Discrimination: Human and True Image
These two things are looked down on but we continue to discriminate and prejudge. In the book The Chrysalids by John Wyndham prejudice and especially discrimination take on whole new meanings. In The Chrysalids even the slightest mark or deformity means that whatever is a bit different has to be destroyed. It doesn't matter whether it's a plant, animal, or human, for in the end they will all be killed. The plants and animals are killed and burned right away but for humans they are sterilized and if they are babies they're left by a forest or the Fringes to die, if they are children or adults they usually run away and join other people who are thought to be "non-humans".
The reason why anything that deviated was destroyed was because it was thought that the deviant was not in the true image of God and therefore must be destroyed to keep God happy. They thought that if God was not happy then he would send Tribulation down to the Earth and destroy human cities and villages and possibly even the human race. The people believed that God sent Tribulation to the Old People because they didn't control or get rid of deviations. The Chrysalids is about a boy called David. David, though he looks normal, is not. He realizes this at a young age and knows a small group of other people who are like him. The thing that makes him and the others different is their ability to communicate to each other with their minds using Thought Pictures. Since this wasn't visible they live relatively normal lives until David's mother had a girl called Petra. Six years after Petra was born was when people started to grow suspicious. The first incident was when Petra was six and was in danger of drowning. Petra was also able to use Thought Pictures but hers were more powerful but she had little control over them. She ended up causing the others to act in a way that caused suspicion. But after a while the suspicion died down. The second incident was worse, she ended up calling nearly
The reason why anything that deviated was destroyed was because it was thought that the deviant was not in the true image of God and therefore must be destroyed to keep God happy. They thought that if God was not happy then he would send Tribulation down to the Earth and destroy human cities and villages and possibly even the human race. The people believed that God sent Tribulation to the Old People because they didn't control or get rid of deviations. The Chrysalids is about a boy called David. David, though he looks normal, is not. He realizes this at a young age and knows a small group of other people who are like him. The thing that makes him and the others different is their ability to communicate to each other with their minds using Thought Pictures. Since this wasn't visible they live relatively normal lives until David's mother had a girl called Petra. Six years after Petra was born was when people started to grow suspicious. The first incident was when Petra was six and was in danger of drowning. Petra was also able to use Thought Pictures but hers were more powerful but she had little control over them. She ended up causing the others to act in a way that caused suspicion. But after a while the suspicion died down. The second incident was worse, she ended up calling nearly