As I think about the world I've lived to experience in these times, I am reminded of the novel by John Wyndham and published 70 years ago. I wonder if I'm even permitted to read such a novel in a time when books are being banned in schools and libraries. I remember when I was in school that I had the freedom to read and think and discuss with the independence demanded by scholarship. However, today I'm petrified that the era of dystopia is about t overtake us and restrictions of all sorts will abound.
What do you think? I invite you to read the aforementioned novel then share your views.
References are below to guide you. YC
The Chrysalids (United States title: Re-Birth) is a science fiction novel by British writer John Wyndham, first published in 1955 by Michael Joseph. It is the least typical of Wyndham's major novels, but regarded by some as his best.[2][3][4] An early manuscript version was entitled Time for a Change.[5]
The novel was adapted for BBC radio by Barbara Clegg in 1982,[6] with a further adaptation by Jane Rogers in 2012.[7] It was also adapted for the theatre by playwright David Harrower in 1999.[8]
Plot summary
[edit]The inhabitants of post-apocalypse Labrador have vague knowledge of the "Old People", a technologically advanced civilization they believe was destroyed when God sent "Tribulation" to the world to punish their forebears' sins. The inhabitants practise a form of fundamentalist Christianity; they believe that to follow God's word and prevent another Tribulation, they must preserve absolute normality among the surviving humans, plants and animals, and therefore practice eugenics. Humans with even minor mutations are considered blasphemies and either killed or sterilized and banished to the Fringes, a lawless and untamed area rife with animal and plant mutations, and suggested to be contaminated with radiation.
