A comparison between the Crysalides and 1984 A comparison between life in London, Air Strip One (or Great Britain) in George Orwell's novel of 1984 and Waknuk, in Canada in John Wyndham's novel The Chrysalis. Waknuk is a society living after a nuclear attack. The people of Air Strip One (or Britain) in 1984 live in a dictatorship controlled by the Party. Waknuck is a closed society similar to Victorian Britain. Because people spend their entire lives in the city where they are born, they cannot experience different cultures and therefore lack tolerance and understanding for the differences in the lifestyles of these cultures. Lack of experience of different cultures is not the reason for the lack of true understanding of these cultures in 1984. Londoners are effectively poisoned against these cultures by the Party and therefore have no reason to want to experience them. Waknuck is also largely based on religion: it is a Christian society. Most prejudices come from the Bible. Any creature that is against the true image of God (or a mutant) is called Blasphemy. The Christian religion (and indeed other religions) have been the source of numerous prejudices in modern British society (e.g. sexism and homophobia) and even conflicts (e.g. the conflicts between the Republic and Northern Ireland). In the novel 1984 no one follows a religion as such, for the British people of 1984 there is no God, the exact opposite of the radical religious views of the people of Waknuk. Most people in Waknuk were brainwashed by Christianity in the same way that many people in Britain in 1984 were brainwashed by the party and Big Brother. Each uses repetitive slogans, in 1984 slogans such as: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. they are used and more subtly in Christianity in the form of prayers and commandments. The Party and the Christians each worship a figure, respectively Big Brother and God, neither of whom can be completely sure of their presence but still convince themselves that they exist. In 1984, power rests with the Party, but it lies with the church of Waknuk. The people of Waknuk are unable to understand theories such as the Theory of Evolution dispute over the discovery of fossils and other evidence that would conflict with Genesis. In 1984 conflicting evidence is rarely available and therefore it is easier for the Party to control its members' beliefs. Moments in the story are constantly altered and you never understand exactly what is reality and what is fiction. In every society conformity is necessary for survival. Those who do not conform to the true image are forced to leave Waknuk and live in the Fringe and live similar to prehistoric man as savages. In 1984, those who did not comply were vaporized. The situation of the Fringes' society is similar to that of the Proles in 1984, each rejected by the normal population and forced to live far from it in designated areas. The proles are closest to what life is like in Britain today. Modern visions and ideas are very rare in Waknuk. In both Waknuk and 1984 there is a constant attempt to realize an ideal. In Waknuk this ideal is to fight incessantly against the evils that the tribulation has unleashed on [Waknuk] while in 1984 it is to have a society totally under the control of Big Brother. In both societies there are those who refuse to conform. Uncle Axcel represents this in Crysalids and Winston represents this in 1984. The Crysalids is set in the future. But society has regressed, it has almost started again. Prejudices in the Chrysalides often have echoes of Germany's.