Oryx and Crake is a thoroughly unusual novel, though this is not surprising coming from an eclectic Canadian author like Margaret Atwood. An accomplished writer with several other blockbuster works under her belt (such as the hugely popular The Handmaid's Tale – perhaps the novel most reminiscent of Oryx and Crake), Atwood shines in this novel by focusing on human interactions and characters.
Apocalypse Now – Starring Snowman, Oryx, and Crake
The narrative of Oryx and Crake is primarily explored via the memories of protagonist Jimmy, otherwise known as Snowman by the genetically modified tribe of “humans” known as the Crakers. While the timeline, as it is in many of Atwood's novels, is played with frequently – Jimmy is the perfect character to lead the reader throughout this bizarre and yet all-too-similar world.
Initially taking place in the near future and chronicling a great deal of young Jimmy's life, Oryx and Crake shows the audience a world in which bioengineering has become de rigeur, providing everything from designer internal organs hatched in the stomachs of genetically altered pigs (pigoons) to experimental Nooskins for the aged and blemished. Tellingly, most of the progress made into the field of genetic engineering and manipulation is centered around cosmetic imperatives – look more beautiful, defeat human ageing, slice and dice until one looks absolutely stunning!
Atwood has beautifully spliced Jimmy's past childhood friendship with Crake (who Jimmy knew only briefly as Glenn before Crake adopted his nom de guerre) and the subsequent paths their lives take with the book's thrilling endgame – a love triangle between the two boyhood pals who have grown so far apart and a fetishized yet beautiful oriental mystery, Oryx.
Is Crake a sociopath whose brilliant and scientific mind has reached the only logical conclusion – that humanity is too deeply flawed to be genetically modified to perfection, requiring a complete “reboot”? Is Oryx complicit in this goal, apparently at odds with her otherwise compassionate soul, or does she remain an emotional enigma who has been deadened to pain?
The mastery of the characters in this story, both primary as well as secondary, is a testament to the strength of Atwood's writing. Without this characterizing, the plot would have suffered greatly.
The Arts and Humanities Versus Science and Technology
An unavoidable narrative duality presented in Oryx and Crake is the recurrent juxtaposition of the arts and humanities against the fields of science and technology. Jimmy is the man of letters, a wordsmith in a world that no longer appreciates the value of culture or art that does not come with explicit monetary value or financial promise.
When Jimmy and best friend Crake are offered acceptance into different post-secondary institutions, Crake is offered a highly lucrative post at Watson-Crick for bioengineering while Jimmy is sent to the Martha Graham Academy for training in the arts, a dilapidated and tarnished institution. It is clear that in this dystopian future the arts and humanities are seen as antiquated relics of a time gone by, useless and meaningless except for their commercial and political applications – advertising and propaganda accordingly.
So a lot of what went on at Martha Graham was like studying Latin, or book-binding: pleasant to contemplate in its way, but no longer central to anything, though every once in a while the college president would subject them to some yawner about the vital arts and their irresistible reserved seat in the big red-velvet amphitheatre of the beating human heart. (Atwood, 187)
Meanwhile, Crake's eventual alma mater, Watson-Crick, is a shiny and futuristic haven exhibiting the best equipment and facilities money can buy. Students of science, particularly transhumanist sciences, are treated like royalty – especially Crake, who is an apparent genius.
This debate, hashed out quite strongly within the narrative of the book, adds yet another sociocritical element to the novel beyond the most apparent indictment of genetic modification and in “playing God”.
Bound tightly together by a cast of intelligently written characters led by an empathetic and tragic protagonist, Atwood's intrepid and touching story stands shoulder to shoulder with literary giants within the canon of dystopic literature.
Other Articles Related to Speculative Fiction and Literature by Nicholas Morine
Readers who enjoyed Oryx and Crake might also like to read literature reviews of William Gibson's Neuromancer, George Orwell's 1984, or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (for which Atwood wrote the foreword to the new Vintage Canada edition).
Nicholas Morine - Nicholas Morine Bachelor of Arts, English Language & Literature Master of Philosophy, Humanities (Candidate) Memorial University ...
