The Chrysalids: Relation between the title and its plot Luz-Victoria Santana 11th Grade

Change is something inevitable that we see happen to everyone and everything on a daily basis. There is no narrative that doesn’t go through some form of change. Whether the characters go through different stages or the plot itself does, transitions are something that will constantly appear. The author, John Wyndam decided to make the title of his book, The Chrysalids, a metaphor for the different phases or changes that occur throughout the story. The chrysalid is the second stage out of the three phases of a butterfly. At first the caterpillar is young and uninvolved, and then finds himself in the transition of being held in a cocoon (chrysalis) for a variant period of time and then finally escapes the cocoon to release as a butterfly. After analyzing the story, the relationship between the title of the book is made clear. The protagonist, David, goes through three main phases as well that can be compared to the phases of a butterfly; therefore, this might suggest the explanation behind the author’s choice of title.

The first stage of the metamorphosis of a butterfly is when the animal is still a caterpillar. At first, David is somewhat like a caterpillar in the sense that he is naive and follows the principles of his district...