. Plants are burned, animals are slaughtered, and human deviations are banished to the Fringes where they are out of sight, cannot reproduce, and will either die or live a miserable life. The main reason that the citizens of Waknuk desire such sameness and conformity is because of their superstitious and religious beleifs. They believe that God sent tribulations to "The Old People", and that was why their society was destroyed. Because they don't want the same thing to happen to their society, the people of "The New World" and of Waknuk believe that they must keep the gene pool free of mutations and deviations, so that everyone is made in the "true image" of God. Those who are not in the "true image", and those who do not do everything within their capability to keep society true to how God created and desired it are shaming God, and will force him to send tribulations to the town as punishment.
The extreme need of the citizens of Waknuk to conform and follow their cultural superstitions drives them to do crazy things that are detrimental to their community, such as burn crops, kill livestock, and send away or kill their friends and family. Without this extreme desire to rid themselves and their community of differences, and to please God and avoid his wrath and punishment, the citizens of Waknuk could probably live fairly normal lives. They would have more food, more livestock, and probably more money from selling anything that they had left over. The Chrysalids demonstrates how diversity can be a good thing, and how dangerous conformity and societal superstitions can be
Through Joseph Strorm's harsh treatment of David, we can see how important the issue of conformity is to the inhabitants of Waknuk. Conformity in Waknuk is manifested...