Like this:

The characters in The Chrysalids are all definitely individuals, non of them even being close to another. David being the protagonist is a dynamic character. He is a loyal, loving child at the beginning of the novel and as obstacles occur David alters his core values. When he finds out that Sophie is a mutant, and he becomes her friend he wants to hide her offence so she will not be removed from the society which would prevent him from seeing her. David, after he is beaten by his father, then turns on his family. This is after Sophie’s offense is discovered and he hates his family for revealing that which has separated him from Sophie. David and his think-alikes are all offenses of their society but their offence being mental is not noticeable to other people so they are not threatened with being removed from their society. They may not adore this society but they can live with it.

I feel that David is the sensible being in this novel and that his father (Joseph) is an extremist who has taken his religion too far. Joseph whipped his own son for violating the rules and he does not allow for any exceptions in this society. He does not approve of improvements in their society such as the new larger horses. They are more efficient and he does not approve because they are a mix of breads and could therefore be an offence.

After a series of events involving multiple rescues of Petra, the think-alikes’ offence is at jeopardy of being revealed to the society so they decide to escape. David, Petra, and Rosalind are the only ones that actually leave, the others are in various locations. Two of them are arrested where they are then tortured to confess to their secrets. The torture is too much and they then confess to everything, which causes an uproar and a great search for the three who have escaped. This juxtaposition of the characters who escape and the ones who are captured is very different because all of these children were once friends and they are now separated. Two of the friends actually “betray” their friends by confessing and causing a search to commence to find and punish the rest of the group of think-alikes.

I have come to the conclusion that there are only two types of people in this novel, people who truly believe in the religion and people who reject and want to escape the society. The examples of these people are Joseph the extreme believer and David the rebel.

Advertisement