Answers to the novel The Chrysalids

Part One: 

1.

A) Waknuk viewed it past history as Elias Strorm coming from the east and settling in Waknuk, an undeveloped, almost frontier country. Joseph Strorm, David's father, married after Elias Strorm died. The district, named Waknuk of a tradition that there had been a place named that long ago, in the time of the Old People. It was also thought of that the Tribulation had taken place, which is seven years of chaos, which is mentioned in the Bible as God's punishment to this world. It was God's chance to save the world so man could redo it. 

B) The code of what was right and wrong in Waknuk was very strict. It's rules said that ONLY THE IMAGE OF GOD IS MAN and KEEP THOU THE PURE STOCK OF THE LORD. With this and several other quotes from Nicholson's Repentances, Waknuk believed that any person who was not born or as the "true image" was a blasphemy from the devil and had to be exterminated from Waknuk. Also crops and animals who were not born as what they thought was normal or most yielding or useful, were an offense and had to be burned or killed. It was also wrong to kidnap, and trying to hide a blasphemy was very wrong also. 

C) I believe and from my understanding about the Bible and the novel, that the world had suffered by total atomic nuclear devastation. It could not have been the Tribulation, which still is sneaking up as "a thief in the night" as it says in the Bible. The Bible says that the Tribulation is seven years of chaos, and then a thousand years of grace when Satan is locked up. The Tribulation could not have happened because Waknuk was still a bad community and there was still sin. I also think that the Badlands and the strange sights of sailors were places like New York, completely devastated by atomic explosions. The strange animals and vegetation where from mixed genetic code from atomic warfare. The big cut in the mountain near Waknuk could have also been caused by atomic explosions. 

Terms: 

A) The definition of man was what people in Waknuk believed was the true image of God. Taken from Nicholson's Repentances, it defined man as having two legs, each of which shall be jointed twice and have one foot, and each foot five toes, and each toe shall end with a flat nail... It also said any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. Then God created Woman, also and in the same image, but with the differences, her voice should be of higher pitch then a man's. She should grow no beards, she shall have two breasts. 

B) Nicholson's Repentances was a book that had been found out the wilderness of Barbarism, sealed in a stone coffer. In it was the definition of man, what was a deviation and what was not, and strict rules on how to deal with mutants. 

C) A blasphemy was a person who had not been born or was not according to the exact definition of man or to what the inspector thought they should be. It was any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. 

D) An offence was something which did not look right - that is to say, did not look like their parents, or parent-plants. This could be a plant or animal, and any offences found would have to be burned or killed. 

E) Tribulation and Penance was God's punishment on the world and it was like a combination a many disasters. And only with God's help and if the climb back to normality was faithfully retraced, there would be the reward of forgivness. 

F) The Wild Country was where the chance of true-breeding was less than fifty percent. The Fringes was where nothing was dependable, and where many outlaws and blasphemies lived. The Badlands where something that almost nobody knew about.

2. Main events that David is led to realize he is a mutant:

·                 He sees strange visions of a magical city with towering building and flying objects.

·                 In his early life he plays with Sophie who is a blasphemy, and doesn't tell anyone until she gets found out.

·                 His father gets angry at him for "wishing" he had another arm

·                 He is "talking" with Rosiland when she isn't around and Uncle Axel tells him never to tell anyone about it.

·                 He begins to accept people who are deviational or are different in some way.

·                 He begins talking to Uncle Axel about things he shouldn't talk or think about.

·                 He understands what Rosiland is thinking before she talks.

·                 He hears all call of distress from the woods, but the man nearby doesn't and is very suspicious how they could hear her.

·                 He is called in the night by Rosiland and run away in an emergency.

Part Two:

A) They have to flee because others have realized that they are mutants and want them to be taken away so others can find out more about them so they can destroy others like them. 

B) Petra begins receiving messages from the "Sealand" woman. She lives in New Zealand, and lives where society is completely different. 

C) Her homeland is exciting to him because it astonishingly the same in comparison to the strange thoughts he had when he was young about a magical city with flying objects. I think he was really receiving some faint thought-shapes when he was young without knowing it.

D) My conclusion of the novel is that in the beginning David found someone to play with who was different from others, Sophie, and learnt that people with different physical aspects were still humans. He also learnt that people could be so cruel to even people with the slightest differences, and when he found out he was different, he ran away with others of the same difference. He then fell in love with Rosiland, and then he found the city that he had dreamed about, and at last he could live with people who would accept the way he was.