The Chrysalids: The Negatives of The Sealand Woman

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Works Cited

Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids. 1955. London: Penguin Books, 1958. Print.

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Essay Outline

Thesis: Although the Sealand woman appears to be more open-minded than Joseph Strorm, her biased attitude towards telepathy reveals that like him, she, too, is arrogant, intolerant, and heartless.

Topic Sentence #1: Although the Sealand woman appears to have an open mind, she shows arrogance and a desire for greater power.

Episode #1: Petra was said by the Sealand woman to be “a discovery of utmost importance” and “all costs she must be protected”

-analysis: All the Sealand woman cared about is Petra, not anyone else, all because Petra has the high degree of telepathy so that the woman can increase power.

Episode #2: The Sealand woman said that Petra “must have babies who can make strong think-pictures, too.”

-analysis: An idea of eugenics, the arrogance of the Sealand woman does not allow her to be able to see marriage as true love, but as a way to increase strength of the telepaths.Topic Sentence #2: Such thirst in achieving power makes the Sealand woman intolerant.

Episode #1: The Sealand woman “ought to feel sorry for them”, the non-telepaths, because “they have to live very dull, stupid lives”.

-analysis: The Sealand woman is judging the lifestyle of other people, which shows that she is biased and intolerant.

Episode #2: The woman believes her kind “can make a better world than the Old People did” because they “were only ingenious half-humans, little better than savages”

-analysis: The Sealand woman does not accept the Old People, and thinks low of them compared to her kind.

Topic Sentence #3: Due to her intolerance, the Sealand woman shows cruelty and heartlessness.

Episode #1: Petra finds the mass murder “very horrid”.

-analysis: The Sealand woman’s cruelty was greatly expressed when the little girl, who sees her to be a role model until the murder, finds her actions to be terrible.

Episode #2: The Sealand woman “simply” announces that everyone else is “dead” from the murder / She makes a rather careless excuse saying she cannot save Rachel that is still in Waknuk because it is “a very long way” to Sealand although she has that “sympathy and admiration in her eyes”.

-analysis: The Sealand heartlessness is shown by acting calm after killing many people, which indicates that she may have killed other people before. Also, her lack of effort into saving Rachel shows that her cruelty defeats her care for others, as it was never her intention to save the telepaths besides Petra.