: Examine the role played by, at least, two minor characters in the presentation of the novel’s themes.In the novel The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, several minor characters are presented to help convey the themes of the text. Alan Irvin, Sophie Wender, and Axel Morton are several of the minor characters, who are presented in the novel, that assist in the communication of themes to the reader. These characters help develop themes such as intolerance, and the nature of a closed society. John Wyndham also employs various literary techniques including personalisation, and development of character depth, which are imposed upon the characters to better convey the themes of the novel.Axel Morton is a well-travelled person who has seen much more than most of the people who lived in Waknuk. He is one of the few in Waknuk society who had ventured down the coast, and in doing so he saw things, which made him question the religious indoctrination, which occurred in Waknuk. Axel questions the so-called “True Image” which is preached by the orthodox members of Waknuk society as his travels showed him just how many apparently deviational people thought that they were in the “True Image” in reference to the “Old People”. “Whether they have seven fingers, or four arms, or hair all over, or six breasts, or whatever it is that’s wrong with them- think that their type is the true pattern of the Old People, and anything different is a deviation”. This quote from Axel Morton shows that no one could really be sure of what the “True Image” was, because as stated in the novel, no texts from when the “Old People” were around stipulated what was or wasn’t deviational. Axel Morton had a much different value system to the other people of Waknuk, and did not believe that deviations were as bad as they were made out to be. Axel Morton reiterates the theme of the nature of a cl...
