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The Chrysalids: Difference between revisions
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SPOILERS ABOUND. BEWARE.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Girl]]: Both Rosalind and Sophie qualify (the latter during the second half of the book).
* [[Affably Evil]]: The inspector, arguably. He sympathizes with David's home life (considering that David has a monster for a father) and [[Even Evil Has Standards|strongly objects]] to {{spoiler|Joseph's [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] of his own son.}} However, it's indicated that he takes part in the interrogation of the captured telepaths, which in turn causes the three main characters to flee Waknuk for their lives.
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* [[Anyone Can Die]]: {{spoiler|David, Rosalind, Petra, Rachel and Michael are the only survivors among the titular group by novel's end.}}
* [[Asshole Victim]]: Alan Erwin. {{spoiler|And Joseph Strorm.}}
* [[As the Good Book Says...]]: Not only the Bible, but also the book "Repentances" and a document known as "The Definition of Man," that give specific conditions for man, beast and crops to be considered normal and not deviant. Joseph Strorm and other like-minded religious zealots are fond of quoting these sources to justify their actions and behavior.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Sophie. Alan learned it the hard way.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Mutants are one to the populace of Waknuk in general.
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* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: The Strorm family can't be considered anything else but this trope.
* [[Black Sheep]]: Aunt Harriet, to the point that following her visit, she's never spoken of again.
{{quote|
* [[Blessed
* [[Book Ends]]: The novel begins with David dreaming about a futuristic city and ends with {{spoiler|him, Rosalind and Petra actually going there.}}
* [[Boring but Practical]]: When David and Petra are getting ready to flee, he deliberately decides to arm himself with a bow and arrow as opposed to taking the family's hunting rifle. He makes this choice because (1) guns are heavy to carry, whereas bows and arrows are much lighter; (2) guns are slow to reload; (3) guns are useless once you run out of gunpowder (which is what all guns in the novel use), whereas you can retrieve and re-use arrows as many times as needed.
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* [[Broken Bird]]: Sophie. {{spoiler|Being forced to undergo female castration will do that.}}
* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Joseph Strorm gets this on a number of occasions. One such moment is during an argument with the inspector over the use of great-horses which have been approved by the Government, but which Joseph insists are Blaspemies due to their unusually huge size (which the inspector declares has happened as a result of controlled, Government-sanctioned breeding):
{{quote|
'''Inspector:''' It's part of my official duty to protect them from harm by fools and bigots. }}
** David later contemplates whether to do this to his father, but he's convinced not to venture out to face Joseph.
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* [[Crapsack World]]: The kindest possible description of the world David lives in.
* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Rosalind. David, too, but not to Rosalind's extent, which earns him a stinging rebuke from her.
* [[Cursed
* [[Days of Future Past]]
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: The inspector and Michael.
* [[Death
* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Rosalind, David's half-cousin.
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: The arrival of the S/Zealand woman. It's made less of an [[Ass Pull]] by the mere fact that the main characters are assured of its happening throughout the latter half of the novel.
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* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Anne and Aunt Harriet.}}
* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]
* [[The End of the World
* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Taken [[Up to Eleven]] and going both ways for the Norms and the Mutants/Blasphemies, with Joseph Strorm being the worst known offender in the book.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Being banished to the Fringes is this for a ''lot'' of people. This view is quite justified, as because of the long-term effects of nuclear fallout, the living conditions there are...hazardous for anyone who's not tough enough to survive, to put it mildly.
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* [[Harmful to Minors]]: Like you wouldn't believe, in-universe.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Rosalind has one after being forced to shoot a man who was covertly hunting her, David and Petra following the trio's flight from Waknuk.
* [[Hot
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: {{spoiler|Uncle Axel's murder of Alan to protect the titular group's secret.}}
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal]]: Anne. David also prays for this at one point, out of fear of what he's witnessed happening to mutated crops and animals and fearing that the same may happen to him if he's found out.
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* [[Mercy Kill]]: In the second half of the book, Michael instructs David to do so to Petra and Rosalind if the trio are caught.
* [[The Mole]]: Michael, the oldest and best-educated of the telepaths and one of the few whose ability remains undiscovered, joins one of the groups hunting David and company in order to give them play-by-play information on what the fugitives need to do.
* [[No
* [[Not So Different]]: The argument presented in [http://www.sfreviews.net/chrysalids.html this review] of the novel suggests that, in terms of personality and motivation, {{spoiler|the S/Zealanders are really no different from Labrador's society}}.
** While in the Fringes, David comments that, barring tolerance of deviation, the mutants in the fringes aren't different from the townspeople of Waknuk.
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: Joseph Strorm joins one of the hunter bands seeking out David and Petra in order to do this. {{spoiler|He ends up being offed by his long-banished brother instead.}}
* [[Only Sane Man]]: On one hand, you could see this being played straight with the inspector, who isn't as fundamental as Waknuk is and only purges mutants because it's his job, but on the other hand, you could see this trope being ''inverted'' as Joseph Strorm's the only one that's really extreme about purging mutants.
* [[Our Ancestors Are Superheroes]]: A rumor described in the book indicated that the precursors could communicate over long distances, just like [[Telepathy]]. However, this was aided by technology rather than being a superpower.
* [[Overprotective Dad]]: Sophie's father is quite wary of David being around his daughter, although considering the kind of [[Fantastic Racism|society]] Waknuk is, one really can't blame him. It doesn't help that David is the son of the local [[Sinister Minister]].
* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Sophie and her parents at the start of the novel. By the time the second half gets underway, the titular group is this way as well.
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** A case could be made for David being this toward his father. Late in the novel, upon being told that Joseph is part of the party that's come to the Fringes to take part in the battle, David recalls all the stress and trauma his father has put him through all his life, and [[Angst|angsts]] over whether to forgive the man or try to kill him. However, the S/Zealand woman advises David to leave Joseph be.
** It's hinted that both Anne and Michael may have felt this way regarding [[I Just Want to Be Normal|their powers.]] So much so in Anne's case, in fact, that she closes off her mind to the others, not even replying to their mental messages. In Michael's case, David sums it up this way:
{{quote|
* [[Run for
* [[Secret Keeper]]: David's Uncle Axel. {{spoiler|And Rosalind's mother.}}
* [[Sinister Minister]]: Joseph Strorm, yet again.
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** Near the end, pretty much everyone is on the cynical end, Petra being the only exception. Justified since she's only 9.
** Rosalind is mainly on the cynical side for the majority of the novel. By the very end of the story, however, there's a hint that she's beginning to go toward the idealistic side.
* [[Spell My Name
* [[The Stoic]]: David's mother Emily, based on her interactions with him. Rosalind is largely this way as well, even toward David at times despite him being her [[Love Interest]].
** [[Not So Stoic]]: Emily eventually shows herself to be this after Aunt Harriet's visit. Rosalind gradually [[Defrosting Ice Queen|mellows]], too.
* [[Telepathy]]: What sets the Chrysalids apart from normal humans; it's referred to as "thought-shapes" by the group's members. The known individuals who can use this ability, aside from David himself: Rosalind, Michael, Sally, Katherine, Rachel, Anne, Mark, and later Petra, whose telepathy is the strongest of the bunch but also [[Cursed
* [[The Chosen One]]: Petra is described as this to the S/Zealand woman.
* [[Training
* [[True Companions]]: The titular group, out of necessity.
* [[Tsundere]]: Rosalind is a definite Type A. She could also be argued to be a [[Kuudere]].
* [[World Half Full]]: Despite living a terrible world, David and his friends still end their journey on a positive note.
* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Joseph Strorm, to David.
* [[What Happened to
** We also don't find out what happened to Uncle Axel, David's mother and David's sister.
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]
* [[X Meets Y]]: [[X
* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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