Chrysalids

By close reference to any TWO characters in the story, show how they have been important in communicating the novel’s key themes.
Joseph Strom portrays the theme of intolerance. When Aunt Harriet came to see Emily in the hope of exchanging babies to get the normalcy certificate, Joseph asked Aunt Harriet if she wasn’t ‘ashamed of producing a mockery of her Maker’. This shows that he sees the baby as a deviant and sees Aunt Harriet’s act of producing such a child to be an act of mocking the lord. He called the baby ‘defilement’. This shows that Joseph was not able to see the beauty of the baby but it only appeared to him as a polluted object. Moreover, he even thought that letting the baby live to reproduce in the future meant that there will be only ‘mutants and abominations’ all around and its reproduction was considered to be ‘pollution’. This shows that he even goes to the extent to think that letting a baby live with some difference from the norm, meant to be pollution to the society. This clearly shows how much he wants to the society to be pure and clean from deviancy and even a little difference from the norm meant the society to be impure. This shows the extent of his intolerance towards mutants. Therefore, Joseph Strom portrays one of the novels’ key themes, the theme of intolerance through Aunt Harriet’s visit.
Joseph Strom portrayed the theme of intolerance. When David’s hand was injured by a splinter, his mother had to help him among the busy works and so, he made a casual remark that he could have managed it all right by himself if he had another hand so that he could have treated himself. On hearing this, Joseph Strom’s “mouth tighten”, “jaw come forward”, “his brows press together over his still incredulous eyes”. This shows that his immediate reaction was more intense than anybody could have imagined and he was extremely angry by David’s remark. The extent of his anger could be seen through his facial expressions which turned serious with disbelief