What is the theme of oppression in the book, The Chrysalids?

Waknuk’s obsession with the True Image is a metaphor for one of its themes, race. Having been written not long after the end of World War Two, The Chrysalid explores the evil and wrong-headed ideas of racial purity. Although the concept of the True Image is about people staying as close as possible to what a non-mutated image of a person looks like, it is also a stand-in for not mixing with other races. Like the racist policies of the nazis, the True Image specifications can be seen as a guideline for how racially pure people should look.

The main giveaway is when the local inspector interviews David about Sophie. After sympathizing with David and lauding the importance of loyalty, the inspector lectures him on keeping their race pure. He says, “Loyalty is a great virtue, but there is such a thing as misplaced loyalty. One day you will understand the importance of a greater loyalty. The Purity of the Race—” (56). He is interrupted when Joseph walks in, but the author deliberately stops here. The inspector’s dialogue excerpt is the only instance in the book when the concept of racial purity is explicitly mentioned. The dialogue succeeds in making a connection between the True Image and racial purity, yet it had to be cut short as any more would have made the connection too on-the-nose.

Sophie’s foot can therefore be seen as a metaphor for victims in a genocide. David goes to great pains to note how she is like any other girl, except for her deformed foot which he hardly notices after a while. Like victims of the Holocaust, many Jewish people resembled everyday Germans, which would have confused nazi children who were instilled with the propaganda to see Jews as less than human. Further, the religions exhortations on David’s wall provide further connection between the idea of the True Image and racism: “ONLY THE IMAGE OF GOD IS MAN. The one on the right: KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD. On the opposite wall two more said: BLESSED IS THE NORM, and IN PURITY OUR SALVATION” (18). Since the word 'pure' is associated so strongly with race, it stands to reason that the novel is criticizing racist practices through Waknuk’s myopic fundamentalism.