The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
"The Midwich Cuckoos" is a science fiction novel that explores the unsettling events in a remote English village called Midwich, where a mysterious phenomenon causes all the women to become pregnant after a night of collective unconsciousness. The narrative is presented through the perspective of Richard Gayford, a writer and resident of Midwich, who recounts the unfolding situation and its aftermath. The story is divided into two parts: the first details the extraordinary birth of sixty children, who, despite appearing normal, possess striking golden eyes and develop remarkable, collective mental abilities.
As these children grow, they exhibit an unsettling control over the adults in their lives, leading to growing tensions within the community. By the age of nine, their intelligence and powers pose a significant threat, as evidenced by tragic incidents linked to their influence. The novel raises questions about survival and the implications of extraordinary abilities, culminating in a confrontation that forces the villagers to consider drastic measures for their safety. The chilling conclusion suggests themes of fear, the unknown, and the moral dilemmas faced by humanity in the presence of an alien intelligence, culminating in a tragic resolution. "The Midwich Cuckoos" ultimately invites readers to reflect on the complexities of human nature and the potential consequences of otherworldly encounters.
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Subject Terms
The Midwich Cuckoos
First published: 1957
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—evolutionary fantasy
Time of work: The 1950’s
Locale: Midwich, an English village
The Plot
The cuckoo is a bird that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests; in The Midwich Cuckoos, an alien race implants its offspring in the women of a remote English village. The children soon exhibit remarkable powers, centering on their collective consciousness and a Darwinian will to survive. The story is told through the eyes of a writer named Richard Gayford, who relates his own experiences as an inhabitant of Midwich and offers reconstructions of events that occurred while he was away in Canada. The novel is divided into two parts. The first describes events surrounding the birth of the children, the second the confrontation with their human hosts when they are nine years old.
On the night of September 26, the village of Midwich is cut off from the outside world by a mysterious force that sends everyone to sleep, rather like a poison gas. There are eleven fatalities. Afterward, all the women in the village, even those who are not sexually active, become pregnant. After some initial panic, the villagers are persuaded to keep quiet about the strange circumstances and await the birth of the babies. The lead is taken by prominent villagers, including Gordon Zellaby, a philosopher and teacher; his wife, Anthea; Charles Willers, the local doctor; and Hubert Leebody, the vicar.
Nine months after the blackout, the children are duly born. There are sixty of them, although two die from a virus infection, and they appear to be normal, except for their odd golden eyes. Within a few weeks, however, the Children, as they are collectively called, seem to be developing the ability to control their parents. They also show determined resistance to being removed from Midwich. Zellaby experiments with their intellectual capacities and postulates a collective consciousness: one boy with thirty component parts and the physical appearance of thirty individual boys, and one girl with twenty-eight component parts.
In the second part of the novel, the Children have reached the age of nine, but their mental age is considerably higher. The narrator returns to Midwich after eight years in Canada and finds that the Children are being educated separately from other children, in a special school called Midwich Grange. All is not well, however. Zellaby witnessed an incident in which the Children caused the death of a young driver who accidentally hit one of their number. Other disturbing deaths lead to a confrontation between the chief constable and one of the Children, Eric, in which their power to hurt their enemies is patently demonstrated. News arrives that similar groups of alien Children have appeared in other countries, always in remote locations, including Australia and Russia. In all cases, the Children did not survive or were killed. The Russians obliterated an entire town with a nuclear missile: There was no way of warning the inhabitants without the Children finding out. It becomes clear to Zellaby that the Midwich group also will have to be destroyed, despite his reservations about such a barbaric action. He takes a bomb to the Grange and in the explosion is killed along with all the Children.