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Social Critique in the Major Novels of John Wyndham: Civilization's Secrets and Nature's Truths

Mike Green

A Thesis

T h e Department

English

Presented in Porcia1 Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree.of Master of Arts at

Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada

January 2000

C M i k e Green, 2000

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ABSTRACT

Social Critique in the Major Novels of John Wyndham: Civilization's Secrets and Nature's Truths

Mike Green

J o h n Wyndham' s four major novels : The Dây of the Triffids,

The Kraken Wakes, The Chrysalids, and The Midwich Cuckoos.

Wyndham has been dismissed by many critics as â writer of

"cosy catastrophes", a t e r m coined by Brian Aldiss. This

title is meant to suggest that Wy~dham's works are

critically insignificant, and that, as Nicholas Ruddick

suggests, they do not repay serious critical attention. 1

would argue that not only do Wyndham's works repay critical

attention, but that there is consistent social criticism

inherent in these woxks. In the four novels in question,

Wyndham seems preoccupied with a nurnber of icieas. He

c t ï a c k s the power of Big Business, Government, and the

Mili~ory, and what 1 would characterize as their "Cult of

Secrecy". Wyndham also criticizes irrational faith in any

ideology, particularly in nationalism, Scientisn (or the

power of science to solve hurnanity's problems), and

reliçion. Finally, Wyndham seems specifically concerned

with the fate of humankind in light of Darwinian ideas of

evoiution and survival of the fittest.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Critical Reception of John Wyndham

Page One

Chapter One

Triffids and Cuckoos: Darrrinism or Christian Values?

Page Thirteen

Chapter Two

Kraken and Chrysalids: The Cult of Secxecy

Page Fifty-Seven

C o n c l u s i o n

The G r i m Truth

Page One Hundred and Six

Bibliography, Page One Hundred and Nine

A Chronology of Books (Published and Unpublished)

by John Wyndham

Page One Hundred and S e v e n t e e n

J o h n Wyndham P a r k e s Lucas Beynon Harr is w a s b o r n i n

Knowle, W a r w i c k s h i r e , E n g l a n d , on 1 0 J u l y , 1903~. H e used a

v a r i e t y o f pseudonyms t h r o u g h o u t h i s career ( d i f f e r e n t

v a r i s t i o n s o f h i s r e a l n a m e s ) , b u t h e i s best known by t h e

name h e p u b l i s h e d u n d e r s t a r t i n g i n 1 9 5 0 w i t h "The E t e r n a l

Lve" (f in-azing S t o r i e s ) f o l l o w e d by The Day o f t h e ~ r i f f i d s

(1951) - -John Wyndham. It is by t h i s name t h a t 1 s h a l l r e f e r

t o H a r r i s i n t h e f o l l o w i n g p a g e s . Wyndham s t a r t e d w r i t i n g

s h o r c stories w h i l e s t i l l i n schoo12 a n d b e g a n t o w r i t e

p r o f e s s i o r i a l l y ( i f u n s u c c e s s f u l l y ) i n 1 9 2 5 . Unknown u n t i l

recently, Wyndham p u b l i s h e d h i s f i r s t book, a d e t e c t i v e

n o v e l e n t i t l e d The Curse o f t h e B u r d e n s , i n 1927, a l t h o u g h

h e l a t e r s u p p r e s s e d t h i s i n f e r i o r work (See Ketterer,

" V i v i s e c t i o n " 308-309) . Wÿndham f i n a l l y s u c c e e d e d i n 1531

w i ~ h t-he ( t o h im) more acceptable "Wor lds t o Bar te r , " i n

Wonder S t o r i e s , under t h e name o f J o h n Beynon H a r r i s .

Wyndham c o n t i n u e d p u b l i s h the Amer ican

t h r o u g h t h e t h i r t i e s u n d e r a v a r i e t y of pseudonyms and, o n 2

May 1935, p u b l i s h e d what w e now know t o be h i s s e c o n d n o v e l -

-The S e c r e t People. T h i s w a s f o l l o w e d t h e s a m e y e a r , o n 18

' A p p a r e n t l y , even t h e o r i g i n s o f t h e " i n v i s i b l e man of S c i e n c e F i c t i o n W ( S F ) a r e c l o u d e d i n m y s t e r y . Wyndham's p z r e n t s w e r e l i v i n g i n Birmingham a t t h e t i m e of h i s b i r t h . Why n e w a s d e l i v e r e d a t Knowle, some d i s t a n c e f r o m Birmingham, i s unknown.

"See Ketterer, " ' V i v i s e c t i o n ' : S c h o o l b o y ' J o h n Wyndham's'

F i r s c P u b l i c a t i o n ? "

November, by another detective novel--Fou1 Play Suspected.

His fourth novel, Llanet Plane--a story which presages the

competing space programs of the 1960's and depicts a

nightmarish Martiàn landscape of techno-cannibalism--

followed a year later under the byline: John Beynon. It was

republished as Stowaway To Mars in 1953. The early science

fiction works owe a great deal to the writings of H.G.

Wells, wnom wyndnam üescribed as "che writer wno could mâke

the marvelous seem commonplace, yet hold the reader

enïhralled by his plausible narratives, the reality of his

c n a r a c t e r s . " (Gillings, "The Writer.. ." 10) From August of 1940 to November of 1943, Wyndham served

the Ministry of Information as a postaUtelegraph censor.

In addition to his duties with the Ministry, he also worked

as a fire-watcher with the Home Guard from 1942 until

November of 1943. Ir! 1943, Wyndham was transferred to the

Royal Signal Corps with whom he served as a Lance Corporal

cipher-operator attached to the Guards Armored Brigade from

11 June 1944 until 4 September 1945~. Wyndham's experiences

and service in World War 11 provide a significant subtext to

his post-war works. As a censor, he would have been exposed

to tne highest levels of paranoia and secrecy (àlong with

much tedium and boredom); his experiences as a fire-watcher,

3 ~ e e Ketterer, "'Vivisection1" (Foundation version).

like those of his b r ~ t h e r , ~ would provide horrifying images

of London overwhelmed by disaster. Subsequently, in the

Army, Wyndham would have experienced the military

bureaucracy, something which he frequently portrayed in his

later novels.

After the war, Wyndham found more substantiâl success

with The Day of the Triffids (l951), The Kraken Wakes

(1953), The Chrysalids ( 1 9 5 5 ) , and The Midwich Cuckoos

(1957).' Wyndham continued to publish novels and

collections stories until his death but

the four novels of the fifties, which amount to a

significant development of the Wellsian mode1 of science

fiction, that concern us here.

Wyndham achieved enorrnous success with those novels

which are still in print. The Day of the Triffids, ÜS noted

on the cover of the Penguin paperback, has sold over a

million copies. Both The Day of the Triffids and The

Midwich Cuckoos have made the transition, with varying

degrees of success, to the cinema screen. Strangely,

'See Vivian Harris, "My Brother, John Wyndham" 23. o or the alternative titles see "A Chronology of Books.. .

by John Wyndham". For a fairly exhaustive bibliography, see

P h i l i p Stephensen-Payne, John Wyndham, Creator of the Cosy

Catastophe: A Working Biblioqraphy.

however, there has been a remarkable dearth of critical

interest in his work over the years. Many of those critics

who have taken an interest in his work dismiss it out of

hand, or heap scorn on it. According to Nicholas Ruddick,

The enormous popularity of Wyndham, especially for his

first two post-war novels of disaster, contrasts

sïrikingly with the paucity of critical material on

him. The Index (1988) to the first forty issues of the

British science-fiction review Foundation, since 1972

the most important forum for discussion of British

science fiction, inclüdes no direct reference to any of

Wyndham's works. The evidence leads one to conclude

that they simply do not repay serious critical

analysis, and that if the Wyndham oeuvre is of

significance, it is perhaps to sociologists interested

in the nacure of best-sellerdom râther than to litsrary

critics. (Ruddick, 138)

Ruddick's conclusion here is, perhaps, a bit premature. In

a field as notoriously fickle as literary criticism (and

especially in so cornparatively new a branch as SF criticism)

a lack of criticism is not necessarily a sign of

worthlessness. Fashions and agendas change, and previously

overlooked or underappreciated works are re-examined.

Perhaps some of Ruddick's hastiness may be attributed to his

r e l i a n c e o n t h e work of J o h n S c a r b o r o u g h whom he t w i c e c i tes

(138, 140).

Sca rbo rough , i t seerns, h a s o n l y a p a s s i n g a c q u a i n t a n c e

w i t h Wyndham's work, and it shows i n h i s c r i t ic ism, Fox

example , i n S c a r b o r o u g h ' s r e a d i n g o f T h e Day o f t h e

T r i f f i d s , h e n e g l e c t s t h e h y p o t h e s i s i n t h e n o v e l t h a t t h e

"cornet shower" which c o u s e s w ide - sp r ead blindness is n o t , i n

f a c t , a n a t u r a l phenornenon, b u t r a t h e r t h e r e s u l t of a man-

made o r b i t a l weapon gone awry. F u r t h e r m o r e , he s u g g e s t s t h a t

rhe n a r r a t o r , B i l l , a t t e m p t s t o r e s t o r e o r d e r t o c h a o s and

restore s o c i e t y , " a s much t o t h e way it was b e f o r e a s i s

p o s s i b l e , " ( 2 2 0 ) d e s p i t e t h e f a c t t h a t t h e i d e a l of

r edempr lon i~ t h e n o v e l i s t o p r e v e n t f u t u r e g e n e r a t i o n s

from r e p e a t i n g f o r m e r m i s t a k e s . S c a r b o r o u g h ' s r e â d i n g o f

The Kraken Wakes is e q u a l l y i n a c c u r a t e . H e r e c a l l s

a c r e a t u r e f r om t h e bo t tom o f t h e s e s . I t owes i t s

e x i s t e n c e f a g a i n ) t o f a l l i n g s tars of a s o r t ,

" f i r e b a l l s " t h a t sornehow m u t a t e a somber a n i m a l i n t o a

m a g n i f i c e n t t h r e a t t o l a n d d w e l l e r s and s e a g o i n ç

v e s s e l s . (Wyndham is n o t i n t e r e s t e d i n t h e p a r t i c u l a r s

o f wny such m u t a t i o n s o c c u r , o n l y t h a t t h e y do o c c u r

-- a n d t h a t t n e y cause d i s a s t e r s t h a t d i s r u p t h i s

o r d e r l y p i c t u r e of l i f e . ) (220-21)

S c a r b o r o u g h ' s ( p a r e n t h e t i c a l ) i n t e r j e c t i o n s rnight be more

a s e f u l w e r e h e s u r e r o f h i s m a t e r i a l . The " x e n o b a t h s " , a s

i s made f a i r l y c l e a r i n t h e n o v e l , a r e n o t b a s e d o n any

t e r r e s t r i a l s p e c i e s b u t j o u r n e y t o E a r t h i n t h e " F i r e b a l l s . "

Wyndham's s t y l e i s f a r t o o s u b t l e f o r h im t o s t a t e t h i s

e x p l i c i t l y , b u t i t i s c l e a r enough t h a t t h e x e n o b a t h s a r e n ' t

mctants; t h e y a r e most p r o b a b l y e x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l s who u s e a

s o r t of p r e v i o u s l y unknown b i o - t e c h n o l o g y ( a n i d e a of

Wyndnam's w h i c h , i n SF, was f a r a h e a d of i t s t i m e ) . F i n a l l y , t h e i m p l i c a t i o n t h a t Wyndham is i n t e r e s t e d

p r i r n a r i l y i n t h e s p e c t a c l e o f s e n s e l e s s d i s a s t e r is p a t e n t l y

a b s u r d when a p p l i e d t o The K r a k e n Wakes, w h i c h f o c u s e s

l a r g e l y o n p o i i t i c s and t h e med ia r a t h e r t h a n on s e n s e l e s s

d i s z s t e r . U n s u r p r i s i n g l y , S c z r b o r o u g h ' s r e a d i n g s o f The

C h r y s a l i d s and The Midwich Cuckoos a r e e q u a l l y skewed. I n

c h e c a s e of The C h r y s a l i d s , S c a r b o r o u g h s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e

n o v e l i s set i n N e w Engiand, when i t is e x p r e s s l y set i n

Labrador- -a m i n o r ( i f o b v i o u s ) e r r o r . What i s n o t s o m i n o r ,

nowever, i s h i s r n i s l e a d i n g t h e m a t i c i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e

n o v e l : " t h o s e who a r e d i f f e r e n t must s e e k t h o s e l i k e

t h e r n s e l v e s , a n d must l e a v e t h e Company o f ' t h e Norm'" ( 2 2 1 ) .

T h e c n l ÿ m e m b e r s o f " t h e N o r m " i n t h e n o v e l who a r e

p o r t r a y e d a s s y m p a t h e t i c c h a r a c t e r s a r e t h o s e whose ideas

a r e m G s t i n i m i c a l t o i t . The h e r o e s o f t h e n o v e l b o t

m e r e l y a d i f f e r e n t k i n d o f human, b u t a d i f f e r e n t s p e c i e s

a l c o g e c h e r ) l e a v e human s o c i e t y i n t h e knowledge ( s h a r e d

w i t h t h e r e a d e r ) t h a t i t i s doomed t o p e r i s h . S c a r b o r o u g h

r e a d s t h i s a s a c r y p t o - e n d o r s e m e n t o f a p a r t h e i d ( 2 2 2 ) .

F i n a l l y , t h e O t h e r , i n The Midwich Cuckoos , is n o t f o r c e d t o

l eave s o t h a t "Midwich c a n g o b a c k t o what it w a s b e f o r e t h e

i n c r u s i o n t o o k p lace : a small, c a l m , n c n d e s c r i p t E n g l i s h

v i l l a g e " ( 2 2 2 j . F ia ther , t h e a l i e n c h i l d r e n a r e blown up,

lezving t h e knowledge t h a t t n e human r a c e c a n n e v e r a g a i n

f e e l s e c u r e l y dominan t on the p l a n e t E a r t h .

M e v e r t h e l e s s , S c o r ~ o r o u g h a c t u a l l y seems t o l i k e

Wyndhcm's work, o r at l e a s t h a v e some measure o f r e s p e c t f o r

It ( w h i l e c l e a r l y n o t knowing it v e r y well). Another

c r i t i c , who seems, d e s p i t e some r a t h e r d i s m i s s i v e criticism,

t c a c t u a l l y l i k e Wyndham's work i s B r i a n A l d i s s . A l d i s s

c o r m e n c s p a r t i c u l a r l y on Wyndham's f i r s t two p o s t - w a r

" d i s a s t e r " n o v e l s , a n d on h i s readers, when h e a r g u e s t h a t ,

"Bach n o v e l s w e r e t o t a l l y d e v o i d of ideas b u t read s m o o t h l y ,

a n d t h u s r e a c h e d a maximum a u d i e n c e , who e n j o y e d c o s y

d i s o s t e r s u ( B i l l i o n Year S p r e e 2 9 4 ) . A l d i s s d e s c r i b e s the

mein e l e m e n t s o f t h e " c o s y c a t a s t r o p h e , " as f o l l o w s : " t h e

hero s h o u l d have a p r e t t y good t i m e (a g i r l , free s u i t e s a t

t h e Savoy, a u t o m o b i l e s f o r t h e t a k i n g ) while e v e r y o n e else

i s d y i n g o f f V ( 2 9 4 ) . W h i l e T h e D a y o f t h e T r i f f i d s a n d - T h e

Kraken Wakes may, s u p e r f i c i a l l y , be d e s c r i b e d i n these

terms, T h e C h r y s a l i d s a n d The Midwich Cuckoos do n o t r e a l i y

f a 1 1 w i t h i n t h i s mould a t a l l . To s u g g e s t t h a t any o f t h e s e

f o u r n o v e l s a r e " t o t a l l y d e v o i d o f ideas" i m p l i e s a v s r y

s u p e r f i c i a l r e a d i n g o f them. But , t o r e i t e r a t e , b o t h A l d i s s

and S c a r b o r o u g h (who r e p e a t s A l d i s s ' s c l a i m t h a t Wyndham's

books a r e " t o t a l l y d e v o i d o f ideas" [ 2 1 9 ] ) s e e m t o l i k e

Xyndham's work d e s p i t e t h e s h o r t c o m i n g s t h e y p e r c e i v e .

Rüddick, on t h e o t h e r hand , sees n o t h i n g t o admi r e a n d s e e m s

i n t e n t t o show Wyndharn a t a d i s a d v a n t a g e ; t h i s i n t e n t i s ,

p s r n a p s , p u r s u e d ac t h e e x p e n s e o f c l o s e o r a c c u r a t e

i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s o f t h e works i n q u e s t i o n . Ruddick a r g u e s

The enorrnous p o p u l a r i t y o f Wyndnam s u g g e s t s t h a t a

large r e a d e r s h i p was p r e p a r e d t o c o l l a b o r a t e w i t h h i s

d e s i r e c o e x p r e s s t h e a n x i e t y o f s u p e r c e s s i o n w i t h o u t

f e e l i n g a n y r e s p o n s i b i l i t y t o a n a l y z e the o r i g i n and

n a t u r e o f t h e a n x i e t y . Wyndham's c a t a s t r o p h e s embody

a n x i e t y i n t h e forrn o f a vague e x t e r n a l t h r e a t , o f f e r

c o n s o l a t i o n f o r t h i s a n x i e t y and e v e n t h e hope of

r e c o v e r y i t - - w i t h o u t e v e r r e q u i r i n g r e a d e r s t o c o n f r o n t

i t s n a t u r e , t o a r t i c u l a t e what i s o f f e r e d as

u n s p e a k a b l e . T h i s i s d i s a s t e r f i c t i o n f o r t h o s e who

" p r e f e r n o t t o t h i n k t o o c l o s e l y . " ( 1 4 0 )

i n t h i s l a s t s e n t e n c e , Ruadick q u o t e s Mike Watson ( t h e

n a r r a t o r o f The Kraken Wakes 1 5 ) who i s e x p r e s s i n g h i s

a n x i e t y r e g a r c i i n g t h e f u t u r e p o s s i b i l i t y of a n o t h e r a l i e n

i n v a s i o n . P ih i l e Watson n e v e r e x p l i c i t l y s t a t e s t h i s f e a r ,

the i n f e r e n c e is t h e r e f o r t h e reader t o g a t h e r . T h i s i s a

q u i n ~ e s s e n t i a l example o f a l 1 t h a t Ruddick f i n d s wrong w i t h

Wyndham's work--Wyndham's l i t e r a r y s u b t l e t y s e e m s t o be , i n

R u d d i c k ' s eyes , h i s g r e a t o s t f l a w . T h i s i s c r i t i c i sm for

~ ~ O S S w h ~ prefer n o t t o r e a d t o o c l o s e l y . To b e g i n w i t h ,

Wynanarn 's n o v e l s - - a t l e a s t t h e f o u r major works £rom t h e

f i f r i e s - - a r e n o t a b o u t s u p e r c e s s i o n , a t leas t n c t on t h e

l e v z l t h a t Ruddick i s t a l k i n g a b o u t . Rudd i ck ' s a p p r o a c h is

t o o g e n e r a l , t o o p s y c h o l o g i c a l , a n d he misses t h e t rees,

l o o k i n g a t t h e f o r e s t . I n an a t t e r n p t t o p s y c h o a n a l y z e

Wyndham, o r b e c a u s e o f the t h w a r t e ~ e x p e c t a t i o n + R a t SF

writers o u g h t 7-0 p s y c h o a n a l y z e s o c i e t y , Ruddick i g n o r e s what

Wyndham h a s t o Say.

O n t h e o t h e r hand, s e v e r a l c r i t i c s r e c e n t l y have

e:~arniri-ed Wyndham's work i n a more f a v o u r a b l e l i ç h t . I n t h e

u n f o r t u n a ~ e l y t i t l e d " S k i f f y S t u f f " , Maureen S p e l l e r a r g u e s

t h à t t h e r e i s more t h a n mee t s t h e e y e i n J o h n Wyndham's

" cosy c a t a s t r o p h e s " . She p r o p o s e s t h a t one r e a s o n a w r i t e r

o f Wyndham's s t a t u r e h a s r e c e i v e d c o n p a r a t i v e l y l i t t l e

c r i t i c i s m i s t h a t mos t c r i t i c s w o u l d have r e a d h i s books i n

t h e i r you th a n d , a s a r e s u l t , remember o n l y t h e mos t

superficial details of his work. L.J. Hurst, i n two

articles, compares Wyndham favourably to George Orwell in

têrms of technical sophistication while quoting Brian Aldiss

and David Wingrove's assessrnent of literary style in the

Sixties: "Growing stylistic awareness was, to a great

extenr, kept in check by econornic necessityl' (Trillion Year

Sowee C h 1 2 ) . Hurst adds, with reference to Orwell 2nd - W y n d h a m , that "the difference between those with style who

chose the m e d i u m of their narrative to carry oct part of the

work and those without style was clear twenty years

before"("Remembrance" 17). The underlying rationale of both

Hurst and Speller's argument seems to be, as 1 have

suggested, that Wyndham's poor critical reputâtion is

largely due to critical neglect. Rowland Wymer, in a 1992

article, supports this view of the critical discourse and

questions Aldiss's labelling of Wyndham as the master of the

"cosy catsstrophe" :

Whût is rn i s s ing in al1 this is any attempt to

articulate the consistent vision which runs through al1

his major work and which turns out to be far £rom

"comfortable". Also absent i s any close reading of a

particular novel which would in practice uncover

complexities more likely to stir up controversy than

evade it. ( 2 6 )

Wymer p a y s p a r t i c u l a r a t t e n t i o n t o T h e C h r y s a l i d s ; i n

t h i s t h e s i s 1 i n t e n d t o examine a l 1 four o f Wyndham's m a j o r

works f rom t h e 1 9 5 0 s : The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s , The Kraken

Wâkes, The C h r y s a l i d s , a n d The Midwich C u c k o o s .

T r a d i t i o n a l l y , t h e s e f o u r n o v e l s are e x a m i n e d b o t h

c h r o n o l o g i c a l l y a n d ( i n a s h a l l o w way) t o p i c a l l y . The

s t a n d a r d a p p r o a c h is t o l o o k a t t h e t w o " m o n s t e r " / d i s a s t e r

n o v e l s (The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s a n d T h e K r a k e n Wakes) and

t h e n t h e t x o n o v e l s a b o u t t e l e p a t h i c c h i l d r e n (The

C h r y s a l i d s a n d The Midwich C u c k o o s ) .

While i t i s c e r t z i n l y s i g n i f i c a n t t h a t Wyndham

p u b l i s h e d t h e s e n o v e l s i n p a i r s (as L t w e r e ) , I would a r g u e

c h a t g r o u p i n g them i n t h i s f a s h i o n may c a u s e some

s i g n i f i c a n t t h e m a t i c i s s u e s t o be o b s c u r e d o r i g n o r e d .

W i r h i n t h e s e t h e n a t i c i s s u e s , wh ich compose w n a t Wymer

c h a r a c t e r i z e s a s Wyndham's " c o n s i s t e n t v i s i o n " , 1 would

d i s t i n g u i s h t h r e e i n t e r c o n n e c t e d c a t e g o r i e s . The f i r s t

i h e m e is "Human a s Animal", s u b j e c t t o D a r w i n i a n i d e a s o f

e v o l u t i o n and ( e s p e c i a l l y ) c o r n p e t i t i o n , with "Hurnanity" a s

i t s own w o r s t enemy. T h i s i s t h e theme m o s t o f t e n d i s c u s s e d

i n s e r i o u s c r i t i c i sm o f Wyndham's w o r k a n d t h e theme t h a t

W y m e r e x a m i n e s w i t h r e f e r e n c e t o T h e C h r y s a l i d s .

T h e s e c o n a a n d t h i r d themes are more d i f f i c u l t t o

s e p a r a t e . Hegemony, o r ove rwhe lming a u t h o r i t y o f a n y s o r t ,

seems to be a very serious concern of Wyndham. Whether it's

the Military, Governmenï, or Industry, Wyndham is extremely

suspicious of any sort of hegemonic power, and especially of

che control or subversion of truth (in the form of

propaganda, censcrship, or "brainwashing") whicn results

from sucn power. The last issue is, perhzps mostly, just a

. - mcnrrsstation of the third--blind faith--in anything, büt

pzrticularlÿ in science and in religion. As Wyndam sees it,

tnis blind faith is encouxaged by the ruling powers through

propaganda or brainwashing. It is the greatest danger to

ïhe survival of the hurnan race.

While al1 of these themes or issues are present to a

greater or lesser extenc in sll four of Wyndham's major

novels, 1 snall, in the following pages, break with

convention--examining The Day of the Triffids along with The

Midwich Cuckoos, and The Kraken Wakes with The Chrysalids--

in the hopes of highlighting what W p e r describes as

Wyndham's "consistent vision". My primary approach will be

close comparative reading supplemented occasionally with

historical and biographical details.

TRIFFIDS AND CUCKOOS: DARUINISM OR CHRISTIAN VALUES?

J o h n Wyndham w a s , a b o v e a l l , a n o v e l i s t , n o t a

p h i l o s o p h e r , a n d as s u c h , h e t i e d h i s p h i l o s o p h y - - h i s

c r i t i c a l i d e a s - - t o h i s s t o r i e s . Wyndham w a s n o t , however ,

j u s t a s t o r y t e l l e r , n c t m e r e l y a c rea tor o f " c o s y

c c ï a s t r o p h e s . " I n e v e n t h e mos t f a n t a s t i c o f h i s n o v e l s ,

chere i s , zt l e a s t , t h e r e c o g n i z a b l e shadow o f h i s own

s o c i e t y , and i m p l i c i t i n t h a t shadow, a c r i t i q u e o f t h e

s t a t u s q u o . So, j u s t a s Wyndham i s s u b t l e i n h i s s o c i a l a n d

p o l i t i c a l c r i t i c i s m , s o mus t w e be i n Our r e a d i n g o f h i s

o . A n e x a m i n a t i o n , t h e n , o f t h e s o c i a l a n d p o l i t i c a l

critique i n h e r e n t i n Wyndham's work i s p e r h a p s b e s t

a ~ p r a a c h e d sornewhat o b l i q u e l y .

I n George O r w e l l ' s a t t a c k on H.G. W e l l s , h e a l l u d e s t o

one of t h e main i s s u e s wh ich would l a t e r corne t o p r e o c c u p y

W y n a h m .

H i t l e r is a11 t h e w a r - l o r d s a n d w i t c n - d o c t o r s i n

h i s t o r y r o l l e d i n t o o n e . T h e r e f o r e , a r g u e s W e l l s , h e

i s a n a b s u r d i t y , a g h o s t f rom t h e p s t , a c r e a t u r e

doomod t o d i s a p p e a r a l m o s t i m m e d i a t e l y . But

u n f o r t u n a t e l y t h e e q u a t i o n o f s c i e n c e w i t h corrunon ser?se

d o e s n o t r e a l l y h o l d good. The a e r o p l a n e , wh ich w a s

l o o k e d f o r w a r d t o a s a c i v i l i z i n g i n f l u e n c e but i n

p r a c t i c e h a s h a r d l y been u s e d except f o r d r o p p i n g

Pombs, is t h e syrnbol of t h a t f a c t . Modern Germany i s

f a r more s c i e n t i f i c t h a n Cng land , a n d f a r more

14 barbarous. Much of what Wells has imagined and worked

for is physically there in Nazi Germany. The order,

tne planning, the State encouragement of science, the

steel, the concrete, che aeroplanes, are al1 there, but

al1 in the service of ideas appropriate to the Stone

A g e - Science is fighting on the side of superstition.

( 163-4 1

The question in one form or anotner arises in Xyndharn's

major works--on the side of what ideas is science fighting

now? Or, how do lingering Stone Age Fdeas hold science in

thrall? It was not Hitler aftex al1 who dropped the first

atomic bombs. How is it that, after the defeat of the Axis

powers, military research intensified rather than waned in

boch ïne East and the West? Who did Hitler's scientists go

C O work for after the war? Wyndham is not anti-science, but

certzinly a healthy suspicion of science as a tool in the

hands of industry or the military is apparent in his major

works . Wyndharn rarely, if ever, attacks either the

individual scientist or the individual soldier--it is

neither science, itself, nor the profession of soldiery

which concern him but, rather, the closed and secret circle

of government "planners", working for "the common good". At

issue is the actuàl desirability of what they work for, and

tne ability of Humanity to assirnilate responsibly the

changes that science brings. Wyndham's wartime experiences

15 may v e r y w e l l be a t t h e r o o t o f t h i s p r e o c c u p a t i o n . A s a

c e n s o r , he h i m s e l f would have b e e n a s m a l l p a r t o f t h a t

closed c i r c l e a n d would have s e e n f i r s t - h a n d t h a t t h e

a u t h o r i t i e s w e r e n o t s a i n t e d champions o f t h e commonweal b u t

m e r e l y men ( r a t h e r t h a n women) w i t h a g e n d a s of t h e i r own.

A s a s o l d i e r i n t h e S i g n a l s Corps , h e would have e x p e r i e n c e d

che h i e r a r c h i c a l s t r u c t u r e o f t h e M i l i t a r y which

n e c o s s i t a t e s a v a s t body of men 5eing k e p t i n t h e àark;

ïne i r i n m e d i a t e s u p e r i o r s would h a v e been o n l y s l i g h t l y more

e n l i g h t e n e d , a n d s o o n u p t h e c h a i n o f cornrnand.

T h e h o r r o r s i n The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s and The Midwich

Cuckoos a p p e a r e i t h e r d i r e c t l y o r i n d i r e c t l y a s a r e s u l t o f

P l i l i t a r y / I n d ~ s t r i a l i n t e r f e r e n c e w i t h s c i e n c e . T h i s o c c u r s

n o ï o n l y i n some r e a l o r imagined d y s t o p i a n d i c t a t o r s h i p b u t

a l s o i n t h e d e m o c r a t i c W e s t . I n The Midwich Cuckoos, D r .

Willers o b s e r v e s t h a t , "One h a s g o t u s e d t o t h e i d e a of

m i l i t â r y i n t e r f e r e n c e w i t h s c i e n c e i n a number o f f i e l d s - - a

l o r of i t t o ~ a l l y u n n e c e s s a r y . . . " ( 1 0 0 ) . A t r u e enough

o b s e r v a t i o n , b u t wny i s t h a t ? Why i s t h e r e no g e n e r a l

r e v o l t d e s p i t e t h e f a c t t h a t , a n o t h e r

Wyndhamls c h a r a c t e r s r e c a i l s ( a f t e r what amounts t o

Armageddon) i n The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s :

F r o n 6 August 1 9 4 5 , t h e marg in o f s u r v i v a l h a s

nârrowed a p p a l l i n g l y . I n a e e d , two d a y s ago it w a s

na r rower t h a n i t i s a t t h i s moment. I f you needed t o

16

dramatize, you could well take for your material the

years succeeding the year 1945 when the path of safety

started to shrink to a tight-rope along which we had to

walk with our eyes deliberately closed to the depths

beneath us. (115)

Generally speaking, Wyndham, here, is alluding to the

possibility of nuclear war after the examples of Hiroshima

ânà Nagasaki, but his character is referring not oniy to

tnis but also to a host of other elements in the world of

the novel. The "Triffids, " for example, are mobile,

dangerous, and seemingly sentient plants, "the outcome of a

series of ingenious biological meddlings--and very likely

accidenrzâl at that"(27). This last hypothesis (which makes

The Day of the Triffids perhaps the first work of fiction to

treat the now very concemporary topic of genetically

engineered crops) is speculative, but ic functions as a

literûry device; an omniscient, definite account of the

origin of the triffids (who originate on Venus in one

version) would certainly detract both from the air of menace

surrounding them, and from the sense of verisimilitude in

the novel. Later, Wynaham's narrator, who formerly made his

living working with triffids, muses on the

ethFcal/philosophical ramifications of the creation of them:

1 saw them now with a disgust that they had never

17 r o u s e d i n m e b e f o r e . H o r r i b l e a l i e n t h i n g s which some

o f u s h a d somehow c r e a t e d a n d which t h e rest o f u s i n

o u r s e n s e l e s s g r e e d h a d c u l t u r e d a l 1 o v e r t h e w o r l d .

One coulci n o t e v e n b lame n a t u r e f o r thern. Somehow t h e y

had b e e n b r e d - - j u s t a s w e b r e d o u r s e l v e s b e a u t i f u l

f l o w e r s , o r g r o t e s q u e p a r o d i e s o f d o g s . (197)

A s a l i e n as t h e y may s e e m , t h e t r i f f i d s a re n o more s o

than a new b r e e d o f t u l i p o r a F rench poodle--man-made

c r e a t i o n s a l l . T t seems t h a t the n a r r a t o r ' s d i s g u s t is n o t

w i t h t h e t r i f f i d s t h e m s e l v e s b u t , r a t h e r , ( i n t h e triffids

f rom E a r t h s c e n a r i o ) w i t h t h e p e r v e r t e d i n s t i n c t b e h i n d

their c r e a t i o n .

The a p o c a l y p s e i n The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s is n o t m e r e l y

a r e s u l t of t h e c r e a t i o n o f t h e t r i f f i d s , however . It i s

instead, a s o r t o f compound d i s a s t e r ; t h e t r i f f i d s o n l y g a i n

free r e i g n a f t e r a n o t h e r man-made h o r r o r - - a s a t e l l i t e - - g o e s

awry. The n a r r a t o r d e s c r i b e s t h e a u v e n t o f a s o r t o f

o r b i t a l m i s s i l e ( n o t u t t e r l y u n l i k e a n I C B M ) d e v e l o p e d i n

b o t h t h e E a s t a n d West c a r r y i n g n o t o n l y a t o m i c weapons b u t

a l s o " s u c h t h i n g s a s c r o p d i s e a s e s , c a t t l e d i s e a s e s ,

r a d i o a c t i v e d u s t s , v i r u s e s , a n d i n f e c t i o n s n o t o n l y of

f a m i i i a r k i n d s , b u t brana-new s o r t s r e c e n t l y t h o u g h t up i n

l a b o r a t o r i e s , a l 1 f l o a t i n g a r o u n d up t h e r e " ( 2 8 - 9 ) .

Why a r e s u c h t h i n ç s d e v e l o p e d ? T h i s q u e s t i o n is

18 perhaps most succinctly answered in a passage from The

Midwich Cuckoos explaining why Military Intelligence not

only tolerated but actively encouraged and protected a

population of changelings in Midwich as a bulwark against a

similar population in Russia:

The War Office view being that it did not know quite

what we had here, or what the Russians had there. But

if it should curn out that the Russians had a flock of

potential geniuses, it would be useful for us to have a

similar flock to put up against them? (190)

This subject is still very much alive in SF; if the

word "monster" w e r e substituted for the word "genius" in the

passage cited above, one would have a fairly accurate

surnrr~âry o f the movie ~liens' and its sequels. Why does tnis

Cold War/Arms Race continue uespite the obvious dangers

i nvo lved? Wyndham, 1 think, sees it in terms similar to

those outlined by C.S. Lewis:

I am a democrat because 1 Selieve that no man or group

of men is good enough to be trusted with uncontrolleu

power over others. And the higher the pretensions of

such power, the more dangerous I think it both to the

rulers and to the subjects. Hence Theocracy is the

worst of al1 governments .... The inquisitor who

'dir, James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, 1986.

19 m i s t a k e s h i s own c r u e l t y and l u s t o f power and fear f o r

t h e v o i c e o f Heaven w i l l t o r m e n t u s i n f i n i t e l y b e c a u s e

h e t o r m e n t s u s w i t h t h e a p p r o v a l of h i s own c o n s c i e n c e

a n d h i s b e t t e r i m p u l s e s appear t o h im as t e r n p t a t i o n s .

And s i n c e T h e o c r a c y i s t h e w o r s t , t he n e a r e r any

governrnent a p p r o a c h e s t o Theoc racy , t h e worse i t w i l l

be. A m e t a p h y s i c , h e l d by t h e r u l e r s w i t h t h e f o r c e o f

a r e l i g i o n , i s a bau s i g n . I t f o r b i d s them, l i k e t h e

i n q u i s i t o r , t o a d m i t a n y g r a i n o f t r u t h o r good i n

t h e i r o p p o n e n t s , it a b r o g a t e s t h e o r d i n a r y r u i e s o f

m o r a l i t y , a n d i t g i v e s a s e e m i n g l y h i g h , s u p e r - p e r s o n a 1

s a n c ~ i o n t o a l 1 t h e v e r y o r d i n a r y human p a s s i o n s by

which, l i k e o t h e r men, t h e r u l e r s w i l l f r e q u e n t l y b e

a c t u a t e d . I n a word, i t f o r b i d s wholesome d o u b t . ("A

R e p l y . . ." 8 1 )

Whi le i t i s u n l i k e l y t h a t Wyndharn would have s t a t e d i t

i n t h e s e t e r m s , t h i s s e e m s n e v e r t h e l e s s t o b e t h e dynamic h e

p e r c e i v e s i n t h e C o l d Wzr ( w i t h t h e a d d e d p r o v i s o t h a t n o t

e v e n the "dernocrzit" is s a f e £rom t h e " t h e o c r a t i z a t i o n " o f

g o v e r n m e n t ) . Not o n l y t h e p o s t - r e v o l u t i o n a r y government o f

the S o v i e t Union, b u t a l s o the gove rnmen t s o f t h e d e m o c r a t i c

W e s t see t h e m s e l v e s a s m o r a l l y right i n o p p o s i n g the o t h e r .

I n t h e M a c h i a v e l l i a n s e n s e , a n y t h i n g i s j u s t i f i e d i n o r d e r

to t h w a r t t h e " G o d l e s s comrnunists" o r t h e " I m p e r i a l i s t i c

20 West." What Wyndham s e e m s t o s u g g e s t i s t h a t t h e Cold W a r ,

i n L e w i s ' s c e r m s , " f o r b i d s wholesome d o u b t . " If Arnerican

s c i e n t i s t s Q i s c o v e r t h e s e c r e t o f a weapon which c o u l d

d e s t r o y t h e e a r t h , they must p roduce it s i n c e , i n a l l

l i k e l i h o o d , t h e S o v i e t s w i l l . The a v e r a g e p e r s o n ' s h o r r o r

a t t h e i d e a o f p r o d u c i n g a w o r l d - d e s t r o y i n g weapon becomes

i r r e l e v a n t because : (1) s u c c e s s i v e s c i e n t i f i c d i s c o v e r i e s

i rnplemented h a s t i l y and t h o u g h t l e s s l y h a v e weakened h i s / h e r

r e s i s t a n c e t o f u r t h e r d i s c o v e r i e s and, ( 2 ) b e c a u s e h e / s h e

does n o t e v e n n e c e s s a r i l y know a b o u t i t - - s e c r e c y becomes

pa ramount i n an a t t e m p t t o g a i n a n a d v a n t a g e o v e r t h e o t h e r

side. T h i s l a s t p o i n t may have i t s r o o t s i n Wÿndham's

war t i rne s e r v i c e w i t h t h e M i n i s t r y of I n f o r m a t i o n . A s a

p o s t a l / t e l e g r a p h c e n s o r , Wyndham would have been r e s p o n s i b l e

for e n f o r c i n g s e c r e c y - - c e n s o r i n g t o p i c s whose s p e c i f i c

importance was o f t e n e n t i r e l y o b s c u r e t o h i m , b u t which

appeared on " c l a s s i f i e d c o p i c s " l i s t s .

Wyndham h a s a g r e â t d e a l t o Say a b o u t s o c i e t y ' s

r e a c t i o n t h e g a l l o p i n g Pace s c i e n t i f i c advances

t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y , and l i t t l e o f i t is u n c r i t i c a l l y

l â u à a t o r y . One more t h o u g h t f u l , p h i l o s o p h i c ü l

t h e

c h o r a c t e r s (Gordon Z e l l a b y , i n The Midwich Cuckoos) muses on

t n e d i l e m v a of soc i c t l c h a n g e keep ing p a c e w i t h s c i e n t i f i c

change :

21 ' i t i s a t r i f l e demodé even t o p e r c e i v e t h e e x i s t e n c e

o f t h e p r o b l e m . The t r u e f r u i t o f t h i s c e n t u r y h a s

i i t t l e

i n n o v a c

corne a l

big d o e

i n t e r e s t i n corning t o l i v i n g -

i o n s ; i t j u s t g r e e d i l y g r a b s

o n g . O n l y when i t e n c o u n t e r s

s i t become aware o f a s o c i a l

terns w i t h

tbern al1 as

s o m e t h i n g r

p r o b l e m a t

t h e y

, e a l l y

a l i ,

and t h e n , r a t h e r t h a n n a k e c o n c e s s i o n s , it yammers f o r

the i m p o s s i b l y e a s y way c u t , u n i n v e n t i o n , s u p p r e s s i o n - -

a s i n t h e ma t t e r o f The Bomb.'

' . . . L u c k i l y , w e i n t h e W e s t s t i l l r e t a i n t h e s k e l e t o n

o f o u r e t h i c s , b u t t h e r e a r e s i g n s t h a t t h e o l d b o n e s

a re f i n d i n g t h e w e i g h t of new knowledge d i f f i c u l t t o

c a r r y w i t h c o n f i d e n c e , d o n ' t t h i n k ? ' - L C i s Z e l l z b y ' s c o n t e m p l a t i v e a n d c o n s e r v s t i v e n a t u r e

t h a t d e t e r m i n e s t h e c o m p a r a t i v e l y rnild p h r a s i n g o f t h i s

senciment-- " t h e r e a r e s i g n s t h a t t h e o l d b o n e s ûre f i n d i n g

t h e w e i g h t of new knowledge d i f f i c u l t t o c a r r y ...". The

1 9 5 0 s i n p a r t i c u l a r were a s t r a n g e t i m e i n t e r m s of s c i e n c e

and s o c i e t y - - f a m i l i e s c o n t e r n p l a t e d s i t t i n g t h r o u g h t h i r t y

y ê z r s o f n u c l e a r w i f i t e r i n bomb s h e l t e r s , c n i l d r e n w e r e

t a u ç h t t o h i d e u n d e r d e s k s i n case o f n u c l e a r a t t a c k , and

c a r s were d e s i g n e d t o l o o k l i k e s p a c e s h i p s . I n R e l i g i o n ,

P h i l o s o p h y , a n d S c i e n c e ( 1 9 5 7 ) , a t e x t p o p u l a r i z i n g

s c i e n t i f i c p o s i t i v i s m p u b l i s h e d i n t h e same y e a r as The

22 Midwlch Cuckoos, Burnharn P . Peckworth p r o u d l y p roc l a i rned

t h a t , " i n a d v a n c e d s t a t e s , e u g e n i c r e f o r m i s t h e most

p r o m i s i n g o f al1 s c i e n t i f i c methods f o r m a k i n g m e n h e a l t h i e r

a n d h a p p i e z . " (2161 The a u t h o r p r o u d l y b o a s t s t h a t ,

" s c i e n t i s t s c a n h e l p b o t h t o b r e e d a n a t o t r a i n men who

would want t o d o t h i n g s which f e w o r no l i v i n g m e n now want

t o do . " ( 2 1 7 ) The " o l d bones" o f r n o r a l i t y may w e l l f i n d t h e

prospect of e u g e n i c reforrn " d i f f i c u l t t c c a r r y . " I n a l a t e r

n c v e l , The T r o u b l e With L i c h e n , Wyndham g o e s r i g h t t o t h e

p o i n t a b o u t s o c i e t y ' s i n c r e a s i n g a c c e p t a n c e o f s c i e n t i f i c

d i s c o v e r i e s , d e s c r i 8 i n g i t as:

a f e e l i n g t h a t t h e go ings -on o f s c i e n c e had g o t s o f a r

beyond o r d i n û r y human c o n t r o l , and a n y new d i s c o v e r y

now came s o n e a r l y i n t o t h e c a t e g o r y o f Act o f God,

c h a t it w â s s c a r c e l y w o r t h t r o u b l i n g o n e s e l f t o t r y t o

do a n y t h i n g a b o u t them. ( 1 8 5 )

T h i s i d e a of p e r c e i v i n g s c i e n t i f i c d i s c o v e r i e s i n t h e " A c t

of Goc" c a t e g o r y c i e s i n wich L e w i s ' s "Dangers of Theocracy"

i a e a . If new s c i e n t i f i c a d v a n c e s a r e s e e n i n t h e same l i g h t

a s " A c t s o f God" t h e n t h e r e ' s l i t t l e one c a n d o a b o u t them;

there i s no room, o r i m p e t u s e v e n , f o r c o n s i d e r a t i o n as t o

t h e d e s i r a b i l i t y o f the t h i n g ( o r "wholesorne d o u b t " ) . T h i s

i s i n t e r e s t i n g , e s p e c i a l l y when o n e c o n s i d e r s t h a t Lewis i s

n o t s p e a k i n g s p e c i f i c a l l y about t h e Cold W a r wnen h e r e f e r s

23 t o t h e " d a n g e r s o f T h e o c r a c y " b u t , r a t h e r , of t h e likelihood

t h a t , "Under modern c o n d i t i o n s a n y e f f e c t i v e i n v i t a t i o n t o

H e l l w i l l c e r t a i n l y a p p e a r i n t h e g u i s e of s c i e n t i f i c

p l a n n i n g - - a s H i t l e r ' s r e g i m e i n f a c t did" ( 8 0 ) . I f a

g o v e r n n e n t c a n take a l m o s t u n l i m i t e d l i b e r t i e s w i t h s c i e n c e

when u s i n g i t t o c o u n t e r e i t h e r " t h e g o d l e s s comrnunis ts" o r

" t h e d e c a d e n t warmonger s o f ~ h e W e s t , " how far m i g h t it n o t

go? Wyndham s e e m s t o s u g g e s t t h a t i t w o u l d s t o p a t alrnost

n o t h i n g .

C f c o u r s e t h e o t h e r s i de o f t h e " C o l d W a r " c o i n i s

s e c r e c y . C e r t a i n l y , Wyndham seems t o s u g g e s t t h a t t h e

p u b l i c c a n be made t o s w a l l o w p r a c t i c a l l y any d i s c o v e r y ,

s i n c e i t s r e s i s t a n c e t o s u c h d i s c o v e r i e s h a s b e e n s e e m i n g l y

r e d u c e d t o n i l . What, o n the o t h e r hand, i f t h e p u b l i c

n e v e r h e a r s a b o u t i t i n t h e f i r s t p lace? Al1 f o u r o f

Wyndhzm's m a j o r n o v e l s £rom t h e 1 9 5 0 s dea l t o a g r e a t e r o r

lesser e x t e n t w i t h t h e iaea o f p r o p a g a n d a , a n d w i t h o f f i c i a l

a n d u n o f f i c i a l s e c r e c y . O c c a s i o n a l l y , t h i s a p p e a r s i n t h e

fo rm of a c r i t i q u e o f r e l i g i o u s dogrna. Wyndham w a s b y no

means wha t L e w i s wou ld h a v e c h a r a c t e r i z e d a s a "cc-

r e l i ç i o n i s t " , a n d e n t h u s i a s t i c f o l l o w e r s of t h e C h r i s t i a n

C h u r c h o f t e n r e c e i v e e x t r e m e l y s h o r t s h r i f t i n h i s n o v e l s . 2

hile Wyndham a n d h i s wife Grace were t o r e m a i n c h i l d l e s s , Wyndham d i d u n o f f i c i a l l y "adopt" t h e c h i l d r e n o f h i s f r i e n d B i f f B a r k e r a s h i s l i t e r a r y h e i r s . When o n e of

24 Despite this, the syrnpathetic Zellaby in The Midwich

Cuc koos , remar king "our ancestors, " suggests that "they

only had îo suffer religious dogmatisrn, which was not so

dogrnatic as scientific dogmatism" ( 1 0 6 ) . In fact, Wyndham

saves most of his criticism not for religious propaganda, or

dogmatisrn, but rather for official propaganda and secrecy.

In The Midwich Cuckoos, the "weight of new knowledge"

seems to create an atrnospnere of uneasiness and encourages

an almost institutionalized conspiratorial secrecy. The

government either do not want people to know, or think it

Better for them if tney do not know, what is really going

on, wnat the latest development is. Even among its own

depcrtments, the Government seems to maintain a thick cloüd

of secrecy, and uses the Ministry of Information and

Nilitary Intelligence to enforce it. But F t is not only the

Government/Military that practices secrecy--the people of

Midwich become adept producers of disinformation with no

trouble at all. In The Midwich Cuckoos, Wyndham shows us a

society where secrecy, propàgandû, and disinformation are

the xorm.

Perhaps one of the most insidious and least obvious

eucrnples of the acceptance of propaganda or disinformation

in the novel occurs early when Midwich, which had "lived and

these children--Marion Tess Barker--made clear her intention to become a cloistered nun, she was disinherited.

25 drowsed upon its good soi1 in Arcâdian undistinction for a

thousand years1'(12), prepares for bed one night:

Many cottage windows still threw yellow beams into

the mild evening where they glistened in the dampness

of an earlier shower. The occosional surges of voices

and laughter which swept the place were not local; they

originated with a well handled studio-audience miles

away anà several days aqo. . . . (22) What Wyndham seems to be describing here derives from

celevision and radio, but the two most important elernents of

che passage are "not local" and "well-handled." This c m

be looked at as a sort of foreshadowing of the immanent

invasion of Midwich, but more irnportantly, it signifies the

excent to which the town and its inhabitants have üccepted

boch the new medium and its "well-handled" contents.

Midwich, while not exactly cut off from civilization, has

existed in a certain degree of isolation, but it

nevertheless has easily become integrated into the age of

rnass communications. This is more telling when set off, a

few lines later, against the traditional mode of recreation

and information exchange (the local pub)--"The Scythe and

Stone" (whose very name hearkens back to a pre-industrial

3zst). AS Zellaby would have it, no one has "perceive[d]

inë existence of the problem" ( 1 9 ) . The "problem, " in this

26 case, is the supplanting of a traditional mode of

communication (one which involved people speaking directly

to people about matters of common importance and interest),

with a new one which distances people frcm each other and

disseminares carefully "handled," or purposefully

adulterared, information. Some of the consequences of this

becorne apparent when Zellaby explains the success of the

cover-up of tne Chilaren Co his son-in-law, hllan:

They must have heard fairly fully 1 imagine, but they

choose to believe that that is al1 a tale to cover up

something more normal, but disgraceful .... That is

unless it should get into print. On the word of a

newspaper, of course, eighty or ninety percent would

swing to the opposite extreme, and believe anything.

( 8 2 )

The new emphasis on institutionalized dissemination of

information--whether in newspapers, by radio, or cn

television--has replaced (or at least weakened) people's

belief in the spoken word, and first-hand knowledge of the

world. This emphasis on pre-treated news (propaganda)

bccomes an invaluable tool for preserving official secrecy.

An interesting example of the generally accepted

atmosphere of secrecy is "The Grange." The traditional

country manor has been transformed into the research

27 f a c i l i t y o f some unknown governrnent m i n i s t r y 3 . R a t h e r t h a n

becoming a f o c u s o f l o c a l g o s s i p , o r s p e c u l a t i o n , t h e

i n h a b i t a n t s o f Midwich a c c e p t t h e i n t r u s i o n o f " t n e

M i n i s t r y " w i t h l i t t l e o r no q u e s t i o n . When M i d w i c h ' s

h i s t o r y i s n a r r a t e d , the r e a d e r l e a r n s t h a t t h e r e h a s been

no i n d u s t r i a l o r i n s t i t u t i o n a l presence i n t h e v i l l a g e u n t i l

"the M i n i s t r y i n t r u d e d , and t h e r e c o n d i t i o n i n g o f t h e Grange

had l i t t l e efr'ect upon t h e v i l l a g e l i f e " ( 1 2 ) . S l i g h t l y

l a t e r i n t he n o v e l , a s Wyndham d e s c r i b e s a p e r f e c t l y normal

e v e n i n g i n Midwich, t h e r e i s a n o t h e r r e f e r e n c e t o T h e

Grange :

L i g h t s s t i l l b u r n t i n o n e o r two of t h e new

l a b o r a t o r i e s s h o u l d e r e d on t o T h e Grange, b u t t h e r e was

n o t h i n g x n u s u a l i n t h a t ; i t was comrnon f o r o n e o r two

R ê s e a r c h e r s t o conduc t r h e i r m y s t e r i o u s p u r s u i t s l a t e

i n t o t h e n i g h t . ( 1 6 )

I n t h i s p a s s a g e , t h e " R e s e a r c h e r s " aEe viewed a k i n t o young

V i c t o r F r a n k e n s t e i n s . T h e v i l l a g e r s have no idea what is

g o i n q on i n t h e l a b o r a t o r i e s , and n e i t h e r do t h e y s e e m t o

care v e r y much. A l 1 anyone seems t o know a b o u t t h e Grange,

i s c h a i "it is v e r y hush" ( 4 9 ) . When t h i n g s become

3 T h i s seerns t o b e a r e c u r r i n g s i t e o f s u s p i c i o n f o r Wyndham. I n a n e a r l i e r s t o r y , r e rn in i s cen t o f W e l l s ' - The I s l a n d of D o c t o r Moreau, a c o n v e r t e d c o u n t r y manor is used a s a l a b o r a t o r y f o r r e s e a r c h i n t o s p l i c i n g humans a n d ani rnals . See Ketterer, " ' V i v i s e c t i o n ' " .

u n c o m f o r t a b l e a t t h e G r a n g e i t d i s a p p e a r s :

A f i n e b i t of s e r v i c e o r g a n i z a t i o n : t h e r e s e a r c h e r s

f i r s t h e a r d a b o u t i t on Monday, t h e v a n s a r r i v e d o n

Wednesday, and by t h e week-end t h e house a n d t h e

e x p e n s i v e new l a b o r a t o r i e s s t o o t i blank-windowed a n d

empty , l e a v i n g t h e v i l l a g e r s w i t h t h e f e e l i n g t h a t t h e y

had s e e n a b i t o f pantomime m a g i c . . . . ( 1 1 6 )

A s a p p a r e n t l y m y s t e r i o u s as t h e Grange Ls ( i n i t s own

mundane f a s h i o n ) , it d o e s p r o v i d e a p l a u s i b l e e x c u s e f o r

a n o t h e r o f t h e o f f i c i a l b o d i e s o f s t a t e s e c r e c y t o i n t r u d e

o n Midwich a f t e r t h e Dayout ( t h e t w e n t y - f o u r h o u r p e r i o d st

t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t h e n o v e l , w h e r e i n a r n y s t e r i o u s f o r c e

plunges a l 1 of Midwich i n t o a n u n n a t u r a l s l e e p ) . M i l i t a r y

I n ~ e l l i g e n c e i s t h e g o v e r n m e n t ' s way o f k e e p i n g t h i n g s

sec re t , and it a p p e a r s i n t h e fo rm of C o l o n e l B e r n a r d

W e s t c o ~ t , a s s o o n a s the s i t u a t i o n a t Midwich becomes known.

The n a r r a t o r , R i c h a r d G a y f o r d , i s a c q u a i n t e d w i t h W e s t c o t t ,

and i n t h e f o l l o w i n g c o n v e r s a t i o n h e a t t e m p t s t o d i s c o v e r

MI'S s p e c i f i c i n t e r e s t i n Midwich:

' Y e s . The G r a n g e cornes w i t h i n my s c o p e , a n d

n a t u r a l l y a n y t h i n g u n t o w a r d i n i t s n e i g h b o r h o o d

i n t e r e s t s u s . T h i s , o n e m i g h t c a l1 v e r y u n t o w a r d ,

d o n ' t you t h i n k ? '

' U s ' 1 had a l r e a d y g a t h e r e d f r o m h i s se l f -

29 i n t r o d u c t i c n b e f o r e t h e c o n f e r e n c e , could be e i t h e r

M i l i t a r y I n t e l l i g e n c e i n g e n e r a l , o r h i s p a r t i c u l a r

d e p a r t m e n t o f i t .

'1 t h o u g h t , ' 1 s a i d , ' t h a t t h e S p e c i a l Branch

l o o k e d a f t e r t h a t k i n d o f t h i n g . '

' T h e r e are v a r i o u s a n g l e s , ' he s a i d , v a g u e l y , and

cnanged t h e s u b j e c t . ( 3 9 )

I n t h i s e x c h a n g e , W e s t c o t t i s very vague Fndeed, a n d he

g i v s s p r a c t i c a l l y n o t h i n g away. N e v e r t h e l e s s , t h e Grange

seems a l i k e l y enough r e a s o n f o r M I ' S i n t e r e s t i n Midwich.

Afcer t h e Dayout , b o t h t h e M i l i t a r y and M i l i t a r y

I n t e l l i g e n c e c o n d u c t tests of t h e a f f e c t e d a r e a . I n t h e

f o l l o w i n g p a s s a g e t h e n a r r a t o r , Gayford , describes t h e

a c t i v i t i e s o f t h e M i l i t a r y and t h e movements o f h i s f r i e n d ,

C o l o n e l W e s t c o t t .

T h e v i s i b l e f o c u s o f a t t e n t i o n was c l o s e t o t h e Abbey

r u i n s where a g u a r d was p o s t e d t o p r o t e c t a l a r g e d e n t

i n the g r o u n d w h i c h c e r t a i n l y l o o k e d a s i f s o m e t h i n g

m a s s i v e h a d rested t h e r e f o r a w h i l e . E n g i n e e r s h a d

measured t h i s phenornenon, made s k e t c h e s , a n d t a k e n

p h o t o g r a p h s o f i t . T e c h n i c i a n s of v a r i o u s k i n d s h a d

t h e n trarnped back and f o r t h a c r o s s i t , c a r r y i n g mine-

d e t e c t o r s , g e i g e r - c o u n t e r s , and o t h e r s u b t l e g e a r .

Then, a b r u p t l y , t h e M i l i t a r y l o s t a l 1 i n t e r e s t i n i t ,

a n d w i t h d r e w .

I n v e s t i g a t i o n s a t t h e Grange went on a l i t t l e

l o n g e r , a n d among t h o s e o c c u p i e d w i t h them w a s B e r n a r d

W e s t c o t t . H e d r o p p e d i n t o see u s s e v e r a l tirnes, b u t

h e t o l d u s n o t h i n g o f wha t was g o i n g o n . . . . ( 4 7 - 8 )

While t h e Grange r e m a i n s , i t s p r e s e n c e and M I ' S i n t e r e s t i n

i t are enough t o keep most e v i d e n c e o f the Dayout o u t o f t n e

press. F, number of s i g n i f i c a n t t a c i t a c c e p t a n c e s o c c u r

here . To b e g i n w i t h , e v e r y o n e i n Midwich ( o r a l m o s t

eve ryone- -more on t h i s l a t e r ) f i g u r e s t h a t t h e p r e s 2 n c e o f

che G r a n g e was t h e r e a s o n t h e Dayout o c c u r r e d a t Midwich; o n

top of t h i s , everyone--MI, t h e M i l i t a r y i n g e n e r a l , and t h e

v i l l a g e r s - - a c c e p t s t h a t t h e Dayout s h o u l d n o t b e rnent ioned

Fz t n e p r e s s . Why i s t h i s t h e case? I n t h e first i n s t a n c e ,

everyone a s s u m e s t h e p r e s e n c e o f t h e Grange i s the r o o t o f

~ h e Dayouc b e c a u s e , i n G a y f o r d ' s words , "What o t h e r r e a s o n

could there be- - in Midwich?" ( 5 0 ) . The v i l l a g e , i t s e l f , i s

p e r c e i v e d b y i t s i n h a b i t a n t s a s e s s e n t i a l l y i n c o n s e q u e n t i a l -

- i c s o n l y o f f i c i a l l y i m p o r t a n t a s p e c t b e i n g t h e Grznge a ~ d

whatever g o e s on t h e r e . On t h e o t h e r hand, t h e r e a s o n s f o r

keep ing it o u t o f t h e p r e s s a r e t w o f o l d . Z e l l a b y e x p l a i n s :

' B u t for your p r e s e n c e , and t h e c o n s e q u e n t

S e c u r i t y i n t e r e s t , ' h e sa id , ' w e s h o u l d w i t h o u t d o u b t

h a v e s u f f e r e d a v i s i t a t i o n far worse t h a n t h a t o f t h e

31 D a y o u t . Our p r i v a c y w o u l d have b e e n r a v a g e d , Our

s u s c ê p t i b i l i t i e s o u t r a g e d b y the t h r e e m o d e r n F u r i e s ,

c n e a w f u i s i s t e r h o o d o f t h e p r i n t e d word, t h e r e c o r d e d

w o r d , and t h e p i c t u r e . ' (52-3)

While many o f t h e i n h a b i t a n t s o f Midwich a r e p e r f e c t l y

c o m f o r t a b l e w a t c h i n g t e l e v i s i o n , a l m o s t n o n e of them a r e

c o m f o r t a b l e w i t h t h e idea o f becoming f o d d e r f o r i t 2nd t h e

r e s t of t h e mass m e d i a . One m i g h t S a y t h a t t h i s p a r t i c u l a r

i n n o v a t i o n ( t h e mass m e d i a ) b a s d e v e l o p e d £ a s t e r t h a n p e o p l e

c a n a c a p t t o i t . So b e t w e e n t h e M i l i t a r y , and t h e i r

u n q u e s t i o n e d " s e c u r i t y s n g l e W - - t h a t i s t o S a y t h e

v n d e s i r a b i l i t y o f p u b l i c i t y f o r w h a t e v e r h a p p e n s a t t h e

Grange - -and t h e g e n e r a l d i s i n c l i n a t i o n t o become f o d d e r f o r

t h e media, a l 1 c a n a g r e e o n t h e i m p o r t a n c e of d i s i n f o r m i n g

a n d r n u z z l i n g t h e p r e s s . The e f f i c i e n c y w i t h w h i c h t h i s

c a k e s p l a c e , w a r r a n t s a t t e n t i o n i n i t s e l f .

D u r i n g a n d a f t e r t h e D a y o u t , t h e M i l i t a r y a n d M i l i t a r y

I n t e l l i g e n c e t a k e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r k e e p i n g t h i n g s secret .

I n o n e p a s s a g e , C o l o n e l W e s t c o t t r e a s s u r e s a n o t h e r o f f i c e r

t h a t s t e p s h a v e a l r e a d y b e e n t a k e n t o k e e p t h e p r e s s s i l e n t :

" ' T h a t , a t l e a s t , n e e d n ' t w o r r y you m u c h , ' B e r n a r d t o l d h im.

' T h e r e ' s b e e n a Home O f f i c e advice o n t h i s a l r e a d y " ' ( 3 5 ) .

D u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d , t h a t i s r e a l l y a 1 1 it t a k e s , a n d n o n e of

t h e o f f i c i a 1 b e h a v i o u r is s e e n as i n a n y way p e c u l i a r .

32 When t h 2 g e n e r a l p r e g n a n c y is r e a l i z e d however , and

e s p e c i a l l y a f t e r t h e C h i l d r e n a r e b o r n , t h e p r a c t i c e o f

s e c r e c y t o k e s o n a d i f f e r e n t c h a r a c t e r . M i l i t a r y

I n t e l l i g e n c e r e m a i n s , f o r r e a s o n s no o n e c a n fa thom,

i n t e r e s t e d i n t h e s i t u a t i o n , a n d t h e v i l l a g e t a k e s on t h e

t c s K o f p r e s e r v i n g s e c r e c y w i t h r e r n a r k a b l e s k i l l a n d

a l a c r i t y . One p h r a s e t h a t is r e p e a t e d a g a i n and a g a i n i n

t n e n o v e l , i n one forrn o r another, is , Co p a r a p h r a s e , "What

does a l 1 t h i s have t o d o w i t h M i l i t a r y I n t e l l i g e n c e ? " Whi le

t h e Grange r e m a i n s i n Midwich, t h e v i l l a g e r s more o r less

a c c e p t t h e p r e s e n c e ( o r a t least i n t e r e s t ) o f t h e M i l i t a r y

a s n o r m a l . Once t h e l a b o r a t o r i e s a r e e m p t i e d , however,

t h e i r c o n t i n u e d i n t e r e s t becomes more d i f f i c u l t f o r t h e

l o c a l s t o a c c e p t . The v i l l a g e d o c t o r v o i c e s t n i s c o n c e r n :

" I n t h e f i r s t p l a c e , 1 d o n o t see why M . 1. is c o n c e r n e d i n

t h i s a t s l l : i n t h e s e c o n d , t h a t i t s h o u l d b e , a p p a r e n t l y ,

a n e x c l u s i v e c o n c e r n o f t h e i r s is o u t r a g e o u s " ( 1 0 0 ) . D r .

Willers f u r t h e r m e n t i o n s t h a t "One h a s g o t u s e d t o t h e ides

of m i l i t a r y i n t e r f e r e n c e w i t h s c i e n c e i n a number o f

fields . . . b u t t h i s F s r e a l l y p r e p o s t e r o u s ! " ( l O O ) . R e g a r d l e s s

of why M . I . i s i n t e r e s t e a i n t h e C h i l d r e n , t h e y do g o t o

g r e ô t l e n g t h s t o p r e s e r v e t h e i r s e c r e c y - - o r a t l ea s t , t h i s

seerns t o b e t h e case. M . I . r e m a i n s c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y terse

o n t h e s u b j e c t , and w e l e a r n more frorn t h e o t h e r c h a r a c t e r s '

33 speculation than we learn from Westcott. At one point,

Zellaby suggests that "the unperceived official machinations

to keep al1 of this quiet nust have been quite

considerable"(ll1). At one point Westcott does go so far as

to Say of che Children, "my Department doesn't want them

publicizeci" ( 1 3 0 ) . This is, however, the most he ever says

(until his final revelation of the other colonies of

Children around the world),

T h e r e are numercus meritions in the novel of Westcott's

professional reticence. Westcott takes Gayford along with

him to Fnvestigate the Dayout but never actually reveals his

roasons for doing so or his interest in the situation

generally. Gayford describes the situation to his wife

later by saying, "He seemed to have second thoughts and

become more reserved altogether once we actually got close

cc i t W ( 4 O ) . Westcott maintains a fairly steadfast silence

on his interest in the Children throughout the novel, but

even after he reveals the existence of the other colonies,

he quickly reverts to official secrecy. When questioned on

his, or his department's, plans for the Children, his reply

is, "If I had any Fdeâs I suppose they'd have to be official

secrets" ( 1 9 2 ) .

What is, perhaps, more remarkable than M.I.'s efforts

to keep Midwich's Children a secret, is Midwich's own

3 4 efforts in t h a t direction. Once D r . Willers and Zellaby

realize the pregnancy situation, they swiftly and

effectively adopt a strategy of secrecy and propaganda to

prevent the spread of this n e w s . They cal1 a general

mesting of wornen in Midwich, and Mrs. Zellaby presents a

warning speech:

. . . I warn you thac if this should becorne generally

known it will be argued i n every club and pub, w i t h a

great many nasty insinuations--unless then, we want to

be exposed to that, and then to the very r e a l

possibility that o u r babies will be taken away f r o m us

on one excuse or another by doctors and scientists, we

must, every one of us, resolve not t o mention, or even

hint oucside the village, at the present state of

a f f a i r s . . . . I f p e o p l e i n T r a y n e , o r elsewhere, are

inquisitive, or strangers corne here as king questions,

we nust, for our babies' sakes, and our own, tell them

nothing. But we must not simply be silent and

secretive, as if we were concealing something. We must

m a k e it seem that there i s nothing unusual i n Midwich

a t all. (71 -2 )

In this passage, we can see the fundamental dynamic of t h e

novel taking place. The fear, or discornfort, with the idea

35 of becoming the target of the mass media couples with a

fundamental distrust of the scientific establishment to form

the will to secrecy. While the desire for privacy may be an

archetypally English trait, the dispatch with wnich tne

villagers successfully mount a propaganda campaign would be

grossly exaggerated if it were merely for the effect of

verisimilitude.

Ironically enouah, it would be far better for tne

villagers if the babies were taken away by scientists and

doctors, and better for the human race if the newspapers did

gst wind of the story--it is the atmosphere of secrecy that

allows the Children tirne to safely develop cheir powers.

Lote in the novel, some of the characters are discussing the

confrontational situation that has arisen, and Zellaby makes

the point that

it has come earlier than the Children themselves would

wish, too. They know they are not ready to face it.

That is why they want to get awaÿ tc some place where

they can reach maturity unmolested. (207-8)

The only reason the Children have been able to develop t h u s

f a r is because of the aura of secrecy surrounding them.

Once that secrecy is removed--even partially--the Children

realize that Midwich is no longer safe for them, and the

need to move somewhere else (presumably somewhere secret)

36 becomes apparent.

Another instance of the danger of secrecy with regards

to the Children appears when Westcott reveals the

simultaneous arriva1 of other groups of Children:

There may have been other places we didn't hear of.

It's pretty certain it happened in some places in South

,%rnerica and in Africa, too, but it's difficult to

check. The inhabitants tend to Be secretive. It's

even possible that an isolated village would miss a day

ând not know it -- in which caso the babies would be

even more of a puzzle. In rnost of the cases we do know

of, the babies were regarded as freaks, and were

killed, but we suspect that in some they may have been

hidden away. (189-90)

This example is somewhst problematic, in tnat the aura of

secrecy seems unrelated to anxiety regsrding technology or

cne media, but can be resolved when one considers that what

the bebies were "hidden away" from was the scrutiny of

IrnperiaListic powers (purveyors of anxiety-generating and

culture-disrupting technology). Aside £rom this problem,

however, the passage does suggest (1) that the Children

stand the best chance of fully developing their powers when

cloaked Dy secrecy, anci (2) that what may seem--to Brian

Aldiss at least--to be a "cosy disaster" (the appearance of

3 7 the C h i l d r e n i n Midwich, and t h e i r t i d y d e s t r u c t i o n ) , i s

s u b s t a n t i a l l y less c o s y when one r e o l i z e s t h a t s i m i l a r

ç r o u p s l i k e l y e x i s t u n c h a l l e n g e d , s a f e l y secreted away. The

g e n e r a l a t m o s p h e r e o f s e c r e c y , which h a s become e c c e p t e d

alrnosc a s rihe n o r n , v e r y n e a r l y s p e l l s ( o r may y e t s p e l l )

t h e e n d o f the human race.

T h i s state o f s e c r e c y i s d e s c r i b e d c l e a r l y b y C o l o n e l

L a t c h e r d c r i n g t h e Dayout, a n d can b e a p p l i e u b o t n t o

M i l i t a r y t e c h n o l o g y i n g e n e r a l and t o t h e C h i l d r e n i n

~ a r t i c u l a r :

T r o u b l e i s , f o r a l 1 w e know i t may b e some l i t t l e t r i c k

o f o u r own gone wrong. So much damned s e c r e c y nowadays

c h a t nobody knows a n y t h i n g . Don ' t know what t h e o t h e r

chap h a s ; d o n ' t even know what you may h a v e t o u s e

y o u r s e l f . A l 1 t h e s e s c i e n t i s t f e l l e r s i n b a c k rooms

r u i n i n g t h e p r o f e s s i o n . C a n ' t keep up w i t n wnat you

d o n ' t know. S o l d i e r i n g ' l l soon b e n o t h i n g b u t w i z a r d s

a n d w i r e s . ( 3 5 )

P a r t o f t h e p rob l em o u t l i n e d by t h e C o l o n e l i s n o t knowing

"what t h e o t h e r c h a p has . . . . " I n t h i s case, " t h e o t h e r

chap" refers mos t l i k e l y t o t h e S o v i e t Union, a s a n o t h e r

o f f i c e r l a t e r m e n t i o n s , "Never know what t h e s e I v a n s are u p

t o " ( 3 8 ) . E s s e n t i a l l y , t n e r a t i o n a l e r u n s l i k e t h i s - - s i n c e

we d o n ' t know what t h e R u s s i a n s have ( i n t e r m s o f

38 technology), we had better not let anyone know what we have.

In this kind of situation everything becomes secret--

everything becomes strategically important. Near the end of

the novel, Westcott reveals that the reason Midwich's

Children ore kept a secret is because the Russians

apparently have a batcn of their own:

The War Office view being that it did not know quite

what we had here, or what the Russians hod there. But

if it should turn out that the Russians had a flock of - potential geniuses, it woula be useful for us to have a

similar flock ro put up against them? (190)

Once the danger presented by the existence of the Children

becones generally known in Midwich, Military Intelligence

(which h2retofore had been sort of mysteriously helpful in

keeping Midwich's secret), becomes villainized and is seen

as responsible for tne rise of the Children. As Mrs.

Zellaby puts it, wnen arguing against going to t r y and stop

the villagers from burning down the Grange:

Colonel Westcott, you would do more harm than good.

You are identified witn the Children's interest. (160)

But the rise of the Children is not, strictly speaking,

MiliCary Intelligence's fault. This relates to t h e second

point brought up by Colonel Latcher, essentially that, you

"don ' t even know what you moy have to use yourself" ( 3 5 ) .

39 In a certain sense, what Latcher says applies directiy

to r h e way the authorities handle the Midwich problem. An

excellent example of this occurs early in the novel, when "a

desiccated-looking couple called Freemanw(ll6) arrive in

Midwicn to study the Children. The ironically named

Freemans are portrayed as spies. They spend their time

" 1 u r k i r . g ond peering" and, "insinuating themselves" ( 1 1 6 ) .

While they are apparently employed by "an unspecified

official bodyn(116), Westcott and Military Intellige~ce seem

to know almost nothing about them. When Gayford inquires

afcer them, Westcott replies that "they were nothing to do

wiih his department, but that their appointment was

o u t n e n t i c " ( 1 1 7 ) . This sort of atrnosphere, where you "don' t

even know what you may have to use yourselfft' is reflected

repeatedly in the novel. Above all, it qenerates (and is

qenerated Dy) an anxiety about the role of science and

technological innovation in society (undoubtedly a sentiment

intensified in the atomic age), especially a society in

which "One has got usêd to the idea of military interference

with science in a nurnber of fieldsU(100). Zellaby comments

on che problems inherent in living in an age dominated by

science, when discussing the phenomenon of the Children:

But if the type is unknown, the phenomenon is not-

-Our ancestors, wno did not have Willer's blind faith

4 0 i n t h e a r t i c l e s o f s c i e n c e - + a d a word f o r i t : t h e y

ca l l ed s u c h b e i n g s c h a n g e l i n g s . None of t h i s b u s i n e s s

w o u l d have seemed a s s t r a n g e t o them a s it d o e s t o u s

b e c a u s e t h e y h a d o n l y t o s u f f e r r e l i g i o u s dogmat i sm,

w h i c h w a s n o t s o d o g m a t i c as s c i e n t i f i c dogmat i sm.

M e v e r t h e l e s s , c lear t h a t this " s c i e n t i f i c dogmat i sm"

is the o r d e r o f t h e day, and e v e n t h o u g h many may b e

s u s p i c i o u s i t , s e c u r e l y d o m i n a n t . T h i s a t t a c k

" s c i e n t i f i c dogmat i sm, " o r " s c i e n t i s m " l i n k s Wyndham w i t h

C.S. L e w i s who c r i t i c i z e d Wells t h i s r e s p e c t . One

s x â m p l e o f t h i s c r i t i c i sm a p p e a r s i n L e w i s ' s T h a r H i d e o u s

S t r e n g t h ( 1 9 8 9 ) , w h e r e i n h e mode l s t h e c h a r a c t e r H o r a c e

J u l e s on Wells:

( s i n c e ) a n y s c i e n c e h e knew was t h a t t a u g h t h im a t t h e

U n i v e r s i t y o f London o v e r f i f t y y e a r s a g o , a n d a n y

p h i l o s o p h y h e knew h a d beon a c q u i r e d f r o m writers l i k e

H a e c k e l a n d J o s e p h McCabe a n d Winwood Reade, i t w s s

f a c t , p o s s i b l e t a l k him a b o u t m o s t t h e

t h i n g s t h e I n s t i t u t e w a s r e a l l y d o i n g . (The C o s m i c

L e w i s s u g g e s t s t h a t J u l e s ' ( a n d Wells') f a i t h i n s c i e n c e is

j u s t t h a t , F a i t h - - b a s e d o n u n r e a s o n e d i d e a s . I n t h i s same

vein, Wyndham woüld a r g u e t h a t t h e M i l i t a r y t s u s e o f

4 1 t e c h n o l o g y o r s c i e n c e i s s i m i l a r l y u n r e a s o n e d .

C o l c n e l L a t c h e r ( a n opponent o f s c i e n t i f i c dogniat ism,

i n s o f a r a s it a f f e c t s t h e p r o f e s s i o n o f s o l d i e r i n g ) e x h i b i t s

r n i s f e a r of s c i e n c e , when h e s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e Dayout "may

be sorne l i t t l e t r i c k o f Our own g o n e w r o n g W ( 3 5 ) . I n t h i s

a t m o s p h e r e , n o t even t h e Military know what t e c h n o l o g y t n e y

have a t t h e i r d i s p o s a l , b u t t h e y a r e s u s p i c i o u s enough o f i t

C O s p e c u l a t e on t h e p o s s i b i l i t y of something g o i n g wrong.

W e s t c o t t echoes t h i s s e n t i m e n t a few pages l a t e r , when

argui~g w i t h Gayford a b o u t what may have happened d u r i n g t h e

Dayout.

'No v i s i b l e e f f e c t , ' h e r e p e a t e d . 'Tha t means

r a t h e r l i t t l e doesn ' t i t ? You f o r

i n s t a n c e , have q u i t e a s e r i o u s d o s e o f ,Y-rays, gamma-

r a y s , and o t h e r s , w i t h o u t i m m e d i a t e v i s i b l e effect. '

(50)

"Nowadays," t h e r e seem t o b e a l 1 sorts o f " s c i e n t i f i c

h o r r o r s " o u t t h e r e , p e r h a p s t o t h e e x t e n t t h a t t h e a r r i v a 1

o f thê C h i l d r e n i s n o t h i n g more t h a n 2 m a n i f e s t a t i o n o f t h e

developing t r e n d . I f i t had n o t b e e n t h e C h i l d r e n , c o u l d i t

n o t j u s ï a s e a s i l y have been sornethkng e l s e - - t h e Atom Bornb,

gamma-rays, g e n e t i c a l l y e n g i n e e r e d v i r u s e s , o r s o m e t h i n g w e

hâve y e t t o h e a r o f ?

How i s i t t h a t normal p e o p l e c a n go a b o u t t h e d a i l y

b u s i n e s s o f l i v i n g w i t h t h e e v e r p r e s e n t t h r e a t o f

e x t i n c t i o n hang ing ove r t h e i r heads? Ln The Day o f t h e

4 T r l f f i d s , Wyndham's n a r r a t o r , Wi l l i am Masen, c o n s i d e r s , a t

o n e p o i n t , t h e e x r e n t t o which peop le a re r e c o n c i l e d t o

t h e i r r o u t i n e and are i g n o r a n t o f t h e d a n g e r s t h a t s u r r o u n d

them:

the m o u n t w e did n o t know and d i d n o t c a r e t o know

â b o ~ t OUT d a i l y l i v e s i s n o t o n l y a s t o n i s h i n g but

somehow a b i t shock ing . 1 knew p r a c t i c a l l y n o t h i n g ,

f o r i n s t a n c e , of s u c h o r d i n a r y t h i n g s as how my f o o d

r e a c h e d m e , where t h e f r e s h wate r c a m e from, how t h e

c l o t h e s 1 wore were woven and made, how t h e d r a i n a g e o f

c i r i e s k e p t them h e a l t h y . Our l i f e had becorne a

c o m p l e x i t y c f s p e c i a l i s t s , a l 1 a t t e n d i n g t o t h e i r

own j o b s w i t h more o r less e f f i c i e n c y and e x p e c t i n g

o t h e r s t o do t h e same. ( 1 6 )

Even I n t h e l i g h t o f t h i s "complex i ty o f s p e c i a l i s t s " ,

'1t s h o u l d be noted t h a t t h e n a r r a f o r s o f Wyndham's f i r s t t w o rnajor works o f t h e 1950s--The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s a n d The Kraken Wakes--William Masen a n d Mike Watson, have the s a m e i n i t i a l s r e v e r s e d ; "W" and " M W are t h e f i r s t and l a s t l e t t e r s o f t h e narne John H a r r i s assumed when he began t o w r i t e "a rnodi f ied f o r m of what i s u n h a p p i l y known as s c i e n c e f i c t i o n . " T h i s s o r t o f c r y p t i c , o r c r y p t o g r a p h i c , s e l f - r e f e r e n c e p e r h a p s c w e s something t o Wyndham's s e r v i c e i n t h e Royal Cozps o f S i g n a l s du r ing t h e war . Ketterer s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e "-onw s u f f i x i n t h e names of numerous Wyndham c h a r a c t e r s - - P l a y t o n , Watson, Dixon, Weston, e tc . --was Wyndham' s way of showing a f f e c t i o n f o r h i s f r i e n d (and l a t e r , w i f e ) , Grace N i l s o n , and o f drawing a t t e n t i o n t o their bond v i a t h e names

however, Wyndham s e e m s t o a r g u e t h a t n o t eve ryone is

e n t i r e l y c o m f o r t a b l e l i v i n g i n t h e t e c h n o l o g i c a l age.

S p e c i f i c a l l y , h e s e e m s t o s u g g e s t z parctdox--that h u m a n i t y ' s

" a n i m a l i n s t i n c t s " rernain a p a r t of us--submerged, p e r h a p s ,

t o a g r e a t e r o r lesser e x t e n t , b u t p r e s e n t n o n e t h e l e s s ,

d e s p i ~ e o u r technological/scientific ach ievernen ts and

seerning removal f rom t h e r ea lm o f Darwin ian s t r u g g l e .

I n T h e Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s , Wyndham a l l u d e s r e p e a t e d l y

t o t h e p e r s i s t e n c e o f h u m a n i t y ' s a n i m a l i n s t i n c t s , o r t o t h e

esse with which w e r e c o v e r them. When B i l l Masen, w i t h e y e s

bandaged , awakes i n t h e h o s p i t a l t o t h e r e a l i z a t i o n t h a t

somezhing i s n o t r i g h t , t h e s e " e l e m e n t a l f e a r s " r e t u x n .

A nascy , ernptÿ f e e l i n g began t o c r awl up i n s i d e

m e . I t w a s t h e same s e n s a t i o n 1 u s e d t o have somet imes

a s a c h i l d when 1 g o t t o f a n c y i n g t h a t h o r r o r s w e r e

l u r k i n g i n t h e snadowy c o r n e r s o f t h e bedroom. . . . 1 had

t o f i g h t down t h e feeling, j u s t a s 1 had had t o when 1

wss a k i d i n t h e dark. And i t was no e a s i e r . I t ' s

s u r p r i s i n g how much you d o n ' t grow o u t of when i t cornes

t o t h e t e s t . The e l e m e n t a l fears w e r e s t i l l rnarching

a l o n g w i t h m e , w a i t i n ç t h e i r c h a n c e , and p r e t t y n e a r l y

g e t t i n g i t - - j u s t b e c a u s e m y e y e s w e r e bandaged, a n d t h e

t r a f f i c had s t o p p e d .... (9-10) T h e c h i l d i s h f e a r of t h e d a r k , t o which Wyndham a l l u d e s

aêynon - and Wilson. - See Viv ian Beynon Harris 14.

4 4 here, is one that most people "grow out of" as they get

older and more reasonable. As he suggests here, however,

the veneer of reason that eventualiy covers this sort of

fear may be very thin indeed. Masen is presented as a

reasonable man, no more given over to morbid imaginings than

the average person, yet it seems to take comparatively

lictle encouragement for his "elemental fears" to resurface.

This r a i s e s the question, to wnat extent is "reason"

responsible for overcoming "elemental fears," and to what

exrent is "reason's" ability to do this predicated on

circumstances? Masen's fears don't arise merely because of

the darkness but, rather, because the accustomed sounds of

civilization had ceased. Later in the novel, after

"civilization" as such is only a memory, Masen again

experiences a fear of the dark:

The sun was low, and half the square was thrown into

shadow. Socn 1 would have to go in. While tnere was

light 1 could sustain myself; in the dark, things could

stedl quietly upon me. Already 1 was on my way back to

the primitive. Before long, perhaps, I should be

spending the hours of darkness in fear as my remote

ancestors must have done, watching, ever distrustfully,

the night outside their cave. (158)

In essence, Wyndham s~ggests here that it is not so much

4 5 reason as it is the trappings of civilization that free us

from the fear of the dark. When Masen says, "things could

steal quietlÿ upon me", his terminology implies not a

reasoned f ear tri£ fids, bandits, wild but

rather an irrational fear of unknown "thinqs," and it is not

reascn which fiees us of this fear, but electric lights--the

fragile frui~s of science.

Tne resurgence of passive emotions, such as fear, is

not the only evidence of humanity's lingering animal

instincts, however. There is ample evidence in The Day of

the Triffids that more active beh'avior is affected as well,

once the trappings of civilization begin to Wear thin. When

Masen leaves his hospital room to look into his situation,

he notes that, "1 stepped out cautiously--why coutiously? I

don't know, There was sornething that induced it1'(17).

Again, this is not a reasonable measure--at least noc a

consciously reasoned one--but rather an instinctive

behaviour. When he later encounters a mob of blind patients

fighting to escape from the hospital, he notes that,

"Fighting with my civilized urge to be of some help to these

people was an instinct that told me to keep clear"(63).

Finally, Masen finds himself Eighting his instincts in order

to scick to a carefully reasoned course of action. He

States that his impulse is to

4 6 sneak silently on foot, seeking safety in cunning, like

a beast in the jungle. It needsd al1 my will power to

keep myself steady and hold to my plan. (152)

Clearly, the regression to animal instincts in the absence

of civilization is not wholesale; Masen remains â thinking,

reasoning creature, but this does nothing to undermine the

fzct thât these instincts are present and nave the power to

assert themselves.

It is, perhaps, lucky for Masen that his animal

instinct for cautior? remains because there are a number of

examples of more aggressive "instinctive" behavior in the

novel. One early and comparatively benign example of

11 animal Fnstinct" appears when Masen encounters a number of

Dlind people in the street startled by à scream:

All along the street they stooà still, turning their

neads this way and that, apprehensively trying to guess

what was happening. The alarm coming on top of their

distress and nervous tension started a number of the

women whimpering: the men's nerves weren't in any too

qood a scate, either; they showed it mostly in short

curses at being startled. (63)

The "whimpering" and "short curses" the people emit seem

rather more like animal vocâlizations than communication--

variations on the fight/flight instinct. Instead of

4 7

following a reasonable course of action and listening for

further information, the people resort to these

vocalizations to release tension. Further, as the people

turn "their heads this way and that, apprehensively txying

to guess what was happening," they resernble nothing so much

as ~riffids navigating by sound. Later, when attacked by a

triffid, Masen himself reverts to a serni-savage state:

One's mind can move like Iightning at sucn a moment:

nevertheless, it was more instinct than reason which

sent me leaping at it before it nad time to strike

again. I collided with it, overturning it, and even as

I went down with it rny hands were on the upper part of

its stem, trying to pull off the cup and the sting.

Triffid stems do not snap--but they can be mangled.

This one was mangled thoroughly before 1 stood up.

( 7 3 - 0 )

As this passage shows, it is Masen's remaining animal

instincts which help him survive once the shelter of

civiiizâtion is rernoved. Another exûmple of the advantage

of animal or "prirnitive/savage" instincts appears in The

Midwich Cuckoos when Westcott explains how various groups

dealt wirh the appearance of the Children:

'There was another Dayout at an Eskirno settlement

on Victoria Island, north of Canada. The inhabitants

4 8 are cagey about what happened there, but it is believed

chat they were so outraged, or perhaps alarmed, at the

arriva1 of babies so unlike their own kind that they

expcsed them almost at once. At any rate, none

survived. ' (189)

While it may not be animal instinct, as such, the relative

lack of what would be deerned "civilization" in more

industrialized regions seems to be precisely what saves the

"Eskimos1' frorn being dominated by the Children as the people

of Midwich are. Westcott goes on CO describe how another

"uncivilized" group deals with the appearance of a colony of

tne Children:

'One of them was in the Irkutsk region, near the border

of Outer Mongolia--a very grim affair. It was assumed

chat the women nad been lying with aevils, and they

perished as well as the Children. ' (189)

The Mongolians, like the "Eskimos, " lack "civiiization, " yet

while their method of dealing witn the Children may be "a

very grim sffair," it is still less grim than the prospect

of the extinction of the human race. Yet while John

Scarborough, for one, accuses Wyndharn of being anti-science,

or anti-intellectual (mistakenly, as 1 would argue), a

critic would be f a i r l y hard-pressed to characterize him as

anti-civilization. Wyndharn's protagonists are not atavistic

4 9 chugs, Luddites bent on saving hurnanity from the decadence

of civilization. They are reasonable people--intellectual

ro a greater or lesser extent and interested in redeeming

the best of civilization. The Eskimos and Mongolians are

saved not only by their "savagery" but also by the fact that

they eren't circumscribed by a scientifically driven

Military-Industrial complex which seizes any potential

advzn~age to use against its enemies. Sigourney Weaver's

character, "Ridleyrl' manages to Save herself £rom repeated

alien menaces in the ~liens' films (1986+) through her own

cunning and by fighting savagely, yet were it not for the

avarice and deviousness of "the corporation" trying to

capture aliens for use in its "biological-weapons division,"

she would nardly have been in danger at all. This theme or

dynarnic is played out repeatedly, not j u s t in the Alien

films but in a host of other SE' films such as Leviathan

(1989), Screamers (1995), and John Carpenter's The Villoge

of the Damned (1955) . The last of these is, in f a c t , the

second film based on Wyndham's The Midwich Cuckoos, although

as Daphne Kutzer notes, it differs from the original on

several points6.

5 Aliens, dir. James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, 1986. %s Kutzer points out, the Children in Carpenter's film,

unlike those in Wyndham's novel, are not emotionless and coldly rational, but are rather, spiteful and smug. The action takes place in a town in Southern California that is

50 It is not, finally, a reversion to savagery which saves

the protagonists of The Midwich Cuckoos or The Day of the

Triffids, quite the opposite in fact. In The Midwich

Cuckoos there are those who revert to savagery in attempts

to strike at the Children, but these attempts invariably

fail miserably. When the men of the village march on the

Grange in a mob to burn the Children out, the results are

h o r r i f ying:

One wornan and three men dead. Eight men and five women

in hospital. Two of the men and one woman in a pretty

bad way. (162)

Their gathering is not deliberateiy organized; it is not "a

matter of reason, it's more primitive" ( 1 5 5 ) . Similarly,

when the Chief Constable of Winshire loses his temper and,

inscead of speaking rationally with one of the Children,

begins ïo bully him, he winds up "lying slackly now,

seemingly unconscious, drawing long, greedy breaths, shaken

occasionally by a violent tremorW(184). In a similar

- - -- - -- -

anomalously homogenous (raciâlly and social1y)--unlike Wyndhamls fairly representative English village, Carpenter's setting stands out. There are few if any citizens vho are not w h i t e and middle-classed, which suggests that there are d i f f e r e n t tensions at play here than there are in the novel (or earlier film version). Finally, Kutzer suggests that Kirscie Alley ' s character (the evil and scheming government scientist) takes focus away from the original Darwinist focus of the novel and (1 wouid add) provides an individual, rather than a systemic, villain--however Wyndham rarely (as I have rnentioneci before) attacks individual scientists or soldiers, but rather focuses his criticism on the Military-

51 display of the Children's celepathic power, when a local boy

begins shooting at the Children in revenge for the slaying

of his brother, he is forced to turn the gun on himself.

This attempt at revenge is condemned by Zellaby, as not

justice but as mere "feuding"(l57).

Eventually it is Zellaby, himself, who destroys the

Children in an act of self-sacrifice. One way to look at

this would be to see Zellaby's act as the symbolic need to

p u r q e Our hurnanity, Our better (or civilized) instincts, in

order to survive in a Darwinian world. Zellaby, perhaps

more than any other character in The Midwich Cuckoos,

reprosents civilization, liberal humanism, and

intellectualisrn, and he must destroy himself in order to

Save, whot amounts to, hurnanity. But it would be a mistake,

I think, to perceive his act in these terms, despite the

fact that Zellaby's self-written epitaph is an ironic

revisior! of the Latin epigram, "Si fueris Romae, Romani

vivito more, " to "If you want CO keep alive in the jungle,

you must iive as the jungle does . . . " ( 2 1 9 ) . Earlier in the

novel Zellaby remarks that it is "odd that 1 should have to

live to my present age before appreciating the underlying

soündness of fire-worship" (44). Nevertheless, he shows no

signs of reverting to such atavistic practices. Zellaby's

argument here is perhaps somewhat frivolous, but it does

Industrial/Scientific community.

52 asmonstrate the point that Zellaby is a great fancier of

idess, that he can eppreciate ideas without necessarily

naving to change his life to suit them. One factor, which

undermines the idea of Zellaby's sacrifice as a syrnbolic

representation of the necessity to renounce "civilization",

is ihe revelation that he is suffering from a serious neart

condition. As he writes in a letter to his wife, "doctor

wi11 tell you, a matter of a few weeks, or months, at best.

So 20 bitterness, my own love" ( 2 1 9 ) .

In fâct it is tne Children, themselves, who reveal the

reason for the necessity of Zellaby's sacrifice. In

response to Westcott's observation that the Children "don't

appear to think very highly of Our institutions," the

Children reply, "As a securely dominant species you could

afford to lose touch with reaiity, and amuse yourselves with

zbstractions"(l99). It is not "humour and compassion," the

"most important of human inventions" (200) , whicn Zellaby

reprêsents, that make humanity vulnerable: it is our worse

selves, as reflected in Our institutions: avarice,

suspicion, deviousness, and abject toadying; or whât C.S.

Lewis chcracterizes as "that passion for the inner ring

which I think at least as corrupting as avarice" ("A Reply"

8 2 ) . Zellaby explains tnat

'On the one hznd, it is Our duty to our race and

5 3 c u l t u r e t o l i q u i d a t e t h e C h i l d r e n , f o r i t i s clear t h a t

i f w e d o n o t w e s h a l l , a t b e s t , b e c o m p l e t e l y d o m i n a t e d

by them, a n d t h e i r c u l t u r e , w h a t e v e r i t may t u r n o u t t o

be , w i l l e x t i n g u i s h o u r s .

' O n t h e o t h e r hand, i t is o u r c u l t u r e t h a t g i v e s

u s s c r u p l e s a b o u t the r u t h l e s s l i q u i d a t i o n o f unarmed

m i n o r i t i e s , n o t t o men t i on t h e p r a c t i c â l o b s t a c l e s t o

such a s o l u t i o n .

' . . . ~ h e C h i l d r e n o u g h t t o be e l i m i n a t e d a t t h e

l e a s t p o s s i b l e c o s t , w i t h t h e l eas t p o s s i b l e d e l a y . 1

a m s o r r y t o a r r i v e a t t h a t c o n c l u s i o n . I n n i n e y e a r s 1

have grown r a t h e r fond o f thern . . . . 'It is t h e r i g h t s t e p , ' h e r e p e a t e d . 'Bu t , o f

c o u r s e , o u r a u t h o r i t i e s w i l l n o t be a b l e t o b r i n g

~ h e r n s e l v e s t o c a k e i t - - f o r which 1 a m p e r s o n a l l y

t h a ~ k f u l b e c a u s e I can see no p r a c c i c a l c o u r s e open t o

therr, which would n o t i n v o l v e t h e d e s t r u c t i o n of a l 1 o f

u s i n t h e v i l l a g e , a s w e l l . ' ( 2 0 8 - 9 )

I n t h i s l i g h t , Z e l l a b y ' s final act o f s e l f - s a c r i f i c e i s n o t

on a b n e g a t i o n of c i v i l i z a t i o n i n f a v o u r o f n a t u r a l

b r u t a l i t y ; n e i t h e r i s i t t h e " r u t h l e s s l i q u i d a t i o n o f " a n

"unarmed" m i n o r i c y . The C h i l d r e n a r e f a r £rom unarmed, and

Z e l l a b y d e s t r o y s them w i t h r e g r e t r a t h e r t h a n w i t h r a n c o r .

Ratner, i t i s e s s e n t i a l l y t h e a r c h e t y p a l a c t of t h e Judeo-

5 4 Christian hero: the sacrifice of self for the benefit of the

commünity. As 1 have maintained, Wyndham was no crypto-

Cnriscian, but these are the easiest terms for describing

ZellaBy1s final selfless act. He gives his l i f e (however

lic~le remaining) in o r d e r to redeem, not man's corrupt

institutions but, rather, those values of humour and

compassion--"the most important of human inventions"(200)--

that ne hords so dear.

At the end of The Day of the Triffids, something

ccnceptually similar takes place. While it is the triffids

( t h e twisted fruit of man's misguided scientific labour)

which finally necessitate Bill cnd company's flight from

Shirning, it is the encroachment of Humanity's baser nature

which provides the direct catalyst for ilight. When the

ruthless Torrance and his militaristic band of thugs appear

ana offer Bill the title to "a kind of--feuda1

seigneury"(266), he is repulsed. L a t e r Denis (the blind

oxner of the farm where Bill stays) makes the point that

.what is surprising ne now is that I'm suddenly feeling

quite kindly towards the triffids. Without their

intervention 1 suppose there would have been a whole

lot more of this kind of thing by now. If they are the

ona factor that can stop serfdom coming back, then good

luck totem. ' (269 )

Yet B i l l d o e s n o t even t a k e t h e e x p e d i e n t t a c t i c o f

p o i s o n i n g T o r r a n c e ' s band, o r some th ing l i k e t h a t . I n s t e a d

h e m e r e l y u s e s h i s w i t s t o hoodwink and e s c a p e from them t o

a p l a c e where h e and o t h e r s c a n b u i l d a new world--one n o t

ba sed on t h e o l d i d e a s . E a r i i e r i n t h e n o v e l t h e r e is a

f o r e s h a d o w i n g o f Wyndham's o p i n i o n o f T o r r a n c e and h i s i l k .

I t was a t t h e e n d o f t h e f o u r t h y e a r t h a t 1 made

rny l a s t t r i p , and found t h a t t h e r e w e r e now r i s k s wh ich

1 was n o t j u s t i f i e d i n t a k i n g . The f i r s t i n t i m a t i o n o f

t h a t w a s a t h u n d e r o u s c r a s h b e h i n d m e somewhere i n t h e

i n n e r s u b u r b s . 1 s t o p p e d t h e t r u c k and l o o k e d back t o

see t h e d u s t r i s i n g £rom a heap o f r u b b l e which l a y

a c r o s s t h e road . E v i d e n t l y rny r u m b l i n g p a s s a g e nad

g i v e n t h e l a s t shake t o a t o t t e r i n g h o u s e f r o n t . 1

~ r o u g h t no more b u i l d i n g s down t h a t d a y , b u t 1 s p e n t it

i n a p p r e h e n s i o n o f a d e s c e n d i n g t o r r e n t o f b r i c k s

and m o r t a r . T h e r e a f t e r 1 c o n f i n e d m y a t t e n t i o n t o

s m a l l e r towns, and u s u a l l y went a b o u t them on f o o t .

B r i g h t o n , which s h o u l d have b e e n o u r l a r g e s t

c o n v e n i e n t s o u r c e o f s u p p l i e s , 1 let a l o n û . (Ernphasis

mine; 2 3 2 )

The c r u m b l i n g t o m s which become d a n g e r o u s f o r Eill t o

s cavenge are, i n e f f e c t , syrnbols f o r t h e o l d i d e o l o g i e s a n d

s c c i e t a l modes, which p r o v e d e q u a l l y d a n g e r o u s t o p e o p l e ,

56 and which c o n t a i n e d w i t h i n them t h e seeds of t h e i r own

d e s t r u c t i o n , and which r e m a i n a t h r e a t t o t h o s e who would

r e r u r n t o p l u n d e r them. I r o n i c a l l y , o r p e r h a p s f i t t i n g l y ,

"Br igh ton" i s o n e such town which happens t o b e o c c u p i e d by

T o r r a z c e ( o r t o r r e n t s , maybe?) and h i s g a n g . T h e d a n g e r s

posed by r e r u r n i n g t o o l d i d e a s ( f e u d o l i s m , m i l i t a r i s m ,

t e r r i c o r i a l i t y o r n a t i o n a l i s m ) a r e r e f l e c t e d i n t h e d a n g e r

poseü by t h e t o r r e n r r s o f cru-mbling b r i c k a n d rno r t a r i n t h e

o l d c i t y .

A r e The Day o f t h e T r i f f i d s and The Midwich Cuckoos

" cosy d i s a s c e r s " ? 1 would argue t h a t N i c h o l a s Rudd ick f s

c s s e r t i o n t h a t " t h e y s i m p l y d o n o t r e p a y s e r i o u s c r i t i c a l

a n a l y s i s W ( 1 3 8 ) is f a l s e . T h e r e a r e s i g n i f i c a n t i d e a s which

lie at t h e h e a r t of t h e s e n o v e l s , r e c ü r r i n g i d e a s t h a t a re

deeply and d e l i b e r a t e l y e x p l o r e d . S i n c e t h e b r e a k u p of t h e

S o v i e t Union a n d t h e d i s p e r s i o n of i t s r n i l i t a r y a s s e t s ;

since the a d v e n t o f t e c h n o - ï e r r o r i s r n and t h e s u c c e s s f u l

r - a l i z a t i o n o f gene t h e r a p y and g e n e t i c m a n i p u l a t i o n t h a t

Wyndham p r e d i c t e d f o r t y y e a r s ago, n i s n o v e l s seem less and

less c o s y e v e r y minu t e .

KRAKEN AND CHRYSALIDS: THE CULT OF SECRECY

In Timothy Findley's Headhunter, Olivia Price makes the

point that

the past, in fact, had been a dreadful time--when

everyone was lied to--much as they were lied to now,

but then, for different reasons. In the past, you were

lied to for your own good. Now, you were lied to for

the good of others. Whoever these others might be.

John Wyndharn makes a similar point in The Kraken Wakes:

"Therre are always cliques and factions anxious to keep the

public in the dark for its own good--a good that is seldom

far from the interests of the faction advocating itN(97).

How far back, one might wonder, is Olivia Price looking for

the Golden Age when we were deceived for our own good?

Forty years? Fifty? One of the dangers of yearning for the

past, is that we forget that the inhabitants of that past

were also yearning. In The Kraken Wakes and in - The

Chrysalids, as in many of his other novels and short

stories, Wyndharn seems obsessed with the nature of the

truth--how it is hidden £rom us by Big Business and the

Military (or government) through censorship, media

manipulation, or the cult of secrecy, by means of mental

conditioning (cultural, religious or otherwise) . The truth,

most importantly, includes the harder Darwinian truths to

which we have been blinded. What is it in human nature that

58 permits (or demands) a "Cold Warn? How has science "got so

far beyond ordinary human control," that, "any new discovery

now came so nearly into the category of A c t of God, that it

was scarcely worth troubling oneself to t ry to do anything

about them?"(Wyndham, The Trouble With Lichen 185).

In The Kraken Wakes the reader is offered an inside

look (or as "inside" as Wyndham ever offers) at how

propaganda is created and at what forces mould its message.

Curiously enough, despite the fact that Wyndham served in

Britain's Ministry of Information as a censor and in the

Royal Corps of Signals during World War Two, he allows us

precious f e w glirnpses through the veil of milita- secrecy' .

The narrator and protagonist of The Kraken Wakes (and h i s

wife) are radio journalists, but it is not through their

official stories that the reader discovers the events of the

novel--these turn out, more often than not, to be

deliberately tailored towards some particular end. Instead,

it is the "behind the scenes" actions and interactions of

Mike and Phyllis Watson that tell the real story, and a

rnulti-tentacled beast of a story it turns out to be. One of

the main tentacles of the story is stated qyite baldly by

Phyllis near the end of the novel:

'at times 1 get sick of putting up with al1 the shams

'One possible reason fox t h i s may be that Wyndham, as an employee of the Ministry of Information, and especially as a censor, was required to take an oath of secrecy.

5 9 and the humbug, and pretending that the lies arenlt

lies, and the propaganda isn't propaganda, and the dirt

isnlt dirt .... Donlt you sometimes wish you had been born into the A g e of Reason, instead of into the Age of

the Ostensible Reason?' (161)

This Fs £rom the mouth of a journalist who, at times, shows

considerable pleasure and enthusiasm for her work. This

passage spells out, in striking terms, one of the major

themes of the novel: the media, far £rom being the objective

voice of truth, or criticism, is rather the mouthpiece of

business interests (sponsors), government, and the military.

Even when these factors are discounted, economic concerns--

selling papers, catching a bigger audience--determines what

is news and what is not.

An early passage in the novel suggests it is the

profit motive or irnperative that determines what is

newsworthy. After various countries begin to attack the

fireballs that fa11 from the sky, there is a brief flare of

interest, but little or no information is offered to the

public :

None of the newspapers ran it because, in editorial

opinion, the whole thing was suspect in being too

similar to the flying-saucer business, and their

readers would prefer more novelty in their sensations.

(19)

60 The first point raised by this passage is that "editorial

opinion" is not really responding to public desires but

rather determining them. The most basic element of

censorship lies not in cutting or adding details, or "spin,"

to a particular story but in deciding what stories to

publish or, more radically, what is a çtory. The second

point ties in with this: because the "fireballsn are

unknown, or novel, they are not "news" as such but rather

"sensationn. They are regarded as mere frivolity and

treated lightly or ignored. Mike and Phyllis only become

interested in them because they personally witness an

instance of this phenornenon, and even their interest is

initially a rnere hobby.

Later in the novel, a f t e r the vfireballsw have

transformed into the perceived threat of "the Deeps," there

is another, broader example of economic concerns molding the

I1news." Phyllis obtains secret information from a Military

contact; she explains to Mike why it has been kept secret:

It's only because they donlt want people unsettled that

it's not been published in the newspapers--that, and

the fact that the newspapers agree. The last

hullabaloo sent the sales-graphs dipping everywhere,

and the advertisers didn't like it. (58)

In this passage, the newspapers are not only picking the

news on the basis of how many papers it will sel1 but also

61 seem to be in active collusion with Business in deciding

what's "ooodU for the public. In fact whatls "good" for the

public seems to be what's good for Business. Obviously this

opens a whole vein of poli-economic theory but boils down to

whether people, or society as a whole, should be manipulated

or advised/informed. This is a point on which Wyndham seems

to have some specific ideas (to which 1 shall return later).

In any case, Wyndham certainly suggests that people are

being manipulated and that, more often than not, economics

rather than objectivity determines media policy.

Perhaps the most telling allusion to the influence of

Business on the media appears halfway through the novel when

Mike is discussing with a friend the influence of the media

on trade :

'We've not been doing world-trade a lot of harm

lately,' 1 told him. 'Welve not had the chance. 1

donlt Say we haven't got a few scripts up our sleeves

against the day when truth shall be more important than

world-trade, but for the last few months now not a word

about those things down there has gone out from any of

our transmitters; the sponsors donlt like it--'

'Good for them,' interrupted Harold.

'--any more than the advertisers liked mention of

Hitler when we were on the brink of World War II,' 1

concluded. (87)

6 2 What the sponsors donft like, the media suppress. Mikels

allusion to Hitler is timely--the xenobaths (the alien

menace of the Deeps), at this point in the novel, are

enforcing a "naval blockade" of Britain (and every other

country in the world with sea access) similar in kind to

that threatened by U-boats in the Second World War. Wyndham

seems to suggest that the media's silence on Hitler

parallels the political policy of appeasement which gave

Hitler the latitude he needed to bring the full force of his

military to bear on Britain. The catch here is that while

Hitler's motivations were rnegalomaniacal and psychotic, they

were at least technically human. The motives of the

xenobaths are not, and this changes the whole nature of the

blockade--what might have been only a difference in degree

becomes a difference in kind. The allusion to Hitler is

also, perhaps, reminiscent of Orwell's critique of K.G.

Wells's assessment of Hitler: just as Hitler was under

estimated, so is the threat of the Deeps downplayed.

The Military, as an active force in creating

propaganda, appears suspiciously low key as compared to the

influence of Big Business and economics in The Kraken Wakes.

Where Military and Government influence in the media become

most readily apparent is the degree to which Mike and

Phyllis (and journalists in general) have been CO-opted, and

the degree to which the existence of (if not the necessity

63 for) official secrecy is uriquestioned. The a priori

acceptance of officia1 security is also reflected, not only

in what Mike and Phyllis are not allowed to report but very

often in how they learn the things they are not allowed to

report.

One of Mikels first encounters with the Military in the

novel is with an airforce pilot who contacts him

uriofficially to relate a persona1 experience with the

ufireballs.u Before telling his tale, however, the

lieutenant (whose real n a m e is never mentioned) qualifies

his story:

'Itls a bit tricky, you seeI1 he said. 'At the

moment 1 am considered to have suffered some kind of

hallucination, but if enough evidence turns up to show

that it was not an hallucination, then theylre almost

certain to make it an official secret. . . . '

'Still, ' he went on, 'the thing worries me, and if

youlre collecting evidence, I'd like you to have it--

though maybe not to make direct use of it , 1 mean, I

donlt want to find myself on the carpet. 1 donut

suppose therels a regulation to stop a fellow

discussing his hallucinations, but you can never be

sure. ' (17)

The Air Force, it seems, shares with the newspapers an

attitude towards the unknown--a tendency to suppress or

64 ignore it. The implication of the lieutenant's fears,

however, is that the militaryls blanket of official secrecy

extends even to what it perceives (or officially classifies)

as fantasy or hallucination: even thouçh it never happened,

keep it quiet ... in case it did. The last sentence of this

passage goes even further to suggest that even the rules of

secrecy are secret, or at least very rnysterious--"you can

never be sure." The lieutenant doesnlt even offer the

information for publication but merely for Mike1s

m collection of evidence,I1 whatever that means. This

suggests that , f inding no interest or encouragement f rom

official sources, the lieutenant was forced to turn to a

couple of journalists nominally outside the hegemony of the

military. As to why he chose Mike, that question is best

answered by the fact that he is interested (as well as his

being outside off icial channels) . The amorphous, invisible

web of secrecy becomes even more inscrutable when the

lieutenant, in response to Mikels surprise that he would

have been on patrol in the south Pacific, says, "There are a

number of things that donlt get publicity, though theylre

not particularly secwetv(17). Thus more threads appear in

the web--officia1 secrets, secrets which might be official,

and unofficial secrets. Al1 of this recalls Westcottls

pronouncernent in The Midwich Cuckoos that, "If 1 had any

ideas 1 suppose theyld have to be official secretsM(192).

In The Kraken Wakes, however, this atmosphere of

uncertainty, of official and merely quasi-official secrecy,

evokes nothing so much as the xenobaths, themselves. The

unknown force that depopulates the island of Saphira and

April Island, in the night, leaving only scanty inscrutable

traces--the sea tanks, "like military tanksM(130), and the

"pseudo-coelenterataI1 which draw in their prey and then

disappear. The main difficulty in countering the threat of

the Deeps is a lack of information. Mike relates an analogy

offered by one of the "boffinsn:

One of them had remarked to me: 'If you were going to

make a ghost-trap, how would you set about it?--

particularly if you had not even a small ghost to

practice on. (159)'

How do you fight, or even resist something, when you don1t

even really k n o w what - it is? Ultimately, no one ever

discovers the nature of the xenobaths, and when the novel

ends, they seem to be destroyed but not understood. This

insidiousness which likens rnilitary secrecy to the xenobaths

becomes more apparent as Mike is drawn further into the

off icial web:

ït was a Captain Winters who welcomed me there,

explaining that while what 1 should be shown was not

exactly an official secret, it was preferred that 1

2 This seems to be another of Wyndhamls repeated themes.

should not make public use of it yet. When 1 had

agreed to that, he started to bring out maps and

charts. (23)

To begin with, Mike is not an astronomer, nor an

oceanographer, nor a meteorologist, nor a scientist of any

kind; nor is he connected with Military Intelligence or the

Ministry of Information. Mike is a journalist, so why is he

shown documents which are "net exactly an officia1 secretn

(notice the various shades and tints of secrecy again!), but

are nevertheless not intended for public consumption?

Perhaps, since he has showri an interest in a "not exactly

secretH phenomenon, it is better for the military to bring

hirn into the fold, than to try to shut him out. While no

contracts are drawn up, and though Mike signs no papers, he

nevertheless seerns to enter into some sort of (again)

uunofficial~ pact with the Military. During the same

meeting, Mike uses language that would sound either

positively craven or rabidly defensive were it not phrased

so matter-of-factly. After studying the ~unofficially

secretn maps, Mike asks the Captain, "Have you any idea at

al1 what this means--or wouldnlt you tell me if you

had?" (24). Mike seems, perhaps out of professional

journalistic savvy, perfectly cornfortable with the

rubric/decorum of Military reticence. After discussing the

See John Beynon Harris, "Invisible MonsterN.

67 implications of the "not exactly" secret maps with the

Captain, Mike asks, "Are you doing anything about it? Or

shouldnl t 1 ask?" (26) . Again Mike proves that he is the

perfect man to enter into an uunofficialM relationship with

the Military, and is rewarded with a spot on an expedition

which "Just at the moment is not considered to be a matter

for a direct broadcast, or even for publicationU(26). While

the military never, at this stage, manifests as crude or

overbearing, it remains almost ornnipresent, more Brave New

World than 1984. There are no scenes of printing presses

being srnashed, or of outspoken critics disappearing. The

censorship is more casual, more of the wink and a handshake

variety. Which is not to Say that the threat of more savage

tactics does not exist in The Kraken Wakes, as the outspoken

scientist Bocker says: "In most countries I 1 d be under

arrest by nowu (199) . On the other hand, such measures are

largely unnecessary because of economic influences, or as

Bocker also says, "No earthly good your coming here . . . .

There isnlt a sponsor thatld touch me with a forty-foot

pole" (199) . Whils Mike and Phyllis may not be happy with the status

quo of endemic secrecy, they seem to have adapted to it-

When the need for secrecy is gone--the xenobaths have no

actual spies, after all--Mike and Phyllis reflect on the

degree to which the Military loosens security:

6 8 'Even the Services use cornmon sense sometirnes,'

she said pointedly, and then added, on second thought:

'Though there are probably several things he didnlt

tell me. "

'Probably, ' 1 agreed again. (58)

Despite the fact that the ostensible usual reason for

secrecy--the danger of the ever present Russians-4s gone,

Mike and Phyllis naturally assume that the Military will be

unable to break the compulsive habit of secrecy, and so act

accordingly. Another exarnple of their adaptation to the

atmosphere of constant secxecy is evident in their methods

of obtaining information--wheedling, trickery, and charm.

Phyllis is especially adept in this department. After a

private dinner with their military contact, Captain Winters,

Phyllis reveals what she has been able to charm out of the

Capta in . Mikels congratulations spoof the language of spy

novels and films when he says, "Thatls the stuff, darling.

The real Mata Hari touch. Have you got the drawings?" ( 5 8 ) .

Phyllis upbraids Mike for being overly dramatic (goofy), but

his assessment is not so far off the mark. In fact, earlier

in the novel, Mike seems to suggest that Phyllis and he have

a particular tactic for manipulating conversations to their

benef it :

1 come off the sidelines just enough to show sociable,

but not enough to interfere with hex plan of campaign.

69 The rest of the time 1 watch and admire. It is

something like a combination of skilled juggling with

expert chess, and her recoveries from an unexpected

move are a delight to follow. She seldom loses. (44)

This revelation is occasioned by a dinner conversation

Detween Mike, Phyllis, and two other journalists, not

military or intelligence officers. The fact that Phyllis

applies this manipulative approach to comparatively informal

conversation suggests the degree to which the principle of

secrecy and disinformation are entrencked in the world of

The Kraken Wakes. What would Phyllis and Mike have to lose

by being open and frank? What would the other two

journalists have to lose? Later, we see how Phyllis

recovers £rom an unexpected move, when one of the other

journalists introduces the previously unknown name "Bockertl

into the conversation.

The introduction of this Bocker element set me al1

at sea, and Phyllis, too, though it would have been

hard to guess it from the way she said:

'Surely the Bocker line can't be altogether

dismissed?' frowning a little as she spoke.

It worked. In a little time we were adequately

briefed on the Bocker view, and without either of them

guessing that as far as we were concerned he had come

into it for the first time. (45-6)

7 0 In an atmosphere where everything, sooner or later, becomes

an official (or unofficial) secret (despite the fact that it

is not especially the case that ltloose lips sink shipsw),

table talk apparently turns into "psy-~ps~~ interrogation and

counter-intelligence action.

Eventually, despite al1 the secrecy and economic

censorship, becomes impossible downpl ay the xenobath

menace ctnymore- When the British cruise ship, Queen -e,

is lost at sea, the situation changes, and the media use

their collective influence spin the truth dif ferent

direction. The language used by Mike's editor is

significant when he tells Mike to "Makelem really believe

there is something down there" (90). The fact of the matter

is that there is something down there, whether anyone

believes it or not; the reason for the sudden revelation of

the IftruthN is not for its own sake, but to counteract a

merely political gaff. The following passage also

illustrates some of the main forces involved in determining

what is news, and how (and why) the truth is manipulated:

'Itls like this. There's a rumour running wild

here that the Russians did it. Somebody launched that

one off within a few minutes of the news corning through

on the tape. Why the hell anybodyld think they would

want to start anything that way, heaven knows, but you

know how it is when people are emotionally worked up;

71

theylll swallow anything for a bit. M y own guess is

that it is the let's-have-a-showdown-now school of

thought seizing the opportunity, the darnn fools.

Anyway, itls got to be stopped. If it isn't, there

might be enough pressure worked up to force the

government out, or make it send an ultimatum, or

something. So stopped it's damned well going to be.

Metal-fatigue isnlt good enough this time, so the line

is to be your deep-sea menace. To-morrow's papers are

using it, the Admirality is willing to play, we've got

several big scientific names already . . . . So if you want

to put in your own pennporth towards stopping the atom

bombs falling, get cracking right away . . . .

1 suggest the line: Here is a menace more serious

and more quickly developed than we had expected. A

blow that has found us as unprepared as the Americans

were at Pearl Harbour, but men of science are

mobilizing already to give us the means to hit back, et

cetera. ' (90-1)

There are two especially iriteresting points in this passage

(as it relates to news media) , and a host of others. To

begin with, there is the fact that Mike's editor doesnlt

even seem interested in whether the "deep-sea menacew is

true or not- What is important is that it sounds like a

more credible excuse than "metal-fatigue," and so (in

7 2 extrernity) is more expedient. The question of "expediency"

is curious because it both absolves and dams Mike's editor

(and by extension, the media in genera1)--it absolves him of

being the active tool of Big Business/the Military, since he

does not seem primarily to be motivated by their interests,

and yet neither does he seem interested (even remotely) in

the truth. What does seem to interest him is using the

media as a tool to form public opinion, to preserve the

government, and to avert a nuclear shcwdown. The media, in

The Kraken Wakes, is not a service provided to the public

(in the normal sense) but, rather, â whip or goad to use on

them. As B i l l says in The Day of the Triffids, " Y o u canlt

drive a flock of sheep to market in a dead straight line,

but there are ways of getting them therew(179). The fact

that not only the EBC (the English Broadcasting Corporation

for which Mike works), but also the BBC, the newspapers, and

"the big American networks," al1 follow the same line

suggests not, perhaps, an active conspiracy, but rather that

the forces that motivate Mikets editor are universal in the

West. Unlike Orwell, in 1984, Wyndharn isnlt interested in

showing how people can be forced to toe the party line;

after all, you can drive a flock of sheep to market in a

dead straight line if the straight line is more important

than the lives of individual sheep. Neither does he follow

Huxleyfs approach in Brave New World, wherein people are

73

drugged into subrnission and coerced before theylre

conceived. Rather, Wyndham looks at his own society as it

is, with an even-handed, less elaborate satirical front.

Of course the two other subjects this passage raises

are the Cold War and the prevalent, almost unquestioned,

faith in Science as saviour. The two, Wyndham sqgests (and

I will argue) are comected in a number of different ways.

The most obvious connection between the two is that both

have immense power: not only influence over the media, but

also in directly shaping the way people perceive reality.

The Cold War, of course, is the main or ostensible

reason for the penrasiveness of secrecy in the world of the

novel--and in Wyndhamls real world too. Considering the

significance of secrecy that we have observed, not only in

The Kraken Wakes but also in Wyndhamls other novels, this is

no small thing. An interesting allusion to the Cold War in

the novel occurs early--it is because of the political state

of world affairs that the "fireballs" are first mentioned in

the news :

The reason that this particular flight [of

"fireballsu] got on the front pages when others had

been ignored was not simply that this time there had

been a series of observations which plotted its track;

it lay more in the implications of the line that had

been drawn. However, in spite of innuendo and direct

74 suggestion, there was silence to the east. Ever since

their hurried and unconvincinq explanation which

followed the first atomic explosion in Russia, her

leaders had found it convenient to feign at least

ternporary deafness to questions on such matters. (19)

The reasons that earlier flights of "fireballsU had not

received media attention were economic--it was felt that

"fireballs" were too much like UFOs to really be sensational

enough to sel1 any papers. As soon as the "fireballsU seem

to come from Russia, on the other hand, they rise in status

from unsatisfactory NsensationN to hard news. People still

have no idea what they are, but if they corne £rom the east,

tney must have some sort of nefarious purpose. Not only do

political considerations over-ride economic ones, they also

change a mysterious phenomenon £rom fluff to hard news.

Interesting, too, is the fact that because of the Cold War

paranoia, Russia does not even deny allegations of

responsibility, much less try to help figure out what the

"fireballs" really are. Because of this silence on the part

of Russia, the West is equally incurious as to the real

nature of the "fireballs." Mike reports that, "For most

people such a policy of masterly silence pointed only one

way, and they began to regard the responsibility as good as

provedu (21). Once the west believes the Soviets are

responsible, they give up their efforts at investigation

7 5

(such as they are) ar?d seem largely content merely to blow

them up when they get the chance. Eventually investigations

do recommence, but al1 through the novel, the Soviets, the

British, and the Americans remain standoffish to varying

degrees, even after a very real threat has been discovered.

This Cold War mentality is equally confusing when the

Soviets do speak, since al1 their announcernents must be de-

constructed and analyzed, When the Kremlin finally

announces that "its own weapons, recently developed by

Russian scientists for the defense of Peace, had now

destroyed more than twenty of these craft [fireballsl over

Soviet territory" (21 -2) , many axe confused:

The non-Russian world was, by and large, divided

sharply into two classes--those who believed every

Russian pronouncement, and those who believed none.

For the first class no question arose; their faith was

f irm. For the second, interpretation was less easy.

Was one to deduce, for instance, that the whole thing

was a lie? Or merely that, when the Russians claimed

to have accounted for twenty fireballs, they had only,

in fact, exploded five or so? (22)

As we have seen previously, Mike and Phyllis are accustomed

to subjecting not only their own governmentls

pronouncements, but even simple conversations, to a similar

level of critical scrutiny. Of course the last place one

7 6 should look for unadulterated truth is in the communiques of

one's enemy, but in The Kraken Wakes, one canlt even expect

it f rom one l s own government (or even acquaintances) .

One of the people who seems to believe that "the whole

thing 3s a lie," is an acquaintance of Mike and Phyllis1s--

Tuny (or Petunia) . Tuny is, or associates with people,

perceptive enough to see through the wofficial" excuses and

misinformation about the lost ships, but she refuses to

believe in the very real threat of the xenobaths because of

her Cold Wax paranoia:

'The Government doesn't want to admit that it's the

Russians, because then there would be a dernand that

they should take action, and they can't afford to ao

that with al1 the Red influence there is. But if they

officially pretend to think itfs these Bocker things,

well, theyld have to pretend, too, that they were doing

something about that, - and thatfd make them look pretty

silly later when it is al1 exploded. So this is their

way out, and as itls only a Japanese ship it's al1

right--for the moment. But it wonlt last long. We

can't afford to have the Russians getting away with

this kind of thing. People are starting to demand

a strong line, and no more appeasement.' (85)

Tunyls hawk politics blind her just as surely as a shower of

green radioactive cornets. While this passage suggests the

77 degree to which Tuny is blinded to the world around her by

Cold War paranoia, there is a br ief glimpse of ber later

which is even more telling. Mike describes how Tuny xeads

the newspaper reports on "metal-fatigue" as the reason for

the sinking of a Japanese ship, al1 the while displaying,

"the smile of a cognoscentau(86). What C.S. Lewis would

characterize as "that passion for the imer ringn ( " A Replyn

821 , W y n d h a m attributes to Tuny and her "srnile of a

cognoscenta." The Cold War provides the ideal opportunity

for those who, like Tuny, want to be "in the know." It is

not ideological fervor wnich fuels her mistrust of the "Red

influence[dJM government, but rather the desire to seem

wiser and better connected than those around her. Tuny

disbelieves the "metal-fatigueu gambit, not because she sees

through it, but merely because she automatically disbelieves

any official statement. She is, essentially, no different

than the Soviets whose rhetoric argues that "any Soviet

misadvent~re must be attributable in some way to capitalist

jackals or reactionary fascist hyenasn ( 4 2 ) . Neither the

Soviets, nor Tuny (and her kind) , can accept that the real

danger isnlt the other side, until itfs too late. While

Wyndham was scarcely a cornrnunist (communism, like any

ideology, demancis a sort of blind faith which was quite

outside Wyndharngs personality), he may, as a result of his

wiEels leftist leanings (and her persona1 experience of

7 8 visiting the Soviet Union while reading English at Oxford

University) have been less susceptible to the demonizing

Cold War rhetoric of the time.

Despite the fact that Tuny sees through the scientific

mumbo-jumbo of the "metal-fatigueN excuse, she still seems

constrained by the belief in the inexorable power of science

since she provides her own counter in clairning "these new

midget submarinesw (85) are responsible for the swik ships.

After the first bomb is dropped into the deeps, one of the

journalists with whom Mike and Phyllis dine poses the

question, "suppose that some violently destructive agency

were to descend from space upon one of our cities. What

should we do?" H i s answer to this, though aimed at

predicting the response from the deeps for the bombing, goes

a long way to describing the real-world reactions of the

participants in the Second World War:

'We could turn the backroom boys on to it. And if

it happened a few times more, we should soon be giving

the backroom boys full priorities.' (50)

The "backroom boysu mentioned here are, in effect,

scientists--scientists who devise weapons. At the beginning

of World War II, bi-planes were still in use by the British

airforce; before the end of the war jet planes were used,

and rocket-propelled, guided missiles were cornmon. After

the war, however, the arms race intensified rather than

7 9 stopped. In The Kraken Wakes, as in Wyndhamls other novels,

the general belief in the powers of science to Save humanity

is examined and put to the test. While W y n d h a m does concede

a point at the end of the novel by offering a scientific

weapon which seems to destroy the xenobaths, we still know

next to nothing about them. Indeed, people's faith in

science is reinforced if anything. However, the ending

seems to be a mere sop thrown to the reader, since

throughout the rest of the novel, Wyndham casts a fairly

critical eye on the role of science in his society.

Moreover, an analysis of the ending of the novel becomes

significantly more complex when one poses the question:

which ending?

In the John Wyndham Archive at the University of

Liverpool, there are manuscripts containing two different

endings for The Kraken Wakes. One, which appears in a

typescript of the novel, appears to have been the mode1 for

the ending of the American release of the novel under the

title, Out of the Deeps. This ending is essentially the

same as that published in England--the main difference being

the level of optirnisrn. Instead of a radio message frorn

Bocker delivered second-hand, Bocker (in a Government

helicopter) visits Mike and Phyllis in person. Despite the

fact that, in this version, it is "the Japs," "A very

80 ingenious pe0ple"(376)~, and not the English who devise the

scientific wonder which saves the world, the general tone is

alrnost sentimentally optimistic. At one point in the

typescript, Bocker actually says:

This isntt Noah's world, you know. The twentieth

century isnlt a thing to be pushed over quite as easily

as al1 that. The patient is still in a grave

condition, hels been very, very sick indeed, and he has

lost a tragic lot of blood--but he's going to recover.

Oh, yes, hels going to recover al1 right, youlll see.

(362)

This is not the Bocker the reader is familiar with through

the British version of the published text. Both the faith

in the twentieth century and the gloating optimism regarding

the survival of humanity ring an extremely dissonant note.

1 suspect that Wyndharnls editors at Ballantine felt that a

more uplifting ending would better suit an American

audience. Wyndham apparently complied. The British edition

is considerably less optimistic. Another version of the

novel, which appears in holograph form in the Wyndham

Archive, is far less optimistic. Mike and Phillis, the

reader discovers, have seemingly been killed by a damaged

sea-tank which has become stranded on shore. In this

3 John Wyndham, typescript of The Kraken Wakes, The John Wyndham Archive, Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool.

81 version, "xenobathetic activity" has ceased mysteriously for

no obvious reason. Bocker (much more kindred in tone to his

counterpart in the published British edition) muses on some

of the possibilities:

At the time of writing the cause of the decline in

xenobathetic activity which was then setting in is

still obscure. It is, however, significant that the

failure of direction which stranded innumerable sea-

tanks became in a few weeks world-wide, and tnat the

dimunition of al1 other submarine activities associated

with them took place over the same period. This rnay be

due to failure to adapt, to breed, to resist disease,

or any of the other causes to which it is popularly

ascribed, and we rnay, in consequence be able to

continue the work of reconstruction without further

troubles £ r o m the Deeps. Nevertheless, there are

dangers in easy optimism. It must be pointed out that

we still know little or nothing of the natures of these

xenobathetic entities, and it would be unwise to

overlook the possibility that they rnay £rom time to

time require periods of regeneration analogous with Our

own need for sleep, or that of other types of creatures

for hibernation. This could well be such a period of

quiescence. (293 -4 ) '

' ~ o h n Wyndham, holograph manuscript of The Kraken Wakes,

In the British edition of The Kraken Wakes, the sense of

menace lies in the tact that no one ever knows about the

xenobaths--they were apparently destroyed with the help of

science, but remained very much outside the reach of human

understanding. In the holograph passage above, if one

discounts the Wellsian/Darwinian allusion to the death of

the xenobaths through stagnation, or "failure to resist

disease," one is left with an intensified version of the

same sense of menace--the xenobaths disappear for reasons

that remain a mystery to humans (and science). Unless the

Wyndham file kept by the publisher Michael Joseph supplies

the answer, why Wyndham discarded this version is a mystery.

Perhaps he felt that the deaths of the sympathetic Watsons

would be too much for a mainstream audience; maybe he was

unhappy with the Wellsian approach to the destruction of the

xenobaths and wanted something more original. What Wyndham

lost, when he opted for the rnoderate ending, was the irony

of Bocker, the scientist, ültimately rnystified.

One of the more casual allusions to the question of

science appears at the opening of the novel as Mike prefaces

what is to follow. Re says that, "The specialists know more

about their particular bits, of course, but, between us, we

ought to be able to put together quite a picturev (7). While

a certain amount of specialization is unavoidable in modern

The John Wyndham Archive, University of Liverpool.

8 3 society, Mikels mention of the "specialists" here recalls

The Day of the Triffids' "complexity of specialistsu (16)

and the dangers inherent in a situation in which no one

knows what anyone else is doing. More specifically, Mike

foreshadows the ascendency of the "boffins"(l59), "backroorn

boysr1 ( 5 0 ) , and "assorted 'ographers "' (101) who appear as a

sort of latter day priesthood in the rest of the novel. The

term, llnackroorn boys," itself rnerits some examination in

this respect. Why are they in the "backroorn?" To begin

with, very often in Wyndham's novels, whatever scientists

are working on is either a Military or Business secret, and

so is kept out of sight in the "backroom," On the other

hand, even when their work is not particularly secret,

scientistsr ideas and terminology are often so abstruse as

to be utterly inscrutable to even a reasonably educated

person. Thus the scientist becomes a sort of custodian of

the scientific holy of holies: science the new religion, and

scientists the new priests. This is not to Say that Wyndham

yearns for the golden age of Catholic hegemony, but, as

previously noted, he does go so far as to Say in The Midwich

Cuckoos that nreligious dogrna," was not so l1dogmatic as

scientific dogrnau(106). The problem this leads to is that

lay people corne to revere or fear science as something

mysterious and unapproachable, and that scientists are drawn

into a closed circle, needing no popular sanction for their

84 activities.

An example of the popular reverence for science appears

in the authoritiesl use of the "metal-fatiguew excuse to

explain why the Japanese cruise ship, Yatsushiro, sinks.

When Mike reads the newspaper stories on this, he comments

on "the blinding light of science" (79) . Because "metal-

fatigue" sounds scientific, people by and large seem

perfectly willing to believe it, or anything as long as it's

"something that could be--if only just." The terminology

used in the actual report is especially suggestive:

Certain new alloys recently developed in Japanese

laboratories had, it seemed, been used, for the first

time on any considerable scale, in the construction of

the Yatsushiro. Metallurgical experts conceded it as

not impossible that some, or one, of these alloys

might, if the shipfs engines were to produce vibrations

of a certain periodicity, become fatigued, and

therefore brittle. A fracture of one member so

affected would throw on others a sudden strain which,

in their weakened state, they might be unable to

take.. . . ( 7 9 )

The presentation of ideas here, in an official news report,

sounds like a reference to Wyndham's 1933 story "The Third

Vibrationt1 by "John Beynon Harrisf1. The difference is that

in the novel, this is meant to be taken much more

85 realistically. The extremely conditional phrasing of, for

exarnple, "conceded it as not impossible," if worded

differently would amount to, "practically impossible."

Nevertheless, the weight of authority behind news media and

"experts" is such that most people accept this nonsense, at

least initially. Tuny and her Red-baiting friends refuse to

believe the Nmetal-fatigue" story, but as 1 have already

mentioned, they simply corne up with their own pseudo-

scientific bogey--"these new midget subrnarinesH(85). They

are just as blinded by scientific rnumbo-judo as anyone

When the umetal-fatigueu theory becomes untenable, the

media simply turn to another scientific-sounding excuse

(never mind that it also happens to be the truth), and

prepare it the way they would any other piece of propaganda-

-using the authority of the Military and "several big

scientific namesn(90) to back it up. When hawk politics, or

Cold War paranoia, explode public acceptance of the metal-

fatigue excuse, the best way to quel1 fears is with another

scientific sop. Mike ls jaded editor suggests the line thac

"men of science are mobilizing already to give us the means

to hit backn (91) . Phyllis, herself, makes the point that

people's faith in science is not an intellectual or

5 reasonable one. She suggests that the story "doesnlt have

5 But neither is Cold War paranoia: as the editor says,

86 to be intellectual--in fact it mustn1tn(91). If the popular

belief in the power of science (which is essentially based

on reason) is unreasoned, or emotional, it begins to

approach religion/superstition. If religion/superstition

can (and has) pushed people into wars and Inquisitions, what

rnight science, accepted on the same basis (emotion) , do with

the power of the atom (and who knows what e l se? ) .

When Mike and Phyllis prepare the story , they approach

it as just another piece of propaganda, despite the fact

that they know itls the truth- Mike reiterates his editor's

scientific line in order to allay public fears, hinting at

"the brains of the world getting together and turning the

full force of modern science and technique on the job of

avenging the lossM (92) . Phyllis expresses her confusion

with this, saying, "you start off as if truth is going to be

the first casualty, as usual, and thec end up like that.

It's kind of bewilderingu(92). This is one of the problerns

that arises when science is used by the media as a sort of

conceptu

semant ic

In£ ormat

when the

beliefs

.1 universal panacea. It suggests the dangers of a

or conceptual corruption. When the Ministry of

on is in charge of disinformation or, as in Orwel

Ministry of Peace is in charge of war, people's

and reality itself) become warped. By accepting

and promoting the idea of science and technology as the

- -

"when people are emotionally worked up, theytll swaliow

87 solution to any problem, Mike and Phyllis are as culpable as

the media in general of this sort of warping.

The ideas both of the media as whip and of science as

panacea appear again when Mike describes the work that he

and his wife do over the next few days:

Phyllis and I did oux best during the next few

days to play our part in putting across the idea of

firm hands steady on the wheel, and of the backroom

boys who had produced radar, asdic, and other marvels

nodding confidently, and saying in effect:'Sure, Just

give us a few days to think, and we'll knock together

something that will settle this lot!' (105)

The language in this passage, while intending to be

reassuring, is sornewhat artificially so. Mike, Phyllis, and

the media in general are above al1 concerned with preventing

a general panic. There are several ways panic may show

itself (at least in Wyndharn'ç novels) . Some of the more

common ways are rioting and overthrowing the government,

looting and pillaging, and a return to a savage "kill or be

killedu society. The way these ideas tend to play

themselves out in Wyndham's novels does not suggest an

especially nigh opinion of human nature. In practice, the

only thing that prevents societies under pressure £ r o m

disintegrating is the resort to either the emotional power

anything for a bitu(90).

88 of science as saviour, or something like Cold War paranoia,

or both.

Later in the novel the scientist Bocker, describes the

negative effects of the emotional belief in science:

This is a scientific age--in the more educated strata.

It will therefore almost fa11 over backwardç in

disregarding the abnormal, and it has developed a deep

suspicion of its own senses. Vast quantities of

evidence are required before a theory based on scanty

knowledge can be dislodged. Very reluctantly the

existence of something in the Deeps was belatedly

conceded. There has been an equal reluctance to admit

al1 the succeeding manifestations until they couldn't

be dodged. Ana now here we are again, balking at the

newest hurdle. (200-1)

In this passage, Bocker points to the blinding effects of

science, to the fact that people have disregarded one of the

key elements of science--empiricisrn--in favour of a belief

in science which approaches blind faith, something that

religion, not science, demands. It is passages like this

(and characters like Bocker) that suggest that Wyndham isn't

against science, per se, but rather against blind faith

directed at any creed or ideology.

It is certainly blind faith which leads "the more

classically-minded citizensH of Santander, Spain, to the

idea that,

since the advancing objects were no known form of

machine, their origin was likely diabolic, and they

aroused their priests. The visitants were conjured in

Latin to return to their Captain, the Father of Lies,

in the Pit whence they had corne. (169)

The Spaniardsl faith is unavailing, and "The sea-tanks had

continued their slow advance, driving the exorcising priests

before themU(169), The response to the threat of the Deeps

in the more industrialized "scientific" parts of the worla

is only nominally different--the new priests, scientists,

are aroused and set to work "conjuring" the "visitants."

Only Delatedly do they achieve any sort of success.

It is this blind faith in science that has lead the

peoples of the world blithely into the nuclear age. In the

early pages of the novel, Mike alludes to the situation when

he suggests that "Recognition and prevention don1t

necessarily go hand in hand. We recognized the potential

dangers of atomic fission quickly enough--yet we could do

little about themn(15). Obviously the dangers of nuclear

fission were not realized quickly enough to prevent the

bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, something that Wyndham

seems to allude to when he describes the xenobathls attacks

on "Hokkaido and Honshu"(l60). The Allies in World War II

decided that science offered a better means of winning the

90

war in the Pacific than conventional warfare. Wyndham seems

again to allude to this when he describes the sinking of the

Yatsushiro and the horror involved : harmless men,

and children peacef ully asleep, . . . w i p e d out

secondsu(80). The fact that the Yatsushiro is "bound from

NagasakiW(74), one of the cities targeted by the Allies with

the atom bomb, may be a coincidence, but not likely. If one

doubts Wyndhamts attitude towards the A-bomb, one need only

examine the language in Mikets description of the explosion

of one. He describes the mushroom cloud as it "writhed and

convolved upon itself in a fashion that was somehow obscene

as it climbed monstrously up the skyw (44) . "ObsceneN and

"rnonstrouslyn leave little doubt as to the nature of the

thing and echo Bill's eventual disgust with the triffids--

another of the twisted fruits of science (197).

Of course, in the world of The Kraken Wakes, the Atom

bomb is taken somewhat for granted, seen as a necessary evil

in the Cold War. The Cold War is, of course, one of the

great blinders--as when the Soviets back out of an

international conference because they cannot see through

their own communist rhetoric even in the face of an obvious

threat to Humanity. But equally, even the least rabid Cold

War paranoiac rernains caught up in the fear of science, as

with Tuny and her "midget submarines."

The Cold War and science's roie in it--including the

91

quasi-religious light in which science is regarded in the

twentieth century--do not seem to be the problem, or at

least not the root of the problem. The reporter Mallarby

says of Bocker, "He has never grasped that the average mind

when it encounters something new is scared, and says:

'Better smash it or suppress it, quick' (49) . The

preponderance of this sort of attitude, the "smash itM

mentality, and the fact that societies in Wyndharnrs novels

disintegrate at the drop of a hat, suggest something about

his perception of human nature. When this is combined with

the frequency of Darwinian themes in his work, as manifested

by the triffids, the Children of Midwich, the xenobaths (and

now many of these biological threats arise because of human

folly) , suggestions begin to solidify. What does Wyridham

see as the essential nature of the human mind? Can science

help man overcome his bestial/savage instincts, despite the

evidence of, Say, "The aeroplane, which was looked forward

to as a civilizing influence but in practice has hardly been

used except for dropping b~mbs?'~(Orwell 163). - The

Chrysalids is an extremely interesting novel in this and in

many other respects.

To begin with, The Chrysalids, unlike the other novels

discussed in this thesis, takes place in a world unlike our

own--in which the historical existence of our own world may

only be inferred. Unlike the other novels under

consideration,

taken place in

material break

foreshadow The

92 the disaster in The Chrysalids seems to have

the distant past, and there is a very

with that past. However, Wyndharn does

- - Chrysalids in The Day of the Triffids when

Bill speculates that "A tradition of a vanished golden age

and ancestors who were magicians would be a most damning

thing" (245) .

In The Chrysalids, the threat which hangs over many of

Wyndhamls other novels--nuclear war, Armageddon--has

already, in fact long ago, been carried out. The

inhabitants of the world of the novel do not see it in these

terms, however. To them it is the "Tribulation," the most

recent in the line of Godls punishments of Humanity. The

survivors of this catastrophe, or their descendants, have

built a religious sect out of the myth of the "Tribulation,"

a sort of hybrid of fundamentalist Christianity and post-

apocalyptic myth. The mutations, human or otherwise, that

result £rom the radioactive fallout are seen as warnings

from God. The narrator, David Strorm, has an uncle who was

formerly a sailor who describes some of the less favoured

parts of the wowld he has seen:

The whole seaboard is ernpty--black and harsh and

empty. The land behind looks like a huge desert of

charcoal. Where there are cliffs they are sharp-edged,

with nothing to soften them. There are no fish in the

93 sea there, no weeds either, not even slime, and when a

ship has sailed there the barnacles and the fouling on

her bottom drop off, and leave her hull clean. You

don't see any birds. Nothing moves at all, except the

waves breaking on the black beaches. (60)

Despite the fact that nuclear war is never explicitly

referred to in the novel, the impression of a post-nuclear

wasteland that this description conveys is ail but complete,

especially when David's uncle Axe1 goes further to quote the

journals of another traveler, which tell how %orne regions

are known to glow dimly on a dark nightu (61) . The threat

implicit in the Cold War paranoia of The Kraken Wakes or The

Midwich Cuckoos, and the one narrowly averted by a different

sort of disaster in The Day of the Triffids, has come to

pass in The Chrysalids. Later in the novel, the woman from

"SealandN (New Zealand) gives her impression of the

devastation when she describes "going over the rim of the

world, into the outskirts of helln, and comments, "There was

the power of gods in the hands of children, we know: but

were they - mad children, al1 of them quite rnad?" (179). The

subtext of The Crysalids is that Humanity was unable to curb

its self-destructive tendencies and that science, rather

than helping to civilize, has merely served to make that

self -destruction more horrible.

The central problem of The Chrysalids, however, is not

94 that this nuclear holocaust has happened, but that the

people of Waknuk (Wakuak?), in Labrador--the human society

which the reader most readily identifies as "normal" human

society--have not made good on the promise inherent in their

ancestors' survival. In The Day of the Triffids, Josella

muses on the horror of what has befallen them, and the

necessity to build a better society after Bill suggests that

the disaster has been largely a r e s u l t of hurnanityfs folly:

1 suppose in a way, that should be more horrible than

the idea of nature striking blindly at us. And yet 1

donlt think it is. It makes me feel less hopeless

about things because it makes them at least

cornprehensible. If it - was like that, then it is at

least a thing that can be prevented £rom happening

again--just one more of the mistakes Our very

great-grandchildren are going to have to avoid. And,

oh dear, there were so many, many mistakes ! But we can

warn them. (248)

The hope that appears at the end of Triffids, or The Kraken

Wakes, is that a new and better society can be built on the

ruins of the old one--it is this hope that has perhaps lead

Aldiss to label Wyndham as the writer of "cosy

disa~ters.~(Billion Year Spree 294). The people of Waknuk,

however, so far £rom building a better society, have built a

religious sect around the idea of rebuilding the old society

95 as exactly as possible.

When David describes the "Ethicsn classes in which he

and other children are enrolled, we see that they have

nothing, really, to do with ethics at all, but are rather a

form of indoctrination:

According to Ethics, mankind--that was us, in

civilized parts--was in the process of climbing back

into grace; we were following a faint and difficult

trail which lead up to the peaks £rom which we had

fallen . . . . T h e r e was only one true trail, and by

following it we should, with Godfs help and in His own

good time, regain al1 that had been lost. But so

faint was the trail, so set with traps and deceits,

that every step must be taken with caution, and it was

too dangerous for a man to rely on his own judgement.

Only the authorities, ecclesiastical and lay, were in a

position to judge whether the next step was a

rediscovery, and so, safe to take; or whether it

deviated £rom the true re-ascent, and so was sinful.

The penance of Tribulation that had been put upon

the world must be worked out, the long climb faithfully

retraced, and, at last, if the temptations by the way

were resisted, there would be the reward of

forgiveness--the restoration of the Golden Age. ( 4 0 )

The "Golden Agem that David's society aspires to is

96 essentially the society that apparently destroyed itself in

a nuclear holocaust. Interesting, too, is the fact that the

steps to rebuilding society must be "faithfully retraced,"

leaving no room for correction or rethinking. But perhaps

most interesting of al1 is the emphasis on authority.

In Wyndhamls other novels, we also see this emphasis,

but it focuses on the authority of scientists rather than

churchmen--in fact Wyndham tends to describe belief in

science in religious terms. Here, however, society has

fallen into a semi-barbaric state, and science (at least

genetics) is the province of religion. In fact, Wyndham

seems to have deliberately excised references to science in

The Chrysalids- In the ur-text of the novel in the Wyndham

Archive, there are several quasi-scientific references which

6 do not appear in the published edition. In an unpaginated

holograph note, Wyndham refers to the "Mendelian Bureaun--a

governrnent office which determines who is allowed to have

children. This reference, somewhat reminiscent of Huxley's

"Malthusian BeltsIf1 is obviously an allusion to Gregor

Mendel, one of the founders of the field of genetics.

Another note refers to:

Notice boards A - (radio-active) mark off badlands far south. Further north little pop. so no notices.

6~ohn Wyndham, The Chrysal ids . Unpublished, typescript draft and holograph notes. John Wyndham Archive, Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool.

97 Travel is best when rain lays dust. Keep always to old

growth for saf ety [ . 1

This note is interesting in two respects. To begin with,

there is the reference to notice boards which warn of radio-

activity. This suggests both a far more organized and

scientific society than that which appears in the published

text; furthermore, this note suggests that the novel is set

in " t h e south." Later in the holograph manuscript, at the

beginning of chapter two, there are references to

"Charleston (capital)," and "Chesapeake Bay." This, in

combination with the other references I have noted, paints a

very different picture of society in The Chrysalids than the

one Wyndham eventually published. The nuclear devastation

was likely less complete in the ur-text (which is set as far

sou th as Charleston, rather than in Labrador) , and the

people are far more scientifically rninded. These dramatic

changes suggest that Wyndham took pains to ensure that the

final text was specifically concerned with blind adherence

to religion, rather than to science, and that he wanted to

offer a more imposing view of the effects of nuclear war.

What this difference amounts to, is the suggestion that,

generally speaking, Wyndham is not reflecting on either

Religion or science, but on blind, unthinking devotion to

any system of belief, for that matter. In this novel,

Wyndham contradicts the later statement in The Midwich

98 Cuckoos that "religious dogmatism" is "net so dogmatic as

scientific dogrnatisrn"(106), and the emphasis seems to be on

the corrupting effects of religious dogma.

The basic tenets of the "Right Wing Church Party" are

stated in terms far more absolute than any scientific

theory. David has been brainwashed by the sayings from

Nicholsonls Repentances (a sort of post-nuclear book of

Apocrypha) : "ONLY THE IMAGE OF GOD IS MAN," "KEEP PURE THE

STOCK O F THE LORD," "THE NORM IS THE WILL OF GOD," and "THE

DEVIL IS THE FATHER OF DEVIATION" (18) . David notes that

"Lrequent references to these texts had made me familiar

with the words long before 1 was able to read .... 1 knew

them by heartN(18). Later, there is further evidence of how

rigorously this dogma iç upheld. When David, having trouble

with tying a bandage, says, "1 could have managed it al1

right by myself if I1d had another hand," he is forced to

pray for forgiveness (for "calling upon the Devil to give

[him] another handn) and is beaten as punishment(26). How

absolute must the dogma be, if to Say - if, to merely

hypothetically speculate on an alternative, is subject to

corporal punishment?

The irony of this, is that the people of Labrador are

so ignorant and circumscribed by their religion that they

cannot distinguish between monkeys and "a race of Deviations

that had dwindled to two feet high, grown fur and a tail,

99 and taken to living in trees," and they perceive the black

inhabitants of the West Indies as "men and women [whoj would

be passed as true images if it weren't that sorne strange

deviation had turned them al1 completely blackn(62).

Stories like these sound like traveler's tales from the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and Wyndham seems to

suggest that those who forget history are doomed to repeat

Ft. Perhaps the most interesting example of human

chauvinism is described by David's uncle Axe1 when he talks

about the various races of wdeviations" encountered:

They al1 have pretty much the same legends of the Old

People as we have--how they could fly, how they used to

build cities that floated on the sea, how any one of

them could speak to any other, even hundreds of miles

away, and so on. But whatls more worrying is that most

of them--whether they have seven fingers, or four arms,

or hair al1 over, or six breasts, or whatever is wrong

with them--think that their cype is the true pattern of

the O l d People, and that anything different is a

Deviation. (62-3)

This passage suggests that the chauvinism of the people of

Labrador, or at least of the "Right Wing Church Party," is

universal among human societies. While the various other

types may not practice the same sort of genetic purification

techniques, they nevertheless have both the idea of a "true

100 image," and the belief that they are it. Of course, even in

Waknuk, the purity laws get bent on occasion. Both the

weight of authority and the power of vested interests that

we have seen in Wyndhamls other novels are present here too.

When David's Uncle Angus brings a pair of unnaturally large

"great horses" (which also figure in the holograph chapters)

back to Waknuk, there is some controversy. David's father

argues that, "God never made horses the size of these. The

Government can ' t have approved themu (36) . The enormous

horses are officially approved, however, suggesting that the

"purity lawsw are somewhat flexible where there is a profit

to be had. One of the "fringes people" (the mutant outcasts

who live on the borders of "civilized" society) who captures

David, comments on the horses while ranting about the

futility of the "purity lawsm:

'Theylre pig-headedly determined to keep to the Old

People's standards--but do they? Can they? How do

they know that their crops and their fruit and their

vegetables are just the same? Aren't there disputes?

~ n d doesn't it nearly always t u r n out that the breed

with the higher yield is accepted in the end? Aren't

cattle cross-bred to get hardiness, or milk-yield, or

meat? Sure, they can wipe out the obvious deviations,

but are you sure that the Old People would recognize

any of the present breeds at all? I 1 m not, by any

101 rneans. You can't stop it, you see. You can be

obstructive and destructive, and you can slow it al1 up

and distort it for your own ends, but somehow it keeps

on happening, Just look at those horses. (154)

One would expect the "fringes peoplev--disenfranchized as

they are--to point out any possible hypocrisy in the beliefs

and practices of their oppressors, but they are not the only

ones to question or bend the party line out of disaffection

or avarice. David's uncle Axe1 offers some extremely

subversive ideas (though he lives within NcivilizedN

society) when he suggests that emulation of the Old People

may not be such a noble goal, after all:

even if the O l d People were the same kind as I am and

they are, what of it? Oh, 1 k n o w people tell tales

about how wonderful they were and how wonderful their

world was, and how one day welll get back again al1 the

things they had. There's a lot of nonsense mixed up in

what they Say about them, but even if there1s a lot of

truth, too, what's the good of trying so hard to keep

in their tracks? Where are they and their wonderful

world now? (78)

.Axel, here, gets to the heart of what the contemporary

reader already believes--that it was no uTribulation,u sent

by an angry God, that destroyed civilization, but rather

nuclear war. The danger in followino in the footsteps of

102 the Old People is the danger of following too closely and

having the same catastrophe repeat itself. In The Day of

rhe Triffids, Wyndharn had already suggested this

possibility, and he presents it again here. Maybe the very

idea of a "Golden Agen is a dangerous thing.

Uncle Axel, however, has ideas far more radical than

this. He goes further, to suggest that the Right Wing

Church Party1 s Il IN PURITY OUR SALVATION" (18) , is

essentially flawed, and that there is no real evidence as to

what the "true imageu is. He argues that "the Bible doesnlt

Say anything to contradict the people of that time being

like us, but on the other hand it doesn't give any

definition of man either" (63). Axel also suggests that the

Right Wing Church Party's merely physical description of

Man--"each leg shall be jointed twice and have one foot, and

each foot five toes, and each toe shall end with a flat

nail" and that "any creature that shall seem to be human,

but is not formed thus is not human" (13) --is inaccurate or

incomplete. The quality that Axe1 sees the orthodox

description lacking, is mind:

'what makes man man is mind; itls not a thing, itls a

quality, and minds arenl t al1 the sarne value; theylre

better or worse, and the better they are, the more they

'Man got his physical shape--the true image, they cal1

103 it--before he even knew he was man at all. Itls what

happened inside, after that, that made him human. He

discovered he had what nothing else had, mind. That

put him on a different level. Like a lot of the

animals he was physically pretty nearly as good as he

needed to be; but he had this new quality, mind, which

was only in its early stages, and he developed that.

That was the only thing he could usefully develop; itls

the only way open to him--to develop new qualities of

mind. ' (79-80)

However, the implications that Axe1 draws £rom this idea

are, understandably, perhaps a bit flawed. He seems to

suggest--indeed he does suggest--that David and Rosalind and

the rest of the empaths are merely the next phase of

humanity. The proDlem is, the quality of mind which sets

David and the rest apart is so different in degree, that it

has become a different kind: they have become a different

kind. According to Axells definition, the "fringes people,"

who are reviled because of their merely physical

abnormalities, are far more tfhumann than David.

The fact that, according to any standard definition,

David (the character the reader sympathizes most with in the

novel) and the rest are not, strictly speaking, human, is

one of Wyndhamls most challenging ideas7. Obviously, David

'Coincidentally [ ? ] , a similar quandry is presented in

104 and Rosalind are substantially more human than the Children

of The Midwich Cuckoos. They possess "humour and

compassionw - - those most important human qualities (Midwich

the Cuckoo Chi ldren lack. Further , t hey feel

biological irnperative to destroy, or dominate the regular

humans. Nevertheless, there are very serious Darwinian

i s s u e s at stake- A t the end of the novel, a party of

telepaths from New Zealand casually exterminates dozens of

"normal humans" and Fringes People in an effort to extricate

David and his friends.

In response to David's shock at the callousness of the

New Zealanders towards the "normals," the leader of the New

Zealanders replies as follows:

'In loyalty to their kind, they cannot tolerate

our rise; in loyalty to Our kind, we camot tolerate

their obstruction.'

'If the process shocks you, it is because you have

not been able to stand off and, knowing what you are,

see what a dif ference in kind must m2an. Your minds

are confused by your ties and your upbringing: you are

still half-thinking of them as the same kind as

yourselves. That is why you are shocked. And that is

why they have you at a disadvantage, for they are not

confused. They are alert, corporately aware of danger

. . . .

William Golding's The Inheritors, published in 1955--the same

The

105 to their species. They can see quite well that if it

is to survive they have not only to preserve it from

deterioration, but they must protect it from the even

more serious threat of the superior variant. ' (196)

process shocks too. in William Golding ' s The - Inheritors, the characters we have been cheering on are the

other, and their oppressors are us. Wyndham does not go so

far as to suggest that this new variant is what the hurnan

race ought to aspire t o . His criticism of religious belief

in science, of the Cold War, of secrecy, is not intended to

lead us to forsake the idea of science as salvation in

favour of the idea of evolution as salvation. The "Sealand"

woman admits that the empaths are just another step on the

evolutionary chain, and that what cornes to replace them may

not be even vaguely human. She likens her kind to the

humans and "fringes people" of Waknuk, and imagines the

arriva1 of the next superior variant: "We shall force it to

prove itself, and when it does, we shall go; as, by the same

process, tnese are going" (196) .

year as The Chrysalids.

CONCLUSION: T?lB GR= TRüTH

What Wyndham warns us against is our atavistic, warlike

tendencies which, unchecked, may destroy us prematurely.

Cercainly his faith in human nature is slim at best. When

one considers the number of roving gangs of thugs, looters,

and rioters encountered in Wyndharnls novels--the blind mobs

at the beginning of The Day of The Triffids, Torrance's gang

(in the same novel) , the various, isolated bands of

survivalists at the end of The Kraken Wakes, the Fringes

people in The Chrysalids, and the mob that sets out to

destroy the Children in The Midwich Cuckoos--and the

propensity of society to crumble at the drop of a hat, one

would almost characterize him as a disciple of Thomas Hobbes

rather than of H.G. Wells. For Wyndham, even life under the

social contract proves, more often than not, to be nasty,

brutish and short--or obscure, rnysterious, and constrained.

The sheeplike tendency to follow the flock seems to be one

of the principal dangers he warns against--above all, the

tendency to be lulled into false belief (or blind faith) in

science, religion, or any other ideology which takes as its

basic premise that Humans are the true, unchallenged

inheritors of the earth.

Indeed, ucosyu ideas are the most dangerous in the

107 woxld of Wyridhamf s novels. Itls a remarkably comforting

idea to believe that science can be depended upon to cure

al1 the problems of humanity, remarkably cosy to believe

that the Government and the Military keep secrets £ r o m us

for Our own good. What Wyndham does, in four smooth-

reading, well-written novels (and to varying degrees in the

rest of his works), is systematically challenge these ideas

and suggest that there are dangerous t r u t h s that we are

ignoring. Nicholas Ruddick unfairly condemns Wyndham as

"shrewdU for not marketing his works as science

fiction(l38), implying that this makes Wyndham some sort of

traitor to the genre, a sellout. To coin a phrase, "A

triffid, by any other name, would smell as sweet." But

perhaps Wyndhamls major flaw is related to the fact that his

novels were deliberately not marketed as science fiction.

That flaw may very well be the high quality of his writing,

the fact that his books do "read smoothly, and thus achieve

a maximum audience." A maximum audience is not the kind of

audience to pick through a novel to look for the social and

political message behind it. As Maureen Speller suggests,

perhaps Wyndhamls novels, eagerly devoured for their great

stories and fantastic monsters, only yield their true

meaning to deeper reading. Hopefully, this thesis will

contribute to the growing body of criticism that encourages

a deeper reading of the "invisible man of British science

fiction..

*AS a final note, 1 would like to mention that further research leading to such criticism is now possible thanks to m o n e y £ r o m the U . K r s National Lottery Heritage Fund which enabled Liverpool University to acquire the John Wyndham Archive. Certain aspects of this thesis were it not f o r the availability of copies of primary resources from the Archive.

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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - " ' A Part of the. . . Family [ ? ] : John

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on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 1996.

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- - - - - - - - - - . " W y n d h a m , The Midwich Cuckoos,~ Survey of

Science Fiction Literature. 5 vols. Ed. Frank N.

Magill. Englewood Cliffs: Salem Press, 1979. 3: 1391-

- - - - - - - - - - . "Wyndham, Re-Birth," Survey of Science Fiction

Literature. 5 vols. Ed. Frank N. Magiil. Englewood

C l i f f s : Salem Press, 1979. 4: 1755-1758.

Wymer, Rowland. "How ISafe1 is John Wyndharn? A Closer Look

at his Work with Particular Reference to The

Chrysalids." Foundation no. 55 (Summer 1992) : 25-35.

Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids. London: Penguin Books, 1958.

- - - - - - - - - . The Day of the Triffids. London: Penguin Books,

- - - - - - - - - . ufnvisible Monster." Wonder Stories December

1 9 3 3 , [as by John Beynon Harris] .

- - - - - - - - - . The Kraken Wakes. London: Penguin Books, 1955.

- - - - - - - - - . The Midwich Cuckoos. London: Penguin Books,

- - - - - - - - - . "The Third Vibration. Wonder Stories May 1933,

[as by John Beynon Harris] . - - - - - - - - - . Trouble With Lichen. London: Penguin Books,

1963.

A CHRONOLOGY OF BOOKS (PUBLISHED AND UNPmLISHED) BY JOHN WYNDHAM

Al1 titles are by "John W y n d h a m " unless unless another

authorial name is indicated.

The Curse of the Burdens. By John B. Harris. Aldine

Mystery Novels No. 17. Pulp paper cover coloured

illustration by Bert Wardle. London: The Aldine

Publishing Company, Ltd., 1927. 62 unpaginated pages

(approx. 660 words per paoe). Newly attributed by

David Ketterer on the basis of interna1 evidence.

Wyndham deliberately suppressed this title.

The Secret People. By John Beynon. London: George Newnes

Ltd., 2 May 1935. Revised: New York: Lancer, 1964.

London: Coronet, April 1972 (By John Wyndham writing as

John Beynon); New York: Fawcett, 1973; London: Michael

Joseph, March 1974 (by John Wyndham writing as John

Beynon) ; London: New English Library, Aug., 1987.

Fou1 Play Suspected. Detective novel by John Beynon.

London: George Newnes Ltd., 18 November 1935.

MJXDER MEANS MURDER. Unpublished Detective Novel. Composed

Oct. 8--Dec. 1, 1935. Also titled MURDER BREEDS MLTRDER

and BURN THAT BODY. John Wyndharn Archive, Sydney Jones

Library, University of Liverpool.

Planet Plane. By John Beynon. London: George Newnes

Ltd., 1936. Abridged (by John Carnell?) as Stowaway To

118

Mars, by John Beynon (London: Nova SF Novels, 1953 ) .

St. Louis: Coronet, April 1972; New York: Fawcett Gold

Medal, December 1972; London: Michael Joseph, March

1974; London: New English Library, August 1987; London:

Severn House, May 1989.

DEATH UPON DEATH. Unpublished Detective Novel. 21 November

1936. John Wyndham Archive, Sydney Jones Library,

University of Li

PROJECT FOR PISTOLS. Unpublished Thriller. 1946. Revised

1948. John Wyndham Archive, Sydney Jones Library,

University of Liverpool.

PTTAN FOR CHAOS/FURY OF CREATION. Unpublished SF Novel by

John ~eynon/John Lucas. 1947/48. John Wyndham

Archive, Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool.

The Day of the Triffids. Triffids from Venus: "The Revolt

of the Triff ids, " Colliers (6 January-3 February 1951) :

42--44; 28-29, 50, 52--54, 56. Triffids from Russia:

New York: Doubleday, 1951 (abridged) ; London: Michael

Joseph, August 1951. Kent: Popular Library, March 1952

(as Revolt of the Triffids). First published by

Penguin (London) January 1954. Toronto : Nelson

Foster&Scott, 1959. Kent: Hutcheson Unicorn, May 1960

(slightly abridged) . New York: Doubleday Dolphin,

1961. Sydney: Horowitz, 1961. New York: Fawcett

119

Crest, June 1962. London: Longman School Imprint

Books, March 1972. Glasgow: Hutcheson Educational (as

The Triffids), February 1973 (adapted by Patrick - Nobes) . Bath: Chivers, June 1983 (large print) . New

York: Del Rey, January 1986. San Marino: Easton Press

June 1989.

The Kraken Wakes. London: Michael Joseph, July 1953. In

Canada by Colli~s) . Ballantine, November 1953 (as - Out

of the Deeps with alternate ending). London: United

Kingdom Science Fiction Book Club, March 1955. First

published by Penguin, August 1955. London: Longman's,

November 1959 (shortened and sirnplified by G.C.

Thorn1ey);London: Longman's, August 1961 (abridged by

S. S .Moody) . Bath: Chivers, June 1983 (large print) .

Jizzle. Fifteen Short Stories. London: Denis Dobson Ltd-,

1954. London: United Kingdom Science Fiction Book

Club, October 1961. New York: Four Square, October

1962. London: New English Library, May 1973.

The Chrysalids. New York: Ballantine, June 1955 (as y Re-

Birth) . London: Michael Joseph, September 1955. First

published by Penguin, August 1958. As Re-Birth in A - Treasury of Great Scienc Fiction, Vol. 1, ed. Anthony

Boucher (New York: Doubleday, 1959) . Sydney: Horowitz,

1961. Kent: Hutcheson Unicorn, February 1964. London:

Walker, 1970 (as Re-Birth) . Leicester: Ulverscroft,

July 1983 (large print) .

The Seeds of Time. Ten Short Stories. London: Michael

Joseph, October 1956. First published by Penguin July

1959. Sydney: Horowitz, 1961. Stafford: Wheaton,

November 1976 (in "Literature for Lifem Series) . Tales of Goosflesh and Lauqhter. Twelve Short Stories; six

overlap with Jizzle, two with Seeds of Time, New York:

Ballantine, Deceriber 1956.

The Midwich Cuckoos. London: Michael Joseph, 1957. New

York: Ballantine, 1958, 1959; 1960 (as The village of

the Damned) . First publiçhed by Penguin 1960. London:

Longmans, November 1964 (abridged by L. ~uller) ;

Longmants, 1971 (simplified by M. West); Longman's,

1975 (abridged by J. Levine) . London: Walker, 1969.

Bath: Chivers, June 1983 (large print).

The Oütward Urqe. Four or five linked stories by John

W y n d h a m and Lucas Parkes. four stories: London:

Michael Joseph, February 1959; New York: Ballantine,

1959. Fifth story added: London: United Kingdom

Science Fiction Book Club, 1961. First published by

Penguin, 1962.

The Trouble With Lichen. London: Michael Joseph, 1960. New

York: Ballantine, December 1960. London: United

Kingdom Science Fiction ~ o o k Club, February 1962.

First published by Penguin 1963. Kent: Hutcheson

Unicorn, November 1966. Toronto : Dent, 1968 (Canadian

School Edition: Notes and Questions by Laura H. West).

London: Walker, 1969; Walker, 1970 (large print).

Consider Her Ways and Others. Novella and five short

stories. London: Michael Joseph, October 1961. First

published by Penguin 1965. Bath: Chivers, July 1983

(large print) .

The Infinite Moment. Six stories, four of which, including

"Consider Her Ways , " overlap with Consider Her Ways and

Others. New York: Ballantine, 1961.

The John WFdharn Omnibus. Collects The Day of the Triffids,

The Kraken Wakes, and The Chrysalids. London: Michael

Joseph, 1964. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1966.

Chocky. New York: Ballantine, 1968. London: Michael

Joseph, London : United Kingdom Science Fiction

Book Club, 1968. First p-xblished by Penguin, 1970.

Oxford: Pergamon, 1970. Bath: Chivers, 1984 (large

print) . London : Puffin Plus,

Sleepers of Mars. Five stories by "John Wyndham writing as

John Reynon [Harris] . II London: Coronet, March 1973. London: Severn House, 1980. London: New English

Wanderers of Tirne- Five stories by "John Wyndham writing as

John Beynon [Harri~].~ London: Coronet, March 1973.

London: Severn House: April 1980. London: New English

Library, August 1987.

The Best of John Wyndham. Twelve stories. London: Sphere,

1973. As The Man f r o m Beyond and Other Stories

(London: Michael Joseph, 1975) . Reissued as The Best

of John Wyndham: 1932-1949, the first 6 stories plus

two others (London: Sphere, 1975) , and as The Best of

John Wyndham: 1951-1960, the second six stories plus

two othsrs (London: Sphere, 1977). Al1 ed. Angus

Wells.

Exiles on Asperus. Three stories by "John Wyndharn writing

John Beynon. London : Coronet, March London :

Severn House, October 1979.

Web . London: Michael Joseph, 1979. London: United Kingdom

Science Fiction Book Club, 1979. First published by

Penguin 1980.

John Wyndham. Collects The Triffids (adaptation by P a t r i c k

Nobes), The Kraken Wakes, Re-Birth, The Seeds of Time,

The Trouble With Lichen, and The Midwich Cuckoos. -

London: Heinemann/Octopus, 1980-