The Chrysalids (by John Wyndham)

John Wyndham

Imagine living in a world where an extra toe on a newborn will automatically result in the death of the baby, a pig with more hair than normal will be put down, and corn kernels that are not in perfectly formed rows will necessitate(vt. 使…成为必要, 需要) burning an entire field. This world exists in John Wyndham’s novel, The Chrysalids.

This is the world of David Strorm, the main character in the novel. As a young child, he often dreamed of a city filled with objects considered fantastical in his world, such as flying machines and carts that move without horses. However, as David grows older, he realizes that he has the ability to communicate telepathically(telepathy: n. 传心术,心灵感应) with certain other children. This ability means that David would be considered to be a Blasphemy(n. 亵渎上帝（的言行或行为）；亵渎神明) in his community.

David does not understand the severity of such status until he meets Sophie, a girl who was born with an extra toe on each foot. David befriends Sophie and keeps her secret. When her secret is discovered by another boy in the district, Sophie and her family are forced to flee. As a result David realizes that, if his secret is discovered, he will suffer dire(adj. 可怕的, 恐怖的) consequences.

As David gets older, he and the other telepathic children master the use of their abilities. David’s forward-thinking uncle, Axel, becomes aware of David’s telepathic power; he makes several efforts to convince David that the extra ability is something worth having, but must be concealed(隐藏; 隐瞒, 遮住). The others agree to keep their secret, and they are able to live normally for some years.

The secret is threatened when one of the others, Anne, chooses to marry a normal (non-telepath) man; although Anne attempts to renounce(声明放弃；宣布与……决裂) her powers, her husband eventually discovers the truth, putting the lives and David and his fellows in danger. Another risk emerges when it becomes evident（adj. 明显的, 明白的） that David’s little sister, Petra, possesses far greater powers of telepathy. Petra’s thought projection is painfully strong and usually involuntary; she is young, and her powers are tied directly to her emotions. When she gets upset, she becomes a compulsive(adj. 强迫性的，令人入迷的) beacon（灯塔）, drawing the others to her. This creates a potentially dangerous situation.

Members of the community become aware of David’s powers, and he must flee with Petra and his girlfriend, Rosalind, who has also been revealed as telepathic. They must make a dangerous journey in search of a region where no one knows who they are, or why they left their home.

On their journey, Petra begins communicating with a woman in a faraway land, who promises to send help. She also promises to bring them to Sealand, a land which is populated by telepathic people. David and the girls must avoid the posse（地方武装团队） from their district that continues to pursue them, and are captured by the Fringe people, a group of exiled Blasphemies who seek revenge.

Themes examined in The Chrysalids include the inevitability of change, man’s inhumanity to his fellow man, ignorance（自大，自以为是）, and bigotry（偏执；顽固；偏执的行为）. Despite being over 50 years old, the ideas expressed in this science-fiction novel are still timely today. This novel is an excellent reader for individuals who are avid（渴望，热心的） readers of classic science-fiction.

Locations

Waknuk

David's home town, also the name of his father's farm. It is a small agricultural community, part of the larger theocracy（神权政治(国家)） of Labrador. The neighbouring town is Kentak. On a present-day map, Waknuk can be identified with Wabush in south-western Labrador, adjacent to Labrador City.

Labrador

A Christian fundamentalist（基督教原教旨主义） civilization which arose in North America centuries after a nuclear holocaust（大屠杀） (dimly remembered as "Tribulation（苦难）," and attributed to the wrath（愤怒，咆哮） of God). In the time of the novel, Labrador society is at a technological level roughly comparable 18th-Century America - possessing sailing ships and firearms, but no heavy industry. The capital of Labrador, on the coast down river from Waknuk, is Rigo (Rigolet, in the real world). The island of Newf (Newfoundland) is also civilized, but knowledge of the rest of the world is vague（模糊的,不清楚的） and colored by religious dogma（教义,教条;信条）. The inhabitants of Labrador and Newf appear to be normal humans who have retained the pre-Tribulation phenotype（n. 显型、表现型）; they believe it is their sacred（上帝的；神的；宗教的; 神圣的） mission to preserve this form, and all other species decreed（decree n/v, 命令, 裁决;） by God, against the rampant(( 坏事) 泛滥的；猖獗的) mutations(n. 突变, 变异, 变种; 突变体) which have continued since the fall of Tribulation.

Wild Country

Frontier lands, lying south and south-west of Waknuk, where the chance of breeding true is still less than 50%. Some Offences(犯规; 违法行为; 罪行) among crops and animals have to be tolerated here.

Fringes

The enigmatic(难以理解的,神秘的) land beyond Wild Country. Apparently suffered heavier radioactive contamination than the rest of Labrador, being closer to the original nuclear bombings. It is essentially a lawless land and subject to uncontrolled mutation. This is also where the unfortunate human mutants(<生>突变体) from civilized Labrador communities are exiled. Examples include Gordon (the spider-man), and Sophie. The monstrous(极可恶的;令人震惊的) inhabitants of the Fringes are semi-mythical among Labrador people, subjects of folk tales and cautionary children's stories.

Badlands

Outside of the Fringes. These lands are still dangerously radioactive, and it is believed that anyone who sets foot there will die. Sailors who navigate along the Badlands coast south of Newf report seeing a jungle of fantastic mutations. David's uncle Axel describes tree-sized grasses, succulents((水果及肉类)汁多味美的) like houses with 10-foot spines, cable-like climbing plants which grow directly into the sea, unnameable beasts and birds. Conventional Labrador teaching is that most of the world consists of Badlands, although explorers have discovered other populated regions further south.

Black Coasts

The sites of past nuclear detonations(爆炸 (声)), at the center of the Badlands: a series of blasted, barren(荒芜的，不孕的, 不生育的; 不结果的) regions where the ground is fused（熔合的） into black glass, where nothing can grow, and even the waters offshore are sterile（不孕的, 不生育的;）. Any close approach by ship leads to sickness and usually death; observers who survived told of city ruins which glow faintly in the dark.

"Sealand"

New Zealand, which was isolated enough to largely escape the holocaust. Advanced industrial civilization has arisen here again, and telepathy has become universal among the populace(百姓, 平民). Zealanders were unaware of the distant Labrador civilization, until one of their strongest telepaths picked up Petra Strorm's prodidgious( prodigiouss: 很大的,惊人的) thought transmissions. (The letter Z has been forgotten in Labrador, causing David and Rosalind to mispronounce the name Zealand).