The Chrysalids: The Negatives of The Sealand Woman

Kevin Huynh

Ms. Kolacevic

ENG1DE-04

May 30, 2014

The Chrysalids: The Negatives of the Sealand Woman

        The value of a human being is what would make a utopia, which is ultimately not possible due to the flaws of a human. People may value the wrong things because of the existence of xenophobia, which can lead to violence and a coming of a dystopia. In Wyndham’s The Chrysalids, the novel introduces the Sealand woman, a so-called saviour that is evidently shown to fail to recognize the value of a human being. She saves the telepathic fugitives to her homeland from a land ruled by the power-hungry Joseph Strorm, only as an intention for herself to achieve greater power. As result of that hunger for power, she grows bias which shows that she thinks the only valuable thing a human has is having telepathy. Her intolerance of non-telepaths ultimately reveals the cruel side of her in front of the fugitives. Although the Sealand woman appears to be more open-minded than Joseph Strorm, her biased attitude towards telepathy reveals that like him, she, too, is arrogant, intolerant, and heartless.

        Although the Sealand woman appears to have an open mind, she shows arrogance and a desire for greater power. She was able to view that “life is change”, (182) but that seem to mean nothing to her, as she is a hypocrite and really is an arrogant person. On a meeting with the fugitives, they were told repeatedly that Petra’s power of projecting telepathy “was a discovery of utmost importance”, (141) and at “all costs she must be protected”. (141) This suggests that the Sealand woman only cares about Petra, only as a way to gain supremacy, and she never cares about the safety of the rest of the fugitives, which shows arrogance. She also suggests that when Petra grows up, she “must have babies who can make strong think-pictures”, (145) depicting an idea of eugenics, not true love. In a humane society, good role models should be humble and not consider about gaining power. The purpose of the Sacrament of Marriage is the ultimate happiness of true love, not a way to make better babies. The Sealand woman’s desire for power indicates that she does not value true love.

        Such thirst in achieving power makes the Sealand woman intolerant. She feels sorry for the non-telepaths, in which they “ought to feel sorry for them”, (145) because “they have to live very dull, stupid lives” without telepathy. (146) She is judging lifestyles of other people, which makes her biased and intolerant. Not only is she intolerant of non-telepaths of the present setting, she believes that her kind, the telepaths, “can make a better world than the Old People did” because they “were only ingenious half-humans, little better than savages”. (156) This suggests how arrogance lead to the bias that favours only the telepaths and not accept the lifestyles of others, whom she calls primitives, animals, savages, and “inadequate species”. (157) In a humane society, good role models should not be prejudiced of other people, or take total pride in themselves. Acceptance and tolerance is the humane way to do, as love is God’s mission. In the end, they are still humans, and whatever the Sealand woman say about non-telepaths reflects upon her and her true personality. The Sealand woman’s does not accept the value of equality.

        Due to her intolerance, the Sealand woman shows cruelty and heartlessness. When she arrives at the Fringes to save the fugitives, she uses sticky threads to constrict everyone in the surrounding area with it. To remove the deadly effect of the threads, she puts spray on the fugitives, leaving the rest of the surrounding area “motionless, petrified”. (191) Even Petra, the little girl who thinks of the Sealand woman as a role model, notes that scene was “very horrid”. (192) The Sealand woman “simply” announces that everyone else is “dead”. (195) Her intolerance leads to the cruel mass murder of the non-telepaths, and that her choice to not spray everyone the Fringes people from that deadly effect of the threads is what makes her heartless. Considering she announces the murder in such a calm matter, it is no doubt she might have killed more people before that. In addition, she cannot bring Rachel, a telepathic fugitive that is still in Waknuk, to Sealand. Although she can drop the fugitives that are in the Fringes to Sealand and then come back to Waknuk, she never gave any consideration of that. Instead, she makes a rather careless excuse saying that it is “a very long way” to Sealand although she has that “sympathy and admiration in her eyes”, (198) which indicates that her cruelty defeats her care for others. All she really cares about is Petra, and not only would she not save a non-telepath, but she does not wish to ever save Rachel or anyone else in the group. In a humane society, good role models should not think about killing at all and be inclusive, as killing is a sin. The Sealand woman’s cruelty and heartlessness shows selfishness; she is not able to show care for other people.

        Despite the Sealand woman appearing to be more open-minded than Joseph Strorm, her biased attitude towards the telepaths shows that she is also arrogant, intolerant, and heartless. She does not recognize the values of a human being. In today’s society, people spread prejudice and hate for reasons with race, sexual orientation, or religion – and in the Chrysalids’s case, appearance and mental traits. Overlooking these traits is what makes a better person, and recognizing that everyone is considered equal is what makes a person fully open-minded. Humility is what makes love possible, and love is main value of a human being. A utopia would most likely exist if everyone loves each other, not if everyone is of a specific race or have a specific trait or religion – or have telepathy. If one starts a power-hungry revolution, it will lead to the opposites of human values, violence, hate, and war, which will lead to dystopia.