characters to figure out how to navigate their lives. For instance, Aunt Harriet's suicide can be interpreted as an expression of her turning the conflict her society had with her in on herself.

There is more than one conflict present in this novel. One of the conflicts is a man vs. society conflict. David and the other telepathic children are technically "Deviants" because their genetic code has given them a mutation that is not considered normal. The Waknuk society believes that kind of deviation in the gene pool should be expelled from the community by placing them in the Fringes, sterilizing the person, or simply killing them. This conflict also affects characters like Sophie with her sixth toe mutation. There are also several man vs. man conflicts present in the novel as well. David is on the run for his life from several members of the Waknuk society including his father. David is also forced into man vs. man conflict with the people of the Fringes, and David is even captured and imprisoned at one point by these people. Internally, David struggles with having to hide his ability and how far he and the other telepathic children need to go in order to keep their ability a secret.

The conflict of The Chrysalids is very similar to the central conflict of many "post-apocalyptic" or futuristic works--man versus society.  David, more than any other characters, represents this conflict.  He knows that he is supposed to abide by the very strict rules of his society and live in fear of judgemental God exacting another tribulation about his people.  However, his innate curiosity makes it difficult to do either.  He befriends Sophie, who is not "normal" and who hides the fact that she has six toes.  Anything considered abnormal to David's society deserves a banishment of sorts.

With a central conflict such as Chrysalids, a lone hero is normally forced to make a choice between all that he has known and been encouraged to believe/do and what his conscience, brain, or desire tell him to do.  Other examples of this specific type of conflict include, Huck Finn, The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, and Fahrenheit 451.  The conflict seems to be applied most often to religious societies.

The final few paragraphs of this novel end where the first chapter started. If you remember, the novel begins with David's dream of a strange city with odd flying machines. This example of foreshadowing is fulfilled if you like at the end of the novel, when David, Rosalind and Petra reach Sealand with the woman who has taken them away from the Fringes. David begins this final section by asserting a direct similarity between what he is seeing and his boyhood dreams. However, what is more fascinating about this city is that Rosalind and David can hear lots and lots of people just like them, who are able to communicate by telepathy in the same way that they can:

I was aware of the engineer in our machine communicating with someone below, but behind that, as a background to it, there was something new and unknown to me. In terms of sound it could be not unlike the buzzing of a hive of bees; in terms of light, a suffused glow.

This is the "happy ending" of this story. David, Rosalind and Petra have finally reached a place where they are accepted for who they really are. They need not dissemble or hide their true gifts any more as they have found a community where others like themselves live and which they can be a part of. They have found "home".

At the story's climax of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, there is the battle between the Waknuk force and the people of the Fringes. It is at this point of the story, that the main conflict is resolved, and that is David, Petra and Rosalind being rescued and taken to Sealand (New Zealand). Those on the ground are killed by the webbing that secured everyone when the ship landed.

The conflict here was "external," specifically "man vs. society." Taking David and the others out of this battle has removed them from Norms and the eradication of "all crop and animal mutations:" from danger. They will no longer need to hide who they are; they will no longer live in fear of discovery and death. The Sealand woman explains the situation to the group, which at this time also includes Michael.

"With one another's help you have managed to get quite a long way...but you'll find that there is a lot more we can teach you...we might has well start now...

"The essential quality of life is living; the essential quality of living is change; change is evolution: and we are part of it."

The Sealand woman explains that the people of the Fringes and those of Waknuk are all dead for the Waknuk could not tolerate change. The people of the Fringes were victims; those that attacked from Waknuk were punished for their inability to change their ways—to accept a changing world.

The static, the enemy of change, is the enemy of life, and therefore our implacable enemy. If you still feel shocked, or doubtful, just consider some of the things that these people...have done.

David and his friends are shaken, but are now safe and will start a new life in Sealand, the place of David's dreams. Michael, however, goes back to find and save Rachel.

When the fighting between the Fringe people and the Waknuk begins (the climax), David, Rosalind, Petra, and Michael are saved; at this point, the conflict is ended.

The main conflict depicted in the novel The Chrysalids is an external one. The external conflict, man verses man (in this case society), is seen as David strives to find asylum in a place which accepts those who are different from the society. David is telepathic. If his powers of telepathy are found out, David will be considered to be a Blasphemy. If he is found out, he will be sought out and killed. The only way to survive would be to run.

David comes to befriend a girl in similar circumstances (Sophie has six toes and would be considered different). Eventually, her secret is found out and she must flee for her life.

IN the end, David's secret, too, is revealed. He decides that he must run in order to survive. In his search for Sealand (a place which welcomes people with telepathy), David is found by Strorm and his troops. Therefore, the main conflict is resolved when David is beaten and left for dead. David is found by the Sealanders and rescued.

Remember that the climax in terms of the structure of the plot of a novel is defined as the key scene in the story - that tense or exciting or terrifying moment when our emotional involvement is greatest. During the climax we learn what the outcome of the conflict is going to be. The climax is also the penultimate part of the plot structure coming as it does just before the resolution.

So, when we think about this great novel, for me the most tense, exciting and terrifying moment comes towards the end of the novel in Chapter 14 and 15. What we see is a massive collision of all the different parties in the novel with David, Rosalind and Petra caught in the middle. Having fled Waknuk and having sought safety in the Fringes, we find out that in a sense they have gone from the frying pan into the fire. David's uncle wants to kill David and keep Rosalind for himself to breed children. They clearly have not found the safety they wanted. However, at the same time, David's father is heading an armed force that is invading the Fringes to capture David and Rosalind and also kill as many "deviants" as possible. But, as if this was not exciting enough for us, we are also desperately waiting the arrival of Petra's friend for Sealand, who is coming to help David, Rosalind and Petra escape. Phew! Are you sitting on the edge of your seat yet? You should be! The resolution of course focusses on how these various conflicts are played out and ended, leading to the end of the novel.

There are a few moments in The Chysalids that I feel are significant turning points.  

One turning point occurs early in the story.  That is when David discovers Sophie's extra toe.  It's a turning point because David must make a decision: turn her in to Waknuk society or keep the secret.  He keeps the secret.  

Another turning point occurs when David and his fellow telepaths are discovered.  It's a turning point because they are no longer in hiding within Waknuk society.  David and his friends are forced to flee.  It's a move that they have to do, but it is not without dangers.  If they stay, they risk execution.  If they flee, they risk encountering the Fringes.  

A third turning point is when Sophie rescues David from Spider.  This allows David to finally reach the location where the Sealanders will be.  

The climax to the story is the "battle" that happens between the Sealanders and everybody else.  You can't really call it a battle, because the Sealanders have technology that allows them to immobilize everybody on the battlefield.  Nobody even has a chance to fight back.