The Chrysalids
Chapter 2
by Wyndham, JohnThe chapter opens with the narrator’s cautious journey home through the woods, highlighting the potential dangers of wild animals in the area. Despite the risks, the narrator encounters only small creatures and skillfully navigates the terrain to avoid detection, eventually slipping into their house unnoticed. The description of the house reveals its sprawling, haphazard construction, reflecting its gradual expansion over time. Built with a mix of materials from the ruins of the “Old People,” the house is a blend of functionality and historical remnants, symbolizing the community’s connection to the past.
The narrative shifts to a portrait of the narrator’s grandfather, Elias Strorm, a domineering and morally rigid man who founded the family’s legacy in Waknuk. Elias’s strict adherence to religious virtue and his harsh treatment of his young wife paint a picture of a man driven by fear and righteousness. His wife, initially vibrant, is worn down by his relentless preaching, dying prematurely. This section underscores the oppressive atmosphere of the household, where rigid beliefs overshadow personal relationships and individuality.
The focus then turns to the narrator’s father, Joseph Strorm, who inherits Elias’s fervent religiosity but adopts a more legalistic approach. As a prominent figure in Waknuk, Joseph upholds the family’s reputation through landownership, preaching, and magistracy. The community of Waknuk, named after an ancient settlement, is depicted as orderly and devout, with the Strorm family at its center. The narrator’s parents embody the ideals of duty and purity, reinforcing the strict moral framework governing their lives and the wider district.
The chapter concludes with a detailed description of the family’s living space, particularly the large kitchen-living room, which serves as the heart of the home. The room’s cleanliness and simplicity reflect the family’s values, with wooden panels displaying religious and moral maxims. These inscriptions, such as “KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD,” emphasize the community’s obsession with purity and conformity. The chapter effectively sets the stage for the novel’s exploration of dogma, identity, and resistance in a rigidly controlled society.
FAQs
1. How does the narrator’s journey home reflect the setting and dangers of Waknuk?
Answer:
The narrator’s cautious journey home illustrates both the semi-wilderness setting of Waknuk and its lingering dangers. He scrambles down a “narrow, little-used track” and keeps his hand on his knife, wary of rare but possible encounters with “large creatures” or wild dogs/cats that might stray from the woods into “civilized parts.” His stealthy approach—observing from cover, using hedges for concealment, and entering through a window—suggests a habitual wariness, possibly hinting at personal secrecy or the community’s rigid expectations. The description of small creatures fleeing reinforces the tension between civilization and the untamed edges of this world (Chapter 2).2. Analyze the portrayal of Elias Strorm. How does the narrator’s perspective on his grandfather evolve, and what does this reveal about family legacy in Waknuk?
Answer:
Initially, Elias is presented as a figure of “unrelieved virtue,” but the narrator later reconstructs a more nuanced (and less flattering) portrait. Elias is depicted as a domineering, morally rigid man whose “evangelical fire” and obsession with righteousness overshadowed his humanity—particularly in his treatment of his young wife, whom he crushed into a “sad, grey wraith.” This evolution reflects how family legacies in Waknuk are intertwined with religious fervor and control. The contrast between Elias’s fiery zeal and his son Joseph’s “legalistic” virtue further underscores generational shifts in enforcing societal norms (Chapter 2).3. What details about the Strorm house reveal its significance in the community, and how does its structure symbolize Waknuk’s values?
Answer:
The Strorm house, as the oldest and largest in Waknuk, embodies the community’s values of practicality, tradition, and religious pride. Its haphazard expansions (into barns, dairies, and servants’ quarters) reflect utilitarian growth, while its construction—using bricks from the “Old People’s ruins” paired with sturdy timber—symbolizes a blend of reclaimed history and self-reliance. The living-room fireplace, a “testament” to God’s provision, and the prominently displayed wooden panels with sayings like “KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD” emphasize the family’s role as moral leaders. The house’s cleanliness and lack of decoration mirror Waknuk’s austere, duty-driven ethos (Chapter 2).4. How does the chapter establish tension between the “Old People” and the current society of Waknuk?
Answer:
The chapter hints at a fraught relationship with the past through remnants of the “Old People”—foundations repurposed for new buildings, the mysterious “scar” on the mountain, and the vague tradition of Waknuk’s name. These fragments suggest a society built atop a forgotten, possibly advanced civilization, yet the current inhabitants view the past with ambivalence: they reuse its materials but seem wary of its “superhuman” capabilities. The Strorm house’s reuse of bricks and the community’s focus on purity (“BLESSED IS THE NORM”) imply a rejection of the Old People’s complexity in favor of simpler, controlled living (Chapter 2).5. Critical Thinking: How might the narrator’s secretive behavior and observations foreshadow larger conflicts in the story?
Answer:
The narrator’s stealthy return home—avoiding detection, entering through a window—suggests he operates outside Waknuk’s strict norms, possibly hinting at future rebellion or hidden traits. His detailed observations (e.g., Jacob’s oblivious labor, the house’s layout) reveal a keen, analytical mind attuned to gaps in authority. Given Waknuk’s emphasis on conformity (“ONLY THE IMAGE OF GOD IS MAN”), his clandestine habits may foreshadow clashes with his father’s rigid worldview or the community’s intolerance for deviation. This tension could escalate if his actions or identity challenge the purity laws central to Waknuk’s identity (Chapter 2).
Quotes
1. “He was a husky man, a dominating man, and a man fierce for rectitude. He had eyes that could flash with evangelical fire beneath bushy brows. Respect for God was frequently on his lips, and fear of the devil constantly in his heart, and it seems to have been hard to say which inspired him the more.”
This vivid description of Elias Strorm captures the chapter’s exploration of religious extremism and patriarchal control. The quote introduces the foundational influence of the grandfather’s zealous worldview on the family and community.
2. “She moved, I have been told, like a lovely colt when she thought herself unwatched; as timorously as a rabbit when she felt her husband’s eye upon her.”
This poignant contrast illustrates the destructive impact of Elias’s rigid expectations on his young wife. The quote serves as a powerful example of how religious fundamentalism crushed individual spirit and joy.
3. “Joseph Strorm, my father, did not marry until Elias was dead, and when he did he was not a man to repeat his father’s mistake. My mother’s views harmonized with his own. She had a strong sense of duty, and never doubted where it lay.”
This passage shows the generational transmission of ideology, where Joseph learns from his father’s “mistakes” by choosing a like-minded spouse. It reveals the institutionalization of control through selective marriage.
4. “KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD. […] BLESSED IS THE NORM”
These chilling slogans displayed in the Strorm household encapsulate the chapter’s central theme of eugenics and religiously-sanctioned discrimination. The quotes represent the community’s core beliefs about genetic purity and conformity.
5. “Our district, and, consequently, our house as the first there, was called Waknuk because of a tradition that there had been a place of that name there, or thereabouts, long, long ago, in the time of the Old People.”
This quote introduces the post-apocalyptic setting and the community’s relationship with the mysterious past. It hints at the theme of historical discontinuity and the distortion of history in fundamentalist societies.