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Amelia Filipcic
Mr. Tracy
ENG 1D
April 29, 2019
The Chrysalids- Change is key to Survival

The Chrysalids demonstrates a key theme of surviving through change. The theme of

survival through change is proven by David with evidence being his personality traits,

priorities and beliefs. David proves change is key to survival when he discovers his powers

and the importance of keeping them safe. David proves change is key to survival when

Petra discovers her powers, which causes David’s priorities to change. David proves change

is key to survival when he meets Sophie and begins to question his beliefs. David

demonstrates the key theme of surviving through change with evidence being his

personality traits, priorities and beliefs.

David proves change is key to survival when he discovers his powers and the

importance of keeping them safe, changing his personality. The society David lives in, fears

deviations. They fear deviations so much so, that they teach strict rules against them. The

society believes in a book called Nicholson’s Repentances which teaches to fear deviations.

“A blasphemy was, as had been impressed upon me often enough, a frightful thing” said

David, though at the time, he had never seen a blasphemy before (Wyndham 14). David

must keep his powers of telepathy a secret. To do so, David had to become more mature

and responsible in order to ensure his safety. Once Uncle Axel became aware of David’s

abilities, Uncle Axel explained that they must stay a secret. “I want you to promise that you

will never, never tell anyone else what you have just told me- never. It’s very important:
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later on you’ll understand better how important it is” Uncle Axel warned David (Wyndham

30). Later on we understand that David would’ve been punished for his abilities, if he was

caught. David, along with nine others, were the only people, from his area, with the abilities

to communicate telepathically with one another. This pressure is a lot for a young child like

David, again causing him to become more mature. Considering the area he comes from, he

has very unique abilities. In other areas, everyone had telepathic abilities and more modern

technology that included “funny carts without horses running along the roads. And things

in the air, with whizzing things on top of them” (Wyndham 136). This modern, far away

place is too far for David to communicate with the people there, meaning, his powers aren’t

as strong as they had once been. This loss of abilities may have been caused as he began to

develop a better understanding of what he was capable of. With evidence, David proves

change is key to survival when discovering his powers and developing his personality

traits.

David proves change is key to survival when Petra discovers her powers which

causes his priorities to change. David, being Petra’s older brother who is also telepathic,

feels the need to keep Petra and her abilities safe. When Petra had fallen into the stream,

David felt a controlling cry for help and rushed to the scene right away. He saved her from

the quick moving stream and then him, along with Rosalind created an excuse so no

suspicions were raised. Rosalind replied to a man inquiring about the situation with “What!

With the way she was yelling! I’d’ve thought anybody who wasn’t deaf would have heard

her half-way to Kentak” (Wyndham 84). Rosalind said Petra was screaming for help aloud

though she commanded them to the situation telepathically. When David was struck by

dream of Petra being slaughtered, instead of Sophie or a calf as they had been in the
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previous dreams before, David began to worry. Having Petra be in the spot of the calf

demonstrates an element of symbolism. A calf is vulnerable, so the author has tried to warn

us that Petra is vulnerable, especially with her newly discovered abilities. Petra being

young and having new, incredibly strong powers, has a lot to learn. When she is in a

situation where she needs help, she has a hard time controlling her abilities. David devotes

lots of time to teaching Petra to control her abilities. He also had to explain to Petra her

abilities from many approaches, like a game- “’Let’s play a game,’ I suggested. ‘You shut

your eyes. Keep them shut tight, and pretend you’re looking down a deep, deep well.

There’s nothing but dark to see. Right?” David tried to explain to Petra (Wyndham 112).

With evidence, David proves change is key to survival when he prioritizes to protect Petra.

David proves change is key to survival when he meets Sophie and begins to question

his beliefs. David built a friendship with Sophie then discovered she had a deviation. She

didn’t seem evil to him but, David’s society makes mutants out to be this way. A line from

the faith they follow shows the hatred they have towards deviations “THE DEVIL IS THE

FATHER OF DEVIATION” (Wyndham 18). But other then having an extra toe(s), Sophie is

much like any other civilian in David’s community. After getting to know Sophie, David

begins to wonder why his society is so against people that don’t meet their expectations.

Since this society is unaccepting, Sophie and her family must live their life in secret. After

discovering Sophie was a deviation, David became more interested in the topic. He started

feeling a sense of compassion towards the way deviations were forced to live. For example,

Sophie and her family were forced to run away to prevent being discovered. They had to

leave their entire lives behind- “Mrs Wender brought in a series of sachets and packs. I

watched glumly as she dumped them close to the door, and went away again” said David as
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the Wenders packed away. With evidence, David proves change is key to surviving when he

discovers Sophie, causing him to question his beliefs.

David demonstrates a key theme of surviving through change. Evidence being a

change in his personality traits, priorities and beliefs. The theme of change is key to

survival is proved by David when he discovers his powers and how important it is to keep

them safe. David also proves the theme of surviving through change when Petra discovers

her powers causing his priorities to change. Lastly, David proves change is key to survival

when he develops a relationship with Sophie causing him to question his beliefs. With

evidence from the novel, David proves the theme of change is key to survival.
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Works Cited

Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids. New York: New York Review Books, 2008. Print.