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The Chrysalids Gender Roles

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The Chrysalids by John Wyndham is a novel where a group of shape-thinkers finds themselves threatened in Waknuk, a community with pioneer beliefs. The different societies—Waknuk, Fringe, and Sealand—differ from each other in terms of their ideal human image and government. However, each society has one thing in common with each other: the notion that they are superior. Subsequently, David Strorm, the protagonist, goes on a journey with his friends to find refuge from Waknuk’s authority, a society driven by fear and curiosity, who wants them hunted. All throughout the novel, women play a subservient role due to the religious traditions and patriarchal structure of Waknuk, as well as how men reduce women to sexual objects. Religion is one underlying …show more content…

He’s kind to me, David. You’ve got to have as little as I have to know how much that means. You’ve never known loneliness—You can’t understand the awful emptiness that’s waiting all around us here. I’d have given him babies gladly, if I could…I—oh, why do they do that to us? Why didn’t they kill me? It would have been kinder than this… (Wyndham 167). This quotation displays a contradicting situation, in which Sophie criticizes herself for not being able to bare children. This also shows that the fringe place great importance on being able to create offspring. Moreover, women, especially in the fringes, have nothing—Sophie is one of them. Hence, Sophie resorts to having sexual intercourse with a man who will never truly love her. In similar situations, other women also rely on men. In the end, men reduce women, while they also degrade themselves into a mere sexual object because they believe that is all their worth. In all, The Chrysalids demonstrates the inferiority of women in Waknuk and the fringe. Waknuk’s religious traditions restraint women’s actions in life, while the society blames and punishes them. Furthermore, women are also objectified throughout the story. This shows how women are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Altogether, these factors influence the role of women in the

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