Problems with Control in Chaos Walking

Chaos Walking is a rich trilogy with many interesting ideas and sci-fi concepts, among them the issue of control versus freedom.

This is not a review. See why.

Context

Todd Hewitt grew up on an alien world, in an isolated settlement populated entirely by men—men who can hear each other’s thoughts. When his parents and their fellow colonists settled the planet, they unwittingly exposed themselves to a germ that makes men’s and animals’ thoughts audible and visible to those around them; the result is called Noise. Todd was taught that this same germ killed all the women, and that his town, Prentisstown, contains the last survivors of a vicious war with the planet’s native species—the Spackle—that nearly wiped out both races. But Todd quickly learns that almost everything he thinks he knows is a lie.

His journey of discovery starts when he meets Viola, who is part of a scouting party for a new batch of settlers heading for Todd’s planet. She and her parents had come to report back and start making preparations for the other colonists, but the ship crashed, orphaning Viola on a strange world where the animals and the men are constantly “Noisy,” bleeding chaotic thoughts. Todd’s encounter with Viola shakes his worldview—he didn’t know girls could survive the germ or that other settlers were coming—but his adopted fathers consider his discovery extremely dangerous for reasons he doesn’t initially understand. He and Viola flee Prentisstown—and its entire populace pursues them.

Todd and Viola are searching for Haven, a rumored city with a communications tower that would enable them to speak to her inbound convoy. Before they get there, they encounter a variety of other settlements, each of which has adjusted to the Noise differently. The very existence of these settlements is another blow to Todd’s understanding of the world and his opinion of Prentiss. The men of Prentisstown follow, conquering town after town as they go. They’re led by their mayor, David Prentiss, who has ambitions of ruling all the humans on the planet. Eventually, after an exhausting journey including encounters with a crocodile-like creature, a mad priest, a Spackle, and bizarre herds of animals, they finally make it to Haven—only for Prentiss to immediately take over and reshape it into New Prentisstown. Later, Prentiss’s actions spark a war with the Spackle, a conflict which Todd and Viola work hard to end through negotiation, despite the powerlust both of Prentiss and of his primary rival, a healer and leader of the Haven community who refuses to stand for his tyranny.

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Author’s Note: Because Chaos Walking is a very rich series with many unusual concepts, I am departing from my usual format and covering just one idea in this article.

Idea: No leader can improve the world by forcing others to act against their judgment.

Prentiss, a coldhearted tyrant, is the trilogy’s primary villain. In Prentisstown, he often has men imprisoned for displeasing him. When Prentiss’s son comes of age (at thirteen in their society), Prentiss immediately makes him sheriff—not because of his skill or a lack of candidates, but for his loyalty to his father. Todd barely knows how to read because, before Todd had finished learning the skill, the mayor ordered that all the town’s books be burned. On top of all this, Prentiss has forced the townspeople to hide important information from Todd and the other boys. This includes the facts that not all Spackle were wiped out in the war, that the Noise germ didn’t kill all the women, and that Prentiss has instituted a coming-of-age ritual “to become a man” that requires murder.

As with most strongman leaders, President Prentiss thinks he’s doing what’s best for the people. He tells them he is their savior and, once they learn about the incoming settlers, he claims that his plan is to work with the people of Haven to build “a proud society ready to welcome [the coming settlers] into a new Eden” (The Ask and the Answer, 45). But his regime in New Prentisstown is brutal: under Prentiss’s orders, the men are separated from the women, the women are barely allowed out of their homes or workplaces, a strict curfew and dress code are enforced, books are burned, church attendance is compulsory, and the Spackle are rounded up to build a facility that’s later used as a torture and detention center. His officers often abuse their power and are rarely punished, even when caught. Later, Prentiss orders his son and Todd to use a livestock band that can’t be removed without amputating the limb to brand first the Spackle and then all the women in town.

Not everyone in Haven takes this lying down. A group of female healers run a resistance movement, the Answer, using guerilla tactics—mostly bombs—to try to dislodge him. As with many real-life tyrants, Prentiss uses their attacks as an excuse to further oppress people, claiming that all women are supporters of the “terrorists.”

But these standard dictatorial strategies are not the only way Prentiss tries to control people. He has learned to discipline his Noise so that others cannot hear his thoughts. He’s taught this skill to his officers, but secretly, he’s gone further: He’s discovered how to use Noise as a weapon. He uses it both to cause physical pain, often compared to a punch, and to force others to do as he says. He teaches Todd these skills too, but Todd largely rejects them. He feels guilty when he uses Noise to force a boy to bring his horse (traumatized by a recent battle) extra hay despite Prentiss’s rationing of all food, for animals and humans.

In one battle, Prentiss uses his Noise control to force his soldiers to put out a fire that threatens their supplies, but the enemy takes advantage of the opportunity and shoots at them. Prentiss tries to save the situation by changing the command, but he’s not fully convinced, still afraid of the fire. The men, under such unclear control, freeze, unable to defend themselves from the fire or enemy weapons and are being slaughtered—until Todd steps in and ends his control. The scene is an eloquent demonstration of the impracticality of forcing others to not act on their judgment.

In the end, Prentiss begins to go mad. He tells Todd “This world is eating me alive. . . . It’s too much. Too much to control” (Monsters of Men, 558). When Todd tells him people don’t need to be controlled, he laughs, because he considers people to be weak, greedy, vain, and stupid. With such a view of man, it’s hardly surprising that he thinks someone strong needs to control them. But Prentiss’s attempts to control everyone result in him losing not only his sanity, but also his son and his army. His hateful motives and destructive decisions are starkly contrasted with Todd’s; we see time and again that Todd’s decisions are fuelled by his love for his parents, his friends, and his pets, as well as his desire to be a good person. Tyrants may think they know best, but the truth is that nobody has the right or the ability to make good decisions for everyone else—as Prentiss learns at great cost.

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Side Note

There is a 2021 film adaptation of the first book with a star-studded cast (Tom Holland plays Todd, while Mads Mikkelsen plays Prentiss and Nick Jonas plays Prentiss’s son) that has remarkably poor reviews—a mere 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. I haven’t seen the film, but will update this post if I get a chance to.

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Conclusion

Chaos Walking is a rich trilogy with many interesting ideas and sci-fi concepts—many more than I could reasonably include in a short post. The series explores themes from guilt and remorse, to mental and physical discipline and the ethical import of motives, to how species that communicate in radically different ways but are both rational could work together. Todd and Viola grow intellectually and morally throughout the books, adding rich characterization to the series’ virtues. In sum, Chaos Walking’s impressive worldbuilding and character development along with its important moral themes and distinctive style make it an excellent work of thought-provoking science fiction.