Better People
November 15th 2008 05:15
John Whydham's The Chrysalids is my favourite type of Sci fi. The world has been through a major holocaust and the new religious system outlaws any kind of deformity. It is considered ungodly to be mutated in any way. A young boy named David is a mutant with the abitlity to communicate with thought pictures. He and his friens communicate by sending mental images to each other. His new sister is found to be more powerful than any of them and can send a distress call which influences the others to rescue her when she is in trouble. Eventually they are found out however and must flee. It seems that the story is having a say about the world's attitude about those who are different. It works for awhile, however I am afraid there is a weakness in the tale. When the group is found by others like them, living in New Zealand (or new Sea land and they call it) they go to live with them. These people have an attitude about the "normal" people. It seems that the "new" people are more advanced than the "old" and they are considered better. This is where, I feel the story fails to make its point. If the mutants don't like being considered abnormal why are they apparently "better" than the others. It focuses on the idea of evolution (which I don't believe in) arguing that since they are more advanced than the less evolved. It was this kind of belief that made white europeans believe they were more advanced and thus "better" than races such as the Aboriginal people of Australia. This does not mean I completely disapprove of the book, it's quite good, but I think there is a failure there. What do you think?
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