'The Chrysalids' by John Wyndham tells the story of an innocent boy with telepathic abilities living in an anti-mutant society. This boy, David, is faced with several challenges that have made him aware of the habits of the world in which he finds himself. The main theme of the novel is discrimination and this is seen in the society of Waknuk, Joseph Storm and the setting of the book. Waknuk society is taught to follow God's laws and the "definition of man" because they fear the punishment they will receive if they do not. This fear has blinded the people of Waknuk, so much so that they cannot differentiate between good and evil, devotion and discrimination. The Waknukians discriminate against all forms of deviation, human, animal and even cultures. Since deviations are strongly frowned upon in the world. In society, most deviations are killed or sent to the Fringes, where they are exposed to the wild and must survive on their own as punishment. Deviations are deprived of their right to live a normal life simply because of their few physical imperfections. This is clearly seen in the case of Spider Man, also known as Gordon Storm. Gordon Storm could have been Waknuk's heir, but due to his unusually long arms and legs, he was discriminated against and sent to the Fringes, even though his life could have been much better if he had been allowed to live in Waknuk. Waknuk women are also discriminated against if they have given birth to three deviant children because their husbands ostracize them. Society chooses its devotion over humanity, making it unfavorable to deviants, even if the deviants have not deliberately done anything evil against religion. This is also seen when David realizes that Sophie was classified as ...... middle of paper ...... negative qualities like us. They are behind us technologically, but their attitudes are very similar to ours, in the sense that we and the Waknuks discriminate against people because of their differences. The author uses the Sealand woman to further reinforce this message of discrimination, as shown in the quote "The essential quality of life is life, the essential quality of life is change, change is evolution : and we are part of it. In conclusion, this novel revolves around the theme of discrimination and how we are actually like the characters created by John Wyndham. People are still discriminated against in our society today because of their race and religion and in a sense we are like Joseph Storm, if we continue to discriminate against people because of their differences it just means we we cannot accept change and this is not the case. I'm no different from Joseph Strorm.