaying the increasing danger and frustration for a hidden community of telepaths in a society which prizes normalcy above all else. Their striving for "averageness" despite an ability which allows them insight far beyond their fellows and in the face of widespread communal fear of the different strikes a chord with generation after generation of reader. There is also clear advocacy for change in this novel. While accepting that any creature will fight to preserve itself and its type, there is an emphasis on the importance of change as the only means of improvement and a belief that evolution has no ultimate end point. This leads to the thesis that it is inherently right that humanity give way to those who come after us. This Darwinian perspective may seem reasonable in the long view but the book draws into renewed sharpness questions which have been debated for decades.
The final pages are almost overwhelmed by Wyndham's need to state his position clearly, but the novel does regain equilibrium. As a whole, the book achieves considerable complexity of idea and action whilst maintaining straightforward language. The story progresses primarily through character development, which allows a natural flow and shape in the plot. It is a book which rarely pulls its punches and this is a contributing factor to its continued success and validity almost 50 years after its original publication. The Chrysalids is a tight, well developed novel from a master of a peculiarly English style of science fiction.
Pick this book up at Fatbrain.
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Phew! Having got that out of the way, onto the critique:
First off, I'd like to see a helicopter fly essentially around the globe without refuelling. This is not the only scientific flaw in the book, but it's one of the most glaring. Plot devices are important in any story, but they don't need huge neon signs announcing them, either.
Secondly, many people seem to read the book as "anti-religious". It isn't. It's anti-intolerence, sure, and SOME of the intolerent characters are religious, but by no means all. Read the book again, and check the actions of the guys in the Fringes. Not exactly the sort of people you'd want to hang out with, if they're just as psychotic as the "pure".
Nor is this about "conforming". David's uncle's arm was the "wrong" length by a small margin, and from the sounds of it, that wasn't found out until adulthood. That's not about "conforming", that's power-play - using politics and paranoia to remove potential opponents.
THAT, to me, is the entire central core of the book - the use of power and fear, by ANY side, to exert control and destroy any potential threat. The nature of the threat is as irrelevent as the excuse used.
IMHO, that is what made the ending so sickening. To "rescue" the kids, the helicopter massacres hundreds of people, under the pretext that they "didn't really have lives", and were "only" Norms. In short, the murder of something different was justified -solely- because it was different. Sure, there was more compassion from the New Zealanders, but not so much that they spared any life that did not conform to their notion of the ideal.
This is a great book, in a great many ways, but it is also VERY disturbing. Justification for murder came so easily to each and every one of the characters in the book, based on nothing but difference.
IMHO, this book is worth reading, but it's no light read, and there's no truly happy ending. I'd put it alongside the Cthulhu Mythos in terms of it's depressing hopelessness.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
e.g.
I enjoyed reading both these titles, along with Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos (AKA "Village of the Damned" in the movie world), and they still sit on one of my bookshelves.
I thought The Chrysalids was remarkably prescient, as I often regard "think-together" and the hive mind postulated in the book as analogous to how the Web has allowed widely separated teams of people to work on the same project. The opposition to this development in people seems to be opposed by many forces in society albeit not as violently as the community in the book tries to suppress difference.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
In the 50's, nuclear weapons were only possessed by a small number of nations who were generally well accustomed to diplomatic means, had no major entrenched hostility to each other, and had just fought a long shattering conventional war.
The weapons were controlled by the military, who put many procedures & safeguards in place to prevent the accidental or unauthorized use of the weapons.
The only way that nuclear weapons would be used would be for a conventional war to go hot, and since the second world war, none of the nuclear powers have directly fought each other.
Nowadays, almost any nation could get a nuclear weapon if they decided to expend the effort. This includes many countries with leaders who obtained control by miltary means, have disputes with their neighbours over control of territory or resources, and sometimes have religious or other disputes with their neighbours going back thousands of years, and modern disputes with the USA and the United nations.
A country which has already sent suicide bombers against US targets, or is fighting a bitter border war with it's neighbour is going to be more likely to use an atomic weapon than any of the nuclear powers was in the 50s.