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color me blind
There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler's mind. - So Long And Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams |
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A female member of the homo sapiens species
(warm-blooded, omnivorous, currently alive) Diet includes walrus diarrhea, preserved portions of man-made worms cooked in boiling water and the outermost layer of flesh of eggs that have been incubated, raised, beheaded, plucked and fried in oil. Extremely unpredictable, high-five on sight. tagboard
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Chrysalids blog. Because I was doing chapter summaries of it and sorta realized how horrible it really was. No, this is not just about David. It's about everything in there. Firstly, I'm annoyed by the inconsistency in the religousness of the people. Apparently, they study the Bible and Nicholson's Repentances. However, they don't display any of the biblical values that they apparently follow. David mentions being conflicted about honoring your father and mother, but doesn't bat an eyelid when his dad is shot dead afterwards. (More on this later). Moreover, he commits adultery with Rosalind, doesn't care when Uncle Axel causally tosses aside "Thou shalt not kill" and the concept of lying as a sin is completely tossed out of the window. Compared to Salem, Waknuk is utterly immoral even though they're meant to be similarly religious. Apparently Wyndham just took one small passage from the bible, God making man in His own image, twisted it to suit himself and completely forgot about the rest of it. Salem emphasized on that passage about the witches, but they kept to the rest of the ten commandments and bible as well. It's true that Salem was based on real events, but I can't help but feel that Wyndham is slacking. Secondly, David. This is my third time reading the book. The first, I was rather impartial to him and actually felt a little sympathy for his plight. Second time, I was just annoyed at his uselessness. Third time, I'm beginning to get really creepy vibes from him. Is he some kind of socipathic psycho? Let's look at all the evidence that has me convinced that this is so. When Uncle Axel kills Alan, when Rosalind kills the man on horseback, when his father and childhood friend and all the villagers he's known for years are brutally slaughtered before his very eyes, what is his reaction? Absolutely nothing. I would accept this if this is meant to be a sign that he is slowly adapting the Sealand woman's point of view that the norms are a doomed race and looks down on them because of that, severing his emotional connections with them. I might actually like this book if that were the case. But apparently I'm supposed to believe that David is GOOD, that he is AGAINST the Sealand woman's views and can see her bigotedness that is oh so similar to that of his father. How can a character that is likeable just write off the deaths of mostly everyone he's ever known, people he's grown up with all his life, like that? when he cried like a baby after betraying Sophie and apparently was hurt and shocked when he heard of Katherine's torture? You expect me to believe he was totally unaffected by Sophie's violent death? The childhood friend he supposedly felt terribly guilty for betraying? And you expect me to just accept that he goes off with the Sealand woman who just casually killed all the Waknuk and Fringes people off with the excuse that "they're gonna die anyway"? Either he's an emotionless psycho, or the writer's an idiot. Thirdly, then Uncle Axel suggests that they kill Anne so that they won't be endangered, he says that it is better to have a sword hanging over them rather than a sword inside them. Basically, if they kill Anne, they'll all feel guilty and that would be bad for them. Have they ever considered her feelings? all they have been worried about from the start is their own safety and well-being. Has he even once tried to understand her and where she is coming from? They couldn't have tried to sympathize with her and given her support so that she wouldn't have had cut off all communication with them and had to blab all her pent up feelings to Alan. No, she ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT EVER marry a norm, because that would endanger them! Not to mention that a perfectly good reason to support why she should not do this (Alan's hatred for deviations as shown by his reaction to Sophie) is never mentioned and instead we get a whole paragraph of how norms' communication skills are inferior to that of the telepaths. So you disagree with the Sealand woman? So you find her condescending and arrogant? Why don't you look at Michael blatantly praising your own kind on page 121, you idiots. Hypocrisy aside, when the telepaths find out that Anne is dead, NOTHING HAPPENS. Even when David finds out that Uncle Axel killed Alan which indirectly caused her death, NOTHING HAPPENS. What happened to that sword inside you guys? Conveniently forgot about it, hmm? No regrets or guilt, just relief that they've saved their own skins and didn't actually have to get their hands dirty. Even when it is implied that Mark and Katherine are dead and Rachel is freaking out by herself there, there is no mention that they even feel anything for people other than their own love interests. When they get on the aircraft and Michael trots off heroically to elope with his lady love, no one mentions Sally or Mark or Katherine. What, you guys just forgot about them because you're not hot for them? Or since you guys are safe and sound the safety of the others doesn't matter? You say you're sooo connected and united as a group, but there is absolutely no evidence for this. I'm not sure whether it's just John Wyndham's writing skills (or the lack thereof), but you're selfish, fake little hypocrites and I hate you. Deus ex machina. Sealand woman comes in her magical flying fish, picks them up and off we go. No need to bother about the carnage or the dead bodies or how the survivors are going to cope. We'll just zip off to our happy ending now! No. Just. No. What is this? I feel that ever since Sealand was introduced the whole plot and the issues of the novel went downhill. The counter-arguments to Waknuk's common beliefs are presented in infodumps from random people (even the fringes man goes off on his own little rant. that is just stupid.) Uncle Axel's speeches sound extremely unnatural. Was there no other way Wyndham could have introduced this into the story more subtly than a couple of side characters with "Author's Mouthpiece" written all over them going off on forced monologues? This book is meant to be discussing the issues of discrimination, fear of change and all that jazz. But all this disappears once the Sealand woman turns up. Sure, they're the new superior race who totally embrace the idea of change and evolution, and the telepaths elope with them and live happily ever after. One thing: What is the point of this story, then? You give me a story of a boy growing up in a deeply bigoted and narrow-minded society who later suffers from persecution and discrimination, then running away and getting picked up by an pretty lady in a magic spacecraft. WHAT IS THE POINT? What does this say about racism and discrimination? Just run away and everything will turn out dandy at the end? Not only that, but the whole story kinda segued off from discrimination to evolution, which confused the hell outta me. Either Wyndham can't make up his mind about what he's writing, or my teacher just misread about the entire book. Now, about Sealand. Housing the self-proclaimed "New People" who are Better Than You. Who think it's perfectly okay to waltz in and slaughter everyone so that they can extract three telepaths, just because they're Better Than You and don't want to deal with icky inferior animals. Because I detest the Sealand woman so much, I'm going to comment on her whole monologue in detail. Sorry. She tells the telepaths that she has killed everyone involved in the fighting, calling it "an unavoidable, but unexceptional, necessity". As I said above, THIS WAS NOT NECESSARY IN THE LEAST. If there were three people stuck in the middle of some rioting monkeys I wouldn't shoot all the monkeys before getting them out. And that's taking the stand where they are inferior beings to your glorified self. It is obvious that you have the superior technology and the flying magic UFO, why couldn't you have just got to the cave and got them out and left? The norms were evidently terrified of you. Referencing your examples, you're not talking about eating animals and plants here. We're talking about a massacre that you just casually executed. Those primitive people weren't going to kill you. They weren't even a threat to you. You knew that the Fringes people were "condemned through no act of their own". Sure they were going to die off sooner or later. But that does not excuse you just coming out of nowhere and slaughtering them. You call yourself a superior race. I call you uncivilized barbarians, killing on a whim and having absolutely no regard for human life. "In loyalty to their kind they cannot tolerate our rise; in loyalty to our kind we cannot tolerate their obstruction." WHAT obstruction? They don't even know who you are! All they know that there are telepaths among their own offspring and they're scared because they don't know the implications of this! You didn't even know of them before this! You only came here for an ulterior motive: Petra. So that you can train her and use her to spawn strong little telepathic babies. Your concern for the sad plight of telepathic mutants is touching. Read paragraph above to see why the norms are not obstructing Sealanders from getting Petra. This next part of the speech is the one that drove me batshit crazy. She is trying to convince the telepaths that these disgusting norms are not your kind, you're so much better than them because of advanced communication skills and thus you shouldn't even feel sorry for their deaths. She said this "reprovingly", actually critical of their sympathy. She says that the people of Waknuk tried to kill of the deviants because they were trying to protect themselves from the "superior variant". Logic fail there, woman. The waknuk people saw deviations as inferior and hated by God and man. How does albinism, baldness and extra toes make them superior in any way? They were considered ugly, imperfect and unnatural, not superior. They could have killed off the deviants if they wanted to, but they chose to show mercy and just sterilize them before putting them in the Fringes, even though the Fringes people were raiding their homes regularly. Unlike a certain person who killed off a whole score of people regardless of guilt without batting an eyelid. I wonder who that could be? Oh, it's YOU. You just killed off a bunch of defenseless humans for no reason. I repeat. YOU JUST KILLED OFF A BUNCH OF DEFENSELESS HUMANS FOR NO REASON. Yet your perfect, ageless features and fairy helicopter are supposed to convince us that you're good. Next is just her preaching about how their telepathy makes them superior to everyone else, har de har har. Again, one thing: Do you not remember, woman, that you were descended from these so-called primitive people? It is only by luck that the nuclear fallout didn't wipe you out and instead gave you this funky power! You are not superior, YOU ARE OF THE SAME SPECIES! Just because the do not have telepathic abilities does not mean that they are any less human, that their lives are any less valuable than yours! Now I'm thinking that Wyndham was intending to promote discrimination and the idea of a superior race in a roundabout way. The Sealand woman, for all her sagely wisdom, seems to have forgotten that they all originated from the same race, victims of a nuclear fallout caused by themselves. They are not different species, dammit. They're all human, and she just killed a whole bunch of humans like they were nothing more than annoying pests. "we are not dogmatists teaching God how He should have ordered the world." Don't you preach God to me, woman. You just committed mass murder. I think that would be rather worse than dogmatism, agreed? And that sickeningly condescending tone is not winning you any brownie points. I like how she says their cobwebs are "more merciful than your arrows and spears". Even in methods of killing they are Better Than You. "Oh, we kill people for fun and absolutely no reason, but we do it mercifully! Ha! Better Than You, who do it because you're fighting for what you believe is right or for your own survival. Ugh, such crude and primitive methods! You guys are so gross." She tells the telepaths to consider what the norms have done to them, what they intended to do and why. This is supposed to completely erase the guilt and shock they feel from seeing them all killed. I'll admit to this, woman, you do know them very well, appealing to their selfish nature. Of course, this totally works on David, who remembers Aunt Harriet, Sally, Katherine and Sophie while feeling absolutely nothing at all, then thinking of how Petra could have died. I don't remember you ever being so close to your sister, my dear David. You never even mentioned interacting with her or being close to her. In fact I don't even remember any mention of her except for the times her telepathic powers brought you trouble. I have to feel sorry for you, Petra. Seems your abilities are all that matters to people. Why this sudden affection for Petra, David? This came out of nowhere and is very unnatural. There is a touching scene where Michael tells Rachel that he's going to fetch her away, appealing to David and Rosalind, saying that neither of them would leave the other behind. Once again, WHAT ABOUT SALLY AND KATHERINE AND MARK? Hello? What happened to them? I never heard mention of Sally dying, and I think Mark was implied to have been arrested. They're being tortured for information, struggling to stay loyal to you amidst the agony and you're prancing about with your girlfriend. Way to go, Michael. I used to think you were awesome, but now I've seen the other side of you. Get away from me. And, David? What about your beloved Uncle Axel? You don't care about him any more, even though he helped you so much? Do you realize it is a very real possibility that he might have come along in the hunt so that he could try and stop them from killing you? He might be one of the guys that your beloved savior has just killed by suffocation. And you don't care. You don't care about how your mother, your siblings and the rest of Waknuk is going to survive with the bulk of their men killed. You don't care that all the inhumane and cruel practice of Waknuk are going to go on, and essentially all the people you've ever known are going to bring about their own downfall. Because you have friends in higher places now, see. You don't care about anything except yourself. You make me sick. With that, they go off in the magic machine and land in Sealand. Everything is flowers and sunshine. The end. I just want to comment about the chapter title that our teachers (idk if it's official) have chosen for this chapter - "A Brave New World". Other than the blatant plagiarism there, I'd like to ask: how have the telepaths been brave in any way? They've hidden their true nature, then when discovered they've run away leaving two of their group to be brutally tortured for information. Nowhere in the book says they even felt guilty for being spared or tried to support them telepathically throughout their ordeal. After running away they went to the Fringes camp, where they have to rely on Sophie to save their asses. (I still think she's a wonderful character, by the way. Suck on that, David.) Then they wait out in the cave watching their kinsmen kill each other before being rescued by the Sealand woman. Brave? More like amazingly useless. Let me tell you what they could have done to earn that title. They could have gone and rescued Sally and Katherine. They could have formed a rebellion against their flawed society. They could have stood up for their rights and fought for something more than survival. They could have refused to go with the Sealand woman and actually gone back with Michael to save Rachel. "Sorry ma'am, but she's our friend, she's alone and afraid, and friends don't leave each other behind like that. If you want Petra, come back with more fuel and a better attitude. Ciao." She doesn't have to be your love interest for you to care about her, you know. Instead of doing all this (and more that I'm too lazy to mention), they just act like the useless, selfish bastards they are and are motivated by nothing more than self-preservation. No fighting for morals or values. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the so-called protagonists of this book. They're nothing more than animals. Lastly, the ending of the book. My problem with it is that NOTHING HAS CHANGED. The Sealand society is as bigoted, arrogant, and narrow-minded as the Waknuk one. The only thing that is different is that David and co. are the SUPERIOR ones now. Oh wait. That makes all the difference to you selfish little creatures, doesn't it? Since you're not the ones being condemned now, it's all fine. The ending is supposed to be all hopeful and bear "the promise of a better life" according to my teacher. Well, the way I see it, it's a rather chilling ending. They're hopeful and THINK that they will have a better life, but it's not true. Once they get there, they're just going to see the whole cycle all over again. Everything will repeat. And this time, their thoughts will be constantly monitored, they will be forcefully brainwashed into thinking that they're the superior race and that the norms are worthless, inferior lifeforms. However, because they've been on the receiving end of discrimination before, they'll realize this happening all over again. They'll have to find the real courage and bravery within themselves to stand up for what's right and rebel against society's values and beliefs. They will have to fight for the rights of the people who once persecuted and sought to kill them, against the people who rescued them but are doing something that they think is very wrong. ... I almost convinced myself that there is a hidden sequel to this book which has a plot that goes like this. But I guess I'm just deluding myself. Now I'm going to go into an exam with these theories in mind and have to vomit out politically correct answers while concealing my hatred for everything in this book except Sophie. What have I done? P. S. if you have read all this, I commend you for your godly patience. EDIT: GAH, now I've got a strong urge to write a sort of spiteful sequel to this book. They reach Sealand and realize that there are normal babies without telepathic powers born there too. The normals there are brought up to act as workers/slaves and have their tongues cut out so that they can't communicate with each other and stage any kind of rebellion. Sealand seems the type to do this, being cold and merciless and knowing the effectiveness of communication and unity among the people. David and Rosalind are disturbed by this, but they do nothing as is their character. Petra is taken away for training. They have a baby and when it is born, they discover that it is a normal one. I guess this would serve as a great enough motivation for them to rebel and realize that everything they had experienced in Waknuk is happening again. And by then Petra would have been brainwashed completely and they'd have to fight against her mind-exploding telepathic powers - ALISON. STOP. FOCUS, FOCUS. Chem. YES, CHEM. CHEM HOMEWORK. GO DO IT. NOW. FORGET ABOUT ALL THIS. CHEM HOMEWORK. ...Ugh. All the people who hate chrysalids on the internet are those who don't get it, think it's boring or just plain hate english. whyyyy |