The Chrysalids
Beryl Clarke, Contributor

For most teachers, it is terrifying to witness unleashed ignorance. (Borrowed.)

Please benefit, therefore, from your teachers' experience and wisdom, their leadership and their encouragement.

Now, we will carry on with our discussion of the developments in The Chrysalids.

3. Rosalind, Petra and David flee for their lives from their home in Waknuk to the Fringes. Their community has found out that they, like Sally and Katherine, are different and they are immediately seen as dangerous. Let us consider our own society where anyone and anything different arouses suspicion. (This is very evident in our country today). Would we have acted in a better way? I doubt it. They want to discover what the difference means to their society and will do whatever it takes to do so. In their determination to discover what threat the telepaths pose, they torture Katherine. You see, because the society sees them as deviants, they are not considered to have been made in God's image. It is their duty, therefore, to isolate and root them out. Are you wondering how anyone could be so cruel in the name of religion? All you have to do is to look at the ongoing religious conflicts in our world at present and you will have to conclude that the author is not writing something that is far-fetched.

4. Rosalind's strength of character and leadership qualities emerge as they begin the journey away from Waknuk. Mark you, in his description of her, David had given us the impression that she was smart and very capable. While David made scanty preparations to flee if necessary, she is ready to leave, having, with her mother's assistance, put together necessities for a journey. Why does she steal her father's great horses? She must have thought that they are easily recognisable, yet she takes them. Consider the advantages these horses bring on their flight. She must have packed food too! She is ready for the possibility of attack and so has her bow and arrows with which, as we know, she is competent. As David realises, she has put thought into the matter. She decides on the escape route, organises a system for keeping watch and eventually has to kill the man who threatens their safety.

5. Michael's ability has not been discovered and he is able to give David, Rosalind and Petra very useful information. He offers sensible advice. He later joins one of the posses that is searching for the three escapees and is thereby able to keep his friends abreast of what the pursuers are doing.

6. Petra is contacted by a woman from Zealand. John Whyndham uses Petra as the source through which the telepaths from different regions (Zealand and Labrador) learn about each other. Now we understand his reason for creating a character with that much power. Of course, we also enjoy the effect produced by the fact that it is the smallest and youngest of the group who is given this ability.

7. Do you remember David's dream about which he told us in the very first chapter of this book? Yes, you should, for to him they were of a place that did not exist. In addition, his sister Mary had warned him not to speak about such dreams to anyone else, even though she suggests that such a city may have existed before Tribulation. Imagine how he feels now to have his young sister, Petra, pass on a description about a place which resembles closely the one about which he used to dream. This would have laid a foundation for David's acceptance of the stranger with whom Petra converses in thought shapes.

8. Earlier, I asked you to assess the value of the great horses to the runaways' trip. Their size makes it possible to travel quickly and over difficult terrain. Father Strorm had wanted to have the horses destroyed. What a waste that would have been! The writer shows us through them -the horses - that different does not necessarily mean bad. Here we can see that it is a pity that the telepaths were not recognized as bringing a new dimension to life and allowed to add variety to their society.

Do enjoy the week ahead. God bless!

Mandeville Craft Institute students take part in a cardiopulmonary resuscitation training session. - Photo by Peter Kavanaugh

Beryl Clarke teaches at Glenmuir High School.