The Chrysalids Joseph Strorm Character Sketch

Written by John Wyndham, The Chrysalids tells the reader about Joseph and his life, which revolves around religion. Joseph, as the reader learns, is an extremely religious, authoritative

, and temper mental man. As the story progresses, Joseph’s character traits begin to show more and more. Joseph’s character traits become more prominent, and Joseph begins to choose his religion over his family. Towards the end of the novel we learn that Joseph is out to kill two of his children. Joseph is a man with many problems, which would get the best of him in the end.

Living in Waknuk makes it extremely easy to be controlled by your religion. Joseph was a very religious man towards his family and the community. In the community of Waknuk Joseph was considered the “Head Priest” of his religious group. Each time a deviation was notified Joseph would quickly stop everything he was doing to pray for forgiveness. Stopping everything to pray for forgiveness is a big thing considering that the deviations were not his. This shows that he does not want God or his religion to look down on himself. Lastly, Joseph is always trying to do his best because he believes God is always testing them. He shows that he does not want to upset God in any way. All of these examples show how religious Joseph truly is. Joseph Strorm was a devoted and completely reliant man upon his religion.

As being the leader in Waknuk, it is easy to be authoritative

to the people. Any person who steps out of place in this religion gets totally abolished by Joseph. Aunt Harriet comes over one day to exchange her deviated baby with Mrs. Strorm’s baby for an inspection. This is against the law, so Joseph suddenly takes control. He has to prove that he is in power. To prove his authority, he has Aunt Harriet killed the next day. Another example of authority is the tail-less cat incident. Joseph finds out that the cat has no tail, and tries to control the situation. He kills the cat, only to later find out that the cat was perfectly legal. These examples all show that Joseph has the power in most situations. If he doesn't have the power, or is proven wrong, he is extremely ashamed. Joseph Strorm is very authoritative

in the community of Waknuk.

Throughout the novel The Chrysalids Joseph’s temper showed and caught