The document analyzes John Wyndham's novel The Chrysalids and compares the evolution of the societies in the story to the life cycle of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. It describes three main societies - the Old People, representing the caterpillar stage; the Waknukians in the chrysalis stage, trying to recreate the past instead of progressing; and the Sealanders emerging as butterflies by building a new world. While the Sealanders make improvements, the author warns they still risk repeating the mistakes of the past by not fully accepting change. Overall, the document uses the caterpillar metaphor to show how civilizations must embrace transformation rather than clinging to the past to avoid meeting the

1. The Metamorphosis of Civilizations in John
Wyndham’s ​The Chrysalids
By: Star Student
For: Ms Best
ENG1D1
Friday December 21 2018

2. “Life works in a very simple way. Resist it less and allow it to unfold the way it
wants. Use your power of allowing”​ ​(​Raphael Zernoff)​. As with all living beings, caterpillars
go through a life cycle to transform into butterflies. They begin in the larvae stage and from
there they become caterpillars, who grow exponentially in size. Then they enter a chrysalis
stage where they form a cocoon around themselves for several weeks until they emerge as
butterflies who reproduce and live on until their life comes to an end. It is important for a
caterpillar to go through this process because being a butterfly has more advantages such
as being able to travel further and have more options for sources of food.This means that
the metamorphosis is crucial for improvement of the caterpillar’s life and can only be done if
the caterpillar allows the change to happen.The caterpillar’s life cycle is similar to how
human civilisations grow and change over the course of thousands of years. Some
civilisations prosper and continue to thrive, while others never grow and some even
disappear. John Wyndham’s ​The Chrysalids​ depicts a few societies that go through many
changes over time. ​As the story progresses, It can be seen how the stages of
metamorphosis from caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly parallel with the transition
from Old people to Waknuk to Sealander society.
The first society in the story’s timeline is the Old People. When comparing it to the
stages of metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, the Old People would be the very
beginning at the caterpillar stage. Not much is known about them in the story because they
cause a nuclear war, which in turn leads to their extinction. The only thing that survives the
war; or “Tribulation”, is the Bible. It is also the only thing that indicates what the Old People
were like. According to the Bible, they had many rules to follow, such as exactly how a
person had to look in order to be considered a human being. ​“​'And any creature that shall
seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. It is neither man nor woman. It is a
blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God”​ ​(11). This shows

3. the lack of open mindedness that the Old People had towards anything that went against
their rules, making them not very complex and under developed, similar to a caterpillar
being less evolved than a butterfly. It also shows that they were not accepting towards any
changes or differences, which are crucial to the caterpillar’s metamorphosis. If they do not
want change, they will remain a simple caterpillar for the rest of their lives or in this case for
the next thousand years. In a way, the nuclear war/Tribulation was necessary in order to
finally continue the life cycle onto the chrysalis stage which is one of the most important
stages. Ideally, humanity will emerge from the chrysalis as a better and more evolved
society, but on the other hand, they might stay trapped in that stage if they are not ready for
change. Repeating the Old People’s mistakes would be bad; because even if people
thought they were doing the right thing of rebuilding the lost civilisation, they would be
making things worse by avoiding progress. It is futile and pointless to try to replicate the Old
People’s civilisation: “What's the good of trying so hard to keep in their tracks? Where are
they and their wonderful world now?” (77)​. ​The next civilisation after the Old People will be
the turning point in whether humanity will prosper or perish.
After the Old People all die out, the society that comes after them are the
Waknukians. Going back to the metaphor of caterpillar metamorphosis, they would be
represented as the chrysalis stage. They are the ones able to choose between fixing the
Old People’s mistakes or just repeating history and the Waknukians decide to do the latter.
They worship the Old People’s beliefs and they think that it is their responsibility to recreate
the world just as it was before. Moreover, they believe that god sent the “Tribulation” upon
the Old People and now they must maintain an image of purity by doing whatever they
believe is necessary. One of the main things that they do is go to extreme lengths do get rid
of anything that’s been mutated from the nuclear radiation. They will throw out people from
their own community for having even the smallest abnormality and they defend their actions

4. by quoting the bible that they revere, as well as the book “Repentances” that was written
after the Tribulation. “Every part of the definition is as important as any other; and if a child
doesn't come within it, then it isn't human, and that means it doesn't have a soul. It is not in
the image of God,”​ ​(53). These actions demonstrate their unwillingness to accept any kind
of change, and because of this they are trapped in the metaphorical “chrysalis” unable to
emerge. “Your father and his kind are a part of those fragments.They have become history
without being aware of it.” ​(185) ​The quote shows the irony of the Waknukians who believe
that they are making progress towards a better future, but instead they are regressing and
will end up extinct just like the Old People, and will be replaced by a superior society that is
ready to accept that the world is changing and will emerge from the Chrysalis. There are
also some Wakukians that don’t accept their old fashioned views and want to shed the
chrysalis that they are trapped in. The group of telepaths in the story and other Waknukians
that help them throughout the book all believe that change is possible and don’t blindly
follow the Old People’s values and beliefs. Most of the Waknukians are too far gone and
will never change their beliefs, but there are other societies out there that are willing to
progress and evolve into butterflies.
The Waknukians represented the chrysalis stage and they were supposed to improve
and reshape the world, but they were not able to leave the chrysalis and become a better
civilisation. However, there is still hope for humanity because one society out of all the
others is able to change and become butterflies, and they are the Sealanders. Unlike the
Waknukians who believe that the Old People were doing the right thing, the Sealanders
know that history and its mistakes tend to repeat themselves. Which means that instead of
ending up just like the Old People or how the Waknukians will soon be, they decide to
rebuild the world their own way and call themselves the New People who feel responsible
to right the wrongs of the Old People. “We are the New People.” “...We're the people who

5. are going to build a new kind of world -- different from the Old People's world, and from the
savages”​ ​(157) Since most of them have the ability to communicate with thought shapes it
is easier for them to understand each other and make decisions which make them superior
and more complex than the other societies. This does not mean that they are perfect as
demonstrated when they did not have a problem with killing a large amount of Fringes and
Waknukian people, claiming that they were doing it for the greater good. “We have to keep
ourselves alive in these ways, so, too, we have to preserve our species against other
species that wish to destroy it”​ ​(198). This is similar to how the Waknukians defend their
actions by using their religion and this means that they might end up just like the
Waknukians if they continue to act this way. Nevertheless, they are still the best society,
because they are currently the only civilisation that is making real progress and have
managed to emerge from the chrysalis. To continue on the life cycle of the caterpillar, the
butterflies mate with others and can create even better butterflies through their offspring,
thus repeating the cycle. In the context of the book this can be represented by how one day
even the Sealanders will be replaced by a superior and more powerful society and the
cycle of life continues.
In conclusion, The Old People civilisation being replaced by the Waknukians and
then the Sealanders can be compared with the life cycle of a caterpillar transforming into a
chrysalis and then a butterfly. Because of this similarity, the author uses the word
“Chrysalids” in the name of the book’s title as a metaphor for how societies can change and
transform. The author wants people to learn how to accept change and be more open
minded by warning readers of what may happen to civilisations that want to repeat history
and thus end up as history themselves. He also shows that it is possible to have a better
society if everyone is willing to evolve and emerge from the chrysalis as butterflies. Just as
it is important for caterpillars to be ready to leave its’ old ways behind in order to become

6. butterflies, it is crucial for humanity as a whole to avoid causing its’ own destruction by
wanting to become a better version of themselves.

7. Works Cited:
- LitCharts. “The Chrysalids Study Guide.” LitCharts, Date Accessed: Dec 16 2018, URL: ​h
ttps://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-chrysalids/themes/time-and-progress
-Wyndham, John, ​The Chrysalids. ​Penguin Books, 1958.