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Rosalind Morton
David’s Uncle Axel, the husband of his mother’s late sister, is his primary confidant until he flees Waknuk and is no longer able to communicate with him. Unlike David’s parents, Uncle Axel does not see David as a Mutant because of his abilities and spends a great deal of the book questioning the traditional beliefs of the Waknukians. Uncle Axel used to be a sailor until he went on a voyage that resulted in the death of his wife and left him a cripple. He tells David as much as he knows about the world beyond the town. He is particularly concerned with epistemology, or how we know what we know. He warns David to keep his ability secret and protects the group of Waknukian telepaths whenever possible.
Uncle Axel Quotes in The Chrysalids
The The Chrysalids quotes below are all either spoken by Uncle Axel or refer to Uncle Axel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6 Quotes
“But when people are used to believing a thing is such-and-such a way, and the preachers want them to believe that that’s the way it is; it’s trouble you get, not thanks, for upsetting their ideas.”
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In this passage, David decides to run away from his society--he's upset at the authorities (including his own father) for punishing innocent people like Sophie. David turns to his trustworthy uncle, Axel, for help. Axel shares David's disgust with many elements of Waknuk society, and yet he doesn't want David to run off into the wilderness. Here, Axel sums up everything David has learned about his society in the last few weeks: the authorities don't want people contradicting their ideas, and even the people themselves don't like being told that everything they've been raised to believe is false. Another implication Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Com
“But what’s more worrying is that most of them…think that their type is the true pattern of the Old People, and anything different is a Deviation. That seems silly at first, but when you find more and more kinds just as convinced of it as we are ourselves—well you begin to wonder a bit. You start asking yourself: well, what real evidence have we got about the true image?”
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In this passage, Uncle Axel points out the arbitrariness of the idea of perfection. While the people of Waknuk are convinced that being a perfect human being entails being a certain height, weight, and skin color, and having a certain number of limbs and digits, there are other people around the world who probably have an entirely different idea of what it means to be perfect.The book alludes to some of the racially-based acts of violence that occurred during the middle of the 20th century--such as the Holocaust and lynchings in the United States. Such atrocities were motivated by the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae
“Perhaps the Old People were the image: very well then, one of the things they say about them is that they could talk to one another over long distances. Now we can’t do that—but you and Rosalind can. Just think that over, Davie. You two may be nearer to the image than we are.”
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In this passage, Uncle Axel raises an interesting possibility. Axel knows that David is considered a "mutant" because he has psychic powers. Yet Axel doesn't condemn David for being different from the other people in his society. On the contrary, Axel speculates that in reality, David could be more "perfect" than the other Waknukians. There's no rule that says that perfection correlates with what is most common; in other words, just because David is one of the only people in the community with ESP doesn't mean that he's the mutant. The only relevant factor, according to the Waknuk religion, is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint a
Chapter 8 Quotes
“A word…a rusted mirror, reflecting nothing. It’d do the preachers good to see it for themselves. They’d not understand, but they might begin to think. They might begin to ask themselves…Are we right? For it is clear, boy, that however wonderful the Old People were, they were not too wonderful to make mistakes—and nobody knows, or is ever likely to know, where they were wise and where they were mistaken.”
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In this passage, Uncle Axel and David discuss some of the paradoxes and inconsistencies in the Waknuk religion. The Waknuk religion is based on worship of God as measured through the Old People; those who lived years ago, before God punished the human race. The Waknuk people believe that anybody who doesn't resemble the Old People is "imperfect," and should be banished from the land. And yet the Old People themselves clearly weren't perfect either--if they were, then God wouldn't have punished them so brutally.Uncle Axel's observations are perfectly obvious, when you think about them, and yet he seems to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt.
Chapter 10 Quotes
“It wouldn’t be just murder, Uncle Axel. It’d be something worse, as well; like violating part of ourselves for ever…. We couldn’t do it….”
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In this passage, Axel and David debate the morality of murder. Axel and David know that Anne--a fellow psychic--is going to marry a non-psychic named Alan. They're afraid that Anne is going to give up important information about the other psychics, endangering the entire group. Axel suggests (although obliquely) that they should kill Anne for the good of the group. But David adamantly disagrees with his uncle--he explains that it would be a horrible crime to kill "one of our own." David believes that groups should stick together no matter what, even if the act of sticking together causes danger Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Mole
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Uncle Axel Character Timeline in The Chrysalids
The timeline below shows where the character Uncle Axel appears in The Chrysalids. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
One day David’s Uncle Axel , who lives with David and his family, comes across David, who appears to be...
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David tells the reader that at the time of this conversation, he does not inform Uncle Axel that there are others (besides Rosalind) with whom he can communicate this way, because he...
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Chapter 6
A few days later, David announces to Uncle Axel that he is going to run away. Uncle Axel cautions him against it, telling him...
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Uncle Axel explains to David at great length what he knows about the rest of the world....
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Later on, Uncle Axel says, people became curious again, and an explorer named Marther headed south. His journals argue...
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Uncle Axel tells David that these lands are now known to be inhabited by people who either...
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While David finds what Uncle Axel has to say vaguely interesting, he is mostly concerned with whether there are any cities...
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Chapter 8
David tells Uncle Axel about the conversation he overheard between his mother and Aunt Harriet. Uncle Axel responds, once...
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Uncle Axel asks a lot of philosophical questions about whether there is any point in trying to...
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David tells the reader that he only starts to understand what Uncle Axel was saying when Michael (a member of the group of telepaths) goes to school. One...
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Chapter 9
David asks Uncle Axel if other people, like Jacob, feel that the Government is too lax about punishing people...
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Chapter 10
David tells Uncle Axel , who knows about the wedding, that Anne is capable of think-together. David, having had...
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Uncle Axel tells David about a sailor he once knew who was thrown overboard so that the...
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Chapter 11
A few days later, Uncle Axel tells David that a friend of the Inspector has been asking about him and Rosalind....
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Chapter 13
...those who cannot think-together because they will forever be “one-at-a-times.” David remembers his conversation with Uncle Axel about the impossibility of knowing what the true Image of God really is. That night,...
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