Module 2: The Novel - The Chrysalids

Lesson 2.3A: What is Your View?

Authors are often prompted to write a novel because of concerns or issues they see in the world around them. A novel can be a way to present a social issue in a context that helps readers to see it from a different perspective. In this lesson, you will have the opportunity to explore how one of the main issues presented in your novel is evident in the world around you.

You are now going to begin to explore some of the issues raised in the novel in the context of society in general. The concept you are going to explore in some depth is prejudice.

Take a few minutes and reflect on this topic before you read on. Have you heard of prejudice before? Can you think of examples where you have witnessed this in your own life or read about in social studies or the newspaper?

In The Chrysalids, "mutants" are sent to the Fringes because they are different. People who match the description of a "normal" human being as described in the book, Repentances (written by a person who fit the description), use their idea of "normal" to reject anyone who is different. Not only do they send them away, they say that the people who are different are not human.

The "mutants" in the novel are discriminated against because of their differences in appearance. They are labeled dangerous to society, called the work of the devil, and sent away. Yet the "mutants" seem to be normal in every way but for physical differences. Sophie was an ordinary little girl. Joseph Strorm's brother seems normal except for his extra long limbs. When David saw the people of the Fringes, he thought they looked surprisingly common, except that they were dressed in rags.

Unfortunately, this kind of prejudice doesn't happen only in the novel. Examples come from all over the world at every point in history.

Did you know that in Canada, people have also been sent to the "Fringes" for not being like average Canadians? In fact, three times in recent history, Canadians have been divided and relocated because of their differences. During World War II, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, there was a growing and persistent fear that Canada was at risk of being attacked. The fear grew, and led people, and powerful politicians, to suggest that all people of Japanese heritage who lived near the coast in B.C. were a danger to national security. Japanese Canadians might be spies for the Japanese; they should be contained. At first their movements were restricted, and they were subject to curfews. Then it was decided that they should be moved away from the coast entirely. Japanese Canadians of all ages were taken to internment camps, many of them in the interior of British Columbia, for the remainder of the war.

The people who were taken to the camps did nothing more than look Japanese. Many were Canadian citizens, some had been born in Canada, and some were very young children, or very senior citizens, yet all of them were considered dangerous enemy aliens.

During World War I, a similar kind of restriction happened to more than five thousand Ukrainian men, because of the war in Europe. Many were Canadian citizens; they had families to support and jobs to go to, but they were taken to work camps in northern Ontario and Quebec, and made to do hard labour there for up to six long years. In fact, many of the prisoners were kept for more than a year after the war ended, without reason, and finally released to return to their families. Some had been reduced to begging for food because the main wage-earner was in a prisoner of war camp, working for the Canadian government for free to complete projects such as steel mills and logging operations. They were separated out because of their ethnicity, and sent away from their homes. They were sometimes shot if they tried to escape.

Before and during both of the world wars, First Nations Canadian children were separated from their families, incarcerated in residential schools, forbidden to speak their native language, or to see their brothers and sisters. They were separated from their homes and culture in an attempt to assimilate them into "Canadian" society. Today, many First Nation Canadians are still dealing with the emotional scars caused by this experience.

In each of these three situations, a group of people was separated out and banished from their community because of racial or ethnic difference; often the difference came down to appearance, just like it did for the mutants in The Chrysalids. However, no angel in a white helicopter is going to come and rescue the people suffering from discrimination like she did in the novel; what possibilities do you see for bringing an end to the prejudice?

Sending People to the "Fringes," WWII
You are now going to view a media asset on the "Japanese Internment: A Gross Injustice," which describes the story of a child whose family is removed from their home and relocated to the interior of B.C., because of their Japanese heritage. His story will help you understand what happened to the Japanese because they were similar in appearance and heritage to a nation at war with America on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, but different from the majority of people in Canada.

You will need to refer back to this asset in a composition you will write in the next lesson. As you read, you may want to take notes. The process of note taking involves writing down important information from verbal and nonverbal information. The purpose of note taking is to help your remember what information is important and to create a summary of information to refer back to at a later time, for instance, when you need information to write a composition.

Here’s one strategy you can use to take notes:

Divide your page into two parts: the left column is one-third of the page and the right column is two-thirds of the page.

As you read, write down key ideas, terms, topics in the left column.

Write down a summary of important details or explanations in the right column.

When you go back to your notes for reference, you can quickly locate key information by your topic list in the left column.

Be sure to use your own words as you note take so that you know your brain has processed the information!

Click on Japanese Internment to view the media asset.

Journal Entry 2.3A: Are You Surprised by "The Japanese Internment"? Please respond to the following questions in the journal section of the assignment template: Are you surprised by the story about the Japanese child’s experience? Does this change any of your perceptions of what it means to be Canadian? Journal Entry 2.3B: What is Your Experience? Please respond to one of the following questions in your Journal: Have you ever felt the sting of discrimination because you are different? Describe what happened in your experience. How have you dealt with the experience? Have you ever rejected or excluded someone because they were different? What happened? What effect did your actions have on that person or group of people?

Summary
Completing this lesson has helped you to:

• identify examples of discrimination in the novel.
• explore incidences of racial or other discrimination in recent history.
• reflect on your own experiences with discrimination.