A beautiful story. A tender story. A moving story.
British author John Wyndham is most well known for The Midwich Cuckoos since his novel was used as the basis for 1960s film, Village of the Damned, featuring children with eyes turning into fierce light. Actually, such sinister, horrific eye transformation was the filmmaker's creation - in John Wyndham's tale, from all outward appearances, the beautiful children are just children, normal in all respects, eyes included.
This "normal in all respects" fits with the author's overall aesthetic since within the rocket ships/flying saucers/green Martians world of science fiction, SF writer John Wyndham's literary tone was a quiet one. As the great novelist and critic Christopher Priest put it: "By fastidiously shrinking back from the sensational, Wyndham found a unique literary voice. He described the odd rather than the fantastic, the disturbing rather than the horrific, the remarkable rather than the outrageous. He dealt in menace, not terror. This quietness of tone was to prove effective and likeable."
Chocky is not only likeable; it's lovable. I would think the ladies would especially fall in love with John Wyndham's short novel. If there ever was a book to serve as evidence science fiction is not the exclusive domain of adolescent boys and nerdy young men hankering after outer space thrills and adventure, Chocky is that book.
The simplicity of plot adds particular charm: we're in a small English town and mild-mannered accountant David Gore, the tale's narrator, becomes anxious when he overhears twelve-year-old son Matthew out in the garden conversing with an imaginary friend. He informs his wife Mary. Oh, no, not a second time! Some years back, ten-year-old daughter Polly created friend Piff, but fortunately for all concerned, habitual nuisance Piff departed as quickly as she arrived.
David and Marry continue to keep a careful eye on Matthew. But shortly thereafter, on occasion David detects Matthew's conversations turn into emotionally charged arguments. Ever the compassionate father, David speaks with his son. Turns out, Matthew's unseen inner companion has a name - Chocky.
David seeks out help from the world of psychiatry. Fortunately, the doctor David invites to his home hits it off with Matthew and when the two are left alone, Matthew opens up and tells the doctor all about Chocky.
Later that evening when Matthew goes upstairs to bed, the doctor relays his findings: from what he can determine, Matthew's experience is somewhat similar to what our human ancestors called "possession," although in Matthew's case, it isn't possession in the traditional sense, it's more like a rational, working relationship.
Following the doctor's departure, the parents have their own conversation: David wonders but Mary will have none of it - as far as she's concerned, the guy with a trimmed beard and fancy suit is a complete quack.
But what adds a true element of alarm for David and also Mary - two subsequent events suggest Chocky is, in fact, not the figment of a young boy's imagination; Chocky possesses real, objective presence.
One major element adding to our enjoyment in turning the pages of this fascinating novel is knowing we are reading a work of science fiction, that Chocky is an alien consciousness that has chosen to communicate with a particular human boy.
The novel raises a number of important philosophic questions. I'd like to focus on one. First off, please read this brief quote from a SF novel by Robert Sheckley:
"Don Quijote thinks the windmill is a giant, whereas Panza thinks the giant is a windmill. Quijotism may be defined as the perception of everyday things as rare entities. The reverse of that is Panzaism, which is the perception of rare entities as everyday things."
From my own experience, nearly everyone I've ever met is prone to Panzaism, that is, reducing the richness and sumptuousness of life down to digestible little bite-sized bits. Applied to Chocky, this would mean the overwhelming human response to Matthew and Chocky would be wife Mary's response - there must be a reasonable, sound, sensible, proper explanation.
Oh, Mary, oh, most people, the things you might miss! Philosophy aside, the sheer charm of Chocky will delight. A novel to fall in love with.
British SF author John Wyndham, 1903-1969
“I'm not bigoted enough to twist the facts to suit what I've been taught.”
― John Wyndham, Chocky
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