The modern anti-hero is, in my opinion, not represented well within The Chrysalids. The antihero is described as “a protagonist whose character and goals are antithetical to traditional heroism.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihero) This means that an antihero is someone whose goals are opposed or the complete opposite to what is normally considered heroism. The main protagonists in the Chrysalids can be considered as Rosaline, Petra, David, and Sophie. The reason I do not believe any of these characters embody the true spirit of the antihero is because they are all good people. They oppose the society within which they were placed, however they all have valid reasons and never wished to revolt against their people. They all did their best to be integrated within their societies and although they questioned the norm, this questioning never evolved into outright revolt. Only Sophie fought when the war begun after the other three were sent out to live on their own and that was the only antithetical event to really take place in the book, open revolt against the antagonists. All the protagonists really demonstrate characteristics of a hero. According to Wikipedia, a hero is described as “characters (fictional or historical) that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice – that is, heroism – for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero). David and Rosaline both display courage and the will for self sacrifice by attempting to save Petra and bring her to the Zealanders. They are both saving Sophie for the greater good and they both reach moral excellence by never revolting against their own people. Sophie displays courage when she is thrown into the fringes and then sacrifices herself to save the “spider man” in the novel. She was working towards the grater good of the fringe people as well as attempting to do what was right in the situation she was placed in. Another example of Sophie’s courage and self-sacrifice is when she saved David, Rosaline and Petra from the fringe people who meant to do them harm. Petra, is but a child but she works towards the greater good to the best of her abilities. She works hard to understand the “thought-speak” and even manages to keep it secret from others for the greater good. So, as you can see, in my opinion there is no true representation of the antihero as the other characters who could be considered as antiheros were not the true protagonists of the story and would therefore make my point mute.
