ORYX AND CRAKE ANALYSIS

In line with the general characteristic of parody, Oryx and Crake aims to both assert and
undermine prevailing values and conventions (Dvorak 114), and can be read as a frontal satirical
attack on contemporary societys advances in and abuses of genetic engineering (ibid. 117). Atwood
plays with the possibilities of what may happen if we continue down the road we have been taking
for the last decades (Howells, Margaret 161), and regards our present state as a definite
moment after which things were never the same again (Atwood, Robber 4).
Atwood provides us with a fable of our time (ibid. 173) that offers us two possible roads:
continuing on our current blind path ensuring extinction (Wilson, Frankenstein 399), or choosing
to adapt our current route in an effort to reach a more global ethic that can align ... human
endeavours in the sciences with those in the arts (Brydon 447). Atwoods stance is clear, as she
implies that scientific imagination should be restrained for the public good (ibid. Van Steendam 94
450) and she guide[s] readers to contemplate seriously the ethical implications of particular
choices (DiMarco 172). In doing so, Atwood follows Jay Clayton, who stated that literature can
shape public attitudes towards science and can have a crucial pedagogic value not only for the
readers, but also for politicians and students when reading a literary text about the human
condition that is situated in their own historical moment (575). Or as Dr. Kass appropriately puts it
into words: it can contribute to a richer understanding and deeper appreciation of our humanity,
necessary for facing the challenges confronting us in a biotechnical age (qtd. in Clayton 575).
One of the main scientific misconceptions that Atwood is trying to warn us of, is that despite our
contemporary ability to alter the genetic makeup and phenotypic expression of a modified
genotype, man cannot in any way be in command of evolutionary processes. Just as Moreau could
not in any way foresee the disastrous regression that led to his vengeful murder, scientists today
cannot but guess about the changes and adaptations that genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
can and will undergo through mutations and reproductive processes (Warkentin 92). Just as the
Beast Peoples long-term evolution could not be anticipated, scientists remain in the dark about the
possible and plausible - implications of genetic splicing (ibid.). The perfect exemplification are the
pigoons in Oryx and Crake, or the sus multiorganifer. As their Latin name already shows, their
function is to provide mankind with a surplus of organs:
The goal of the pigoon project was to grow an assortment of foolproof human-tissue organs in a
transgenic knockout pig host organs that would transplant smoothly and avoid rejection, but would
also be able to fend off attacks by opportunistic microbes and viruses. (OC 25) Van Steendam 95
Pigoons are genetically modified pigs that are altered to be able to grow five or six kidneys at a
time (OC 26), and are injected with both a rapid-maturity gene (OC 25) in order to force up their
productivity and pieces of human neocortex tissue (OC 63) to ensure that the organs will not be
rejected by the human host body. The name pigoon already hints at the fact that they have
undergone such dramatic genetic modifications that they can no longer be regarded as real pigs
(Warkentin 88).
Extremely successful in their ecological adaptation (ibid. 93), Atwood lashes out at irresponsible
science as she states that if theyd have had fingers, theyd have ruled the world (OC 314). And
there is even more. Not only does the pigoons eating of flesh signal an evolution in an unforeseen
direction, they have also physically adapted in function of their new choice of food. Whereas
Snowman initially doubts whether he really saw a pigoon with small tusks (OC 43), he later is
gruesomely confronted with the fact that the Van Steendam

pigoons have become team players with yes, sharp tusks (OC 314), thus signalling not only
impressive mental progression but also an evolutionary leap on a physical level.
Apart from the implied warning that scientific creations may turn against mankind, the pigoons
also function as an allegory for the ecological risks of transgenic organisms (Warkentin 93). Like
the pigoons, other transgenetic organisms31 in Oryx and Crake have proven to have an
unanticipated effect on the ecology system, for instance the luminous green rabbits that escaped
their cages and started breeding with the wild rabbit population which resulted in their population
spiral[ing] out of control (OC 241),
leading to a severe nuisance not only for human beings, but also for the species beneath them in
the food chain (OC 110). Another example is the rampage of the wolvogs, a splice between wolfs
and dogs that was created to serve as security hounds. Despite the scientists certainty that they
wont get out (OC 241-242), they eventually did and exterminated other canine species in no time
(OC 110). A final illustration found in Oryx and Crake, are the bobkittens, a smaller version of the
bobcat that was created to eliminate feral cats in order to improve the almost non-existent songbird population (OC 193) but soon after these bobkittens were set free in nature they also got
out of control in their turn (OC 193).32
31
Not only does the title of the book itself expose the ecological calamity caused by disappearing
species through its use of two wiped-out animals, other references such as the Extinctathon game,
an interactive biofreak masterlore game (OC 92) focussing exclusively on extinct animals, only
strengthen this claim (Brydon 449). The fact that all protagonists and Crakes scientists take on
names of died out animals is only more proof of Atwoods concern. Yet, apart from merely signalling
the problem of animal extinction, the adaptation of these names can also be read in another way, as
it also shows the characters dawning realization that the human also ... is bound to the fate of
these other creatures and may well also be on the road to extinction (Brydon 449). Not only through
worldwide eradication by the JUVE-virus, but also due to the vanishing of the human
Through the genetic alterations that have become possible today, the borders between human and
non-human, be it animal or machine, have become increasingly blurred. Despite the fact that in the
majority of cultures the combining of species used to be the subject of taboos as it was
exclusively reserved to superhuman beings, it is now a widespread element in contemporary
science (Becker 7). Or as stated by Warkentin: nowadays, these actions can only be regarded as
once controversial (98, my emphasis). By posing the question of what it means to be human in
our contemporary situation and [h]ow far [we] can ... go in the alteration department and still have
a human being, Atwood denounces the loss of these values and the genetic crossing of boundaries
for two reasons: not only does it eradicate the border between mankind and the animals, but it also
leads to the loss of our humanity as Duch
How many human genes make a sufficiently human creature to have human rights in the eyes of the
law? How many human genes can you give a humanized pig before you feel obliged to send it to
school rather than to the slaughterhouse? (qtd. in Wheale and McNally 190)
By implanting animals with human genes and neocortex tissue, we rid them of their identity as
purely animal and bring them closer to the level of the homo sapiens sapiens. Apart from the danger
of unforeseen evolutionary changes as discussed earlier, this may also lead to a needed reevaluation of the position of animals in society
Some scientists claim that in order to enhance the animals situation, there can be no moral
opposition to genetically altering animals that serve nutritional ends so they become decerebrate
food animals (Rollin 193) that no longer feel pain (ibid. 171-172). Atwood ironically inscribes this
No Brain, No Pain (OC 245) motif in Oryx and Crake, as one of the leading scientists of the
ChickieNob project states that the chickens suffering is humanly alleviated because of the removal
of the neurons that instigate pain, ensuring that the animal-welfare freaks wont be able to say a
thing (OC 238).
Nonetheless, by instilling humans with features from animals, our status as completely human
becomes inevitably lowered, leading it to converge with the rising position of the animals injected
with human genes. In the end, the once distinct border between man and animal is doomed to

vanish, leaving only human-like animals and animal-like humans, or worse, only one conflated
grotesque species (Warkentin 101).33
Atwood describes the typical traits of humanity as destructive, and ascribes amongst others the lust
for possession, racism and savage sexual drives as being the essence of Man, all of which have been
eradicated in the Crakers mind in an effort to permanently ban war from our world. As the Crakers
manage to do away with territoriality (OC 358), prostitution, rape (OC 194) and pseudospeciation
(OC 358), mankinds acclaimed superiority fades in the light of Crakes Houyhnhnmlike creatures
they have no individual choice in how and who they wish to be or how to express themselves
(Wilson, Frankenstein 404), but also by their complete lack of symbolic thinking and literacy,
especially as literature is to be seen as the last holdout of free will (Brydon 448). As said by
Snowman, they lack the thumbprints of human imperfection, ... the flaws in the design (OC 115).
This could mean that Atwood does more than merely presenting us a possible future doom scenario,
as perhaps a feeble touch of hope is to be found in Oryx and Crake.
Despite the fact that our species are considered as doomed (OC 139) and our world is described
as hopelessly messed up (Wilson, Frankenstein 404), certain critics stress the fact that some
optimism is to be found in Atwoods novel (Howells, Margaret 169). Even though it may seem
hard to assume that a lot of hope for mankind is inscribed in this post-cataclysmic world, some
critics do believe that Atwood deliberately inscribed a possible chance of redemption. Already
discussed as one of the main images that pervade the novel, it is precisely through the character of
the mother that Atwood hands out an antidote to the passive surrender to corporate culture and
the abuses of scientific knowledge (Foy 418). Through Sharons running away and her joining the
protest groups against the corporations, we are presented with a possible reaction that is
unmistakably at odds with Jimmys passivity a severe criticism against mankind if we keep up the
image of Jimmy/Snowman as the representative of the human race. By inscribing that the exercising
of free will and choice is still a possibility, albeit an extremely dangerous and difficult one, the
novels desolation is partly redeemed through this undermining of the austerity of the CorpSeCorps.
However, this image of Sharon as the saving Grace needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, as it is
inscribed in an ironic and rather sadistic manner, for Van Steendam 104
she is eventually executed for her actions by the very corporations she was fighting against (OC
305).
Atwood clearly places the future of mankind in Snowmans hand, which is stressed even more by the
antepenultimate line of the novel: Dont let me down (OC 433). As she herself is not completely
sure what he should do (Atwood qtd. in Bethune), Atwood clearly prefers to ask questions and
engage the reader as an active participant (Semenovich 5) in thinking about a solution for the
future of mankind, instead of providing them with an answer herself (Bethune).
Let it be clear: Oryx and Crake can in many ways be read as a warning against our contemporary
societys scientific practices. Atwood is trying to warn us to take action before it is too late, and does
so by presenting us a world where mankind as we know it is eradicated on numerous levels: the
status of mankind as purely human is grotesquely contaminated; animals are on the verge of
becoming as human as ourselves; humanity has become near-extinct as a result of a biologically
created virus; and mankind as a species has been replaced by a super-human race that is in many
ways our superior. The entire world has been reduced to one big experiment (OC 267) which has
got out of hand, and we have entered a state that cannot be described more accurately than by
Crake: when the water is moving faster than the boat, you cant control a thing (OC 398). By
commenting and criticising on this state of affairs in the form of speculative fiction, punctuated by
paratextual and parodical references to critical literary genres and pioneering novels treating
sciences eradication of mankind, Atwood succeeds in fulfilling the five bullet points definition of
speculative fiction.

The second important meaning in the use of names is the way in which the three main characters
are given the nick names Crake, Oryx, and Thickney. These names turn out to be very prophetic, for
the names are all those of extinct animals. Ironically, both Oryx and Crake end up dead at the end of
the novel, fulfilling their names foreshadowing. However, Jimmy/Snowman was given the name
Thickney. Despite the other two characters names sticking with them, Jimmy does not keep the

name of this extinct animal. This coincides with the fact that as far as readers are aware, he survives
at the end of the novel. His extinction is void as well as the name of Thickney. The name Snowman is
also symbolic of the transformation of Jimmy. Jimmy goes from a normal, well preserved human to
one who is barely surviving, and is legend as far as humans go. For, the original version of the name
that Jimmy gave to himself was Abominable Snowman, which is a legendary creature, and the only
of its kind. From Snowmans perspective, he is the only surviving human, which has given him
legendary status for surviving against all odds. Also, the fact that Snowman named himself alludes
to the true influence and power that he truly has throughout the novel. This can be seen as he is left
in charge of the crakes, and whatever he says is what they believe and is law. He can manipulate
them in whatever way he sees fit. Also, the fact that Jimmy does not keep the name Thickney, which
Crake assigned to him, shows his true resistance to the deeds and influence of Crake. He ends up
killing crake, and survives the virus that Crake intended to kill everyone
The green-eyed children of Crake are human beings that have been genetically altered to have more
adaptable traits and not have many of the negative traits of humanity. They have been spliced with
various animal traits to make them more durable, and Crake has added his own little additions to
help to keep them away from the mistakes of man. Once they hit a certain age, they die. No
population problem and no suspense. However, there are some things that are intrinsically human
that no matter what Crake did, he could not splice out. Singing and dreaming were human traits that
Crake could not get rid of without removing the humanity of the Crakers. He though he removed the
parts of the brain that he saw as useless or dangerous. However, the Crakers still exhibit behaviors
that were not originally intended. Abraham Lincoln displays leadership qualities, and appears to be
more outgoing than the others. They create a model of Snowman, something they should not have
had the capacity to do, and burn it in an attempt to communicate with him, an idea that was totally
their own creation. They also revere Orxy and Crake as gods, despite the fact that they have no real
conception of what a god is. The Crakers are symbolic of the inability for man to control everything,
and natures ability to change. They are also a testament to human nature, and what parts of us are
so ingrained into being human that they cannot be done away with.

[Speculative fiction] contains no intergalactic space travel, no teleportation, no Martians. [] It

invents nothing we havent already invented or started to invent. [] Every novel begins with a what
if and then sets forth its axioms. The what if of Oryx and Crake is simply, What if we continue on the
road were already on? How slippery is the slope? (Atwood 2005: 285-86) The road were on
includes genetic manipulation, pollution, exploitation of natural resources, and abuse of non-human
animals. Atwood, always very vocal about her environmental concerns as an author and as an
activist2 , depicts a scenario in Oryx and Crake that plausibly results from current environmental
policies. All of this is, of course, embedded in fiction; more precisely, in a narrative that alternates
between two different moments in the future: a post-apocalyptic narrative line is intertwined with
one that relates events from a nearer future, all of them leading up to an environmental catastrophe
of huge proportions. A young man named Jimmy, who thinks of himself as the sole survivor of the
asyet-undefined apocalyptic disaster, is the main character and focalizer in both narrative lines. The
reader only discovers the reasons for the catastrophe through his memories and his attempts to
make sense of what happened. The (narrative) past catches up with the post-apocalyptic present at
the end of the book, finally allowing
the reader some insight into what caused the massive destruction. One may be surprised to discover
that there is more to it than hazardous environmental policies; an individual and over-ambitious
scheme of Crakes, Jimmys best friend and leading genetic engineer, was actually the main reason
for the near-extinction of the human race.
Dystopian speculative fiction takes what already exists and makes an imaginative leap into the
future, following current socio-cultural, political or scientific developments to their potentially
devastating conclusions. [] These cautionary tales of the future work by evoking an uncanny sense
of the simultaneous familiarity and strangeness of these brave new worlds. (Snyder 11: 470) It is
indeed true that much of what we find in Oryx and Crake is a large-scale, extreme version of recent
(Western) scientific and economic trends. Corporate power,for instance, is a major force in Atwoods
hypothetical feature: corporations control the environment and those who inhabit it; they have
seemingly replaced or, at best,disempowered any form of emocratic government, and they
defend their supremacy with the help of private police forces, gruesomely named CorpSeCorps

(Corporation Security Corps). Corporate power also goes hand in hand with scientific
experimentation: genetic engineering corporations are the richest ones, and they are exempted from
having to deal with any unexpected outcome their experiments may have. Atwoods dystopian
future is in fact defined, among other factors, by a rigid separation between the inside and the
outside the inside being the Compounds, safe and enclosed areas that the various corporations
have bought for their members to live in, and the outside being the increasingly unsafe rest of the
world. Outer spaces are disparagingly called pleeblands by the compounders, who also feel free to
pillage and trash them and, when necessary, use them as the setting for their hazardous scientific
experiments.
Bioengineering and clonation also play a major role. The novel is populated by ambiguous hybrid
creatures, all of them developed by prestigious scientists in order to fulfill various kinds of human
needs. Rakunks, for example, are a cross of raccoons and skunks, an after-hours hobby on the part
of one of the OrganInc biolabs hotshots (Atwood 2003: 51).3 Thanks to the raccoons clean smell
combined with the skunks placid temperament, rakunks serve well as pets. As one may certainly
guess, though, hybrids are not only being designed to mitigate human loneliness. Aside from
rakunks there are wolvogs (tame-looking, but nonetheless ferocious, wolves working as police dogs
for the CorpSeCorps), liobams (combinations of lions and lambs commissioned by a religious group
as a symbol of the two creatures lying down together), and, most notably, pigoons. Pigoons are
probably the most famous and ontologically ambiguous hybrids the readers find in both Oryx and
Crake and The Year of the Flood. They are transgenic knockout pig host[s] used to grow an
assortment of foolproof humantissue organs (ibid.: 22). Since they share DNA with humans, they
generate discussion and uneasiness more than other bioengineered hybrids. As Jimmy recalls from
his
childhood, to set the queasy at ease, it was claimed that none of the defunct pigoons ended up as
bacon and sausages: no one would want to eat an animal whose cells might be identical with at least
some of their own (ibid.: 24); Jimmys father, though, is a leading scientist at OrganInc Farms, where
pigoons are developed and where doubts soon start to arise as to the nature and origin of the food
that is served to employees. Although many compounders display a seemingly nonchalant attitude
about what they eat (pigoon pie, pigoon pancakes, pigoon popcorn, jokes Jimmys father ibid.),
others are no doubt affected by it among them, Jimmy, still a child at the time pigoons first appear
in the world: He was confused about who should be allowed to eat what. He didnt want to eat a
pigoon, because he thought of the pigoons as creatures much like himself. Neither he nor they had a
lot of say in what was going on. (ibid.). Jimmys concerns are similar to those of his mother. A former
scientist like her husband, the woman soon starts having moral concerns about the Pigoon
Project.Youre interfering with the building blocks of life. Its immoral. Its sacrilegious
(ibid.: 57), she says to her husband, and soon afterwards escapes the OrganInc Farms compound to
live as an eco-terrorist in the pleeblands. Jimmys mother may well give voice to the feeling that
readers experience whilegetting acquainted with Atwoods dystopian future: the feeling of lines
being crossed. What kind of lines, though, is difficult to tell; are they religious dogmas on the
sacrednature of life? Moral paradigms? Humanitarian concerns about the exploitation of other
species? Or are they aesthetic objections to bioengineering projects that some may well perceive as
disgusting? A disquieting feeling also contributes to intellectual uncertainty: the rationale behind the
work of Atwoods scientists is very similar to arguments in the current, real-life bioethical debate
(Its just proteins, Theres nothing sacred about cells and tissue, we can give people hope, are
Jimmys father replies to his wifes accusations ibid.: 56-57). This, of course, leads us back to the
uncanny features of Atwoods fiction
In light of this, it is easy to understand why Atwood speaks of slippery slopes, although critics have
sometimes disagreed on which slippery slope she may be referring to. Some argue that the main
target of her social critique is the spreading virus of Americanism (Bouson 2011: 17) and the
consumerism it brings about: everything is reduced to a commodity, including nature, animals, and
even human identity or, more precisely, Identities, since those, too, have become goods that canbe
bought in order to enter the most prestigious Compounds. In this view every form of human abuse of
the environment and of other species is only one among many aspects of corporate control (Bouson
2011).
On the other hand, what critics do agree on is that dystopian fictions Atwoodsas well as those of
others function as a warning. Perhaps the primary function of a dystopia is to send out danger
signals to its readers, states Howells (2006: 161); J. Bouson corroborates her theory and describes

Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood as a form of environmental consciousness-raising driven
by Atwoods belief in the transformative and ethical potential of imaginative literature (Bouson
2011: 23). According to this theory, apocalyptic discourse expresses cultural anxieties about human
conduct and its possible outcomes. On the one hand, it helps us imaginatively to rehearse the end
we fear (Synder 2011: 486), and thus to exorcise it; on the other, it allows us to experience [] the
horror of seeing our own interior worlds nightmarishly returning from without (ibid.), and to adjust
our conduct before its consequences become inescapable.
As I have already mentioned, the pandemic is actually caused by a very attractive, and yet deadly,
invention of Crakes, top Compound scientist and Jimmys best friend. Crakes creation is a pill
named BlyssPluss, a seemingly wonderful scientific product that works simultaneously as a
protection from any sort of venereal disease, a contraceptive device and a libido enhancer. Although
certainly alluring and apparently beneficial to the whole humanity, BlyssPluss is actually part of a
broader and secret project of Crakes. A few months after its commercial distribution, BlyssPluss
causes a deadly pandemic that brings humanity to near-extinction; Crakes intention is to have
human beings replaced by the para-human population he has secretly bioengineered. Jimmy, albeit
unknowingly, has been a part of Crakes plan; after spending his childhood in the OrganInc
Compound with Crake, he has in fact moved on to study Applied Rhetoric, and then to pursue a
career in the advertising industry. At Crakes request the
two friends reunite, and Jimmy is offered a job in the advertising campaign for BlyssPluss.
Crake discloses the truth to his friend shortly before the pandemic outbreaks: the Crakers have not
been bioengineered as a playful experiment; on the contrary, they are actually intended to replace
humans once BlyssPluss wipes them off the world. Crake does not dignify Jimmys objections with
even the slightest consideration. In his opinion, the Crakers are fitter than humans both to live in the
world and with one another: they have not been programmed to experience conflict-provoking
feelings of any sort; their immune system is indestructible; they lack the ability to think symbolically,
and their language only comprehends words whose referents can be found in material reality; they
are only interested in sexual intercourse when it results in reproduction, and, since their own
excrement is their only nutritional source, they do not need to use up natural resources in order to
survive.

In her speculative fiction novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood follows emerging global capitalism
to its possible ends. As a response to our own world, her novel provides us with an opportunity to
examine our global state and conceivable destiny. The result is the discovery of a globalized society
dominated by transnational corporations determined to control the population for their benefits.
These corporations are reliant on the production of myths to convince consumers to buy their
products of sex, beauty, and youth. In Atwoods world everything is available for a price. These
myths, perpetuated by various media sources, infuse people with desires and ideals that benefit
corporations even as the people responding to these desires recognize them only as natural. From
this revelation in a fictional work, we can better understand the risks of globalization in our own
world.
Globalization is often thought of as the creation of a global community that is aided by technology in
producing a better life and a more equitable society (Poster, 2001, p. 611)
Margaret Atwoods creation of the globalized world of Oryx and Crake, published in 2003,
follows this concept in refuting the theory that globalization results in a worldwide community of
equality. This is evident in Atwoods descriptions of Page 45 Oshkosh Scholar
the health gap and the living standards gap between the communities in the corporate compounds
where various research is done and the communities in the pleeblands where those people with no
intellectual use to science reside. The extreme differences between the rich and poor in Oryx and
Crake are a reflection of the same condition in our globalized world made more obvious by Atwoods
creation of physical barriers between the two communities.

The myth that abundant technologies will deliver a great and unified world is disproved by Atwood in
Oryx and Crake through her presentation of a world in which these technologies are only made
available to people who have money and power
In order to reveal these corporate interests and the lack of equality between classes as the
underlying truth in the myth of globalization, Atwood exposes the myths created by corporations
that are used to control the worlds populations. Throughout the novel, Atwood creates myths for the
population of Oryx and Crake to consume; there are myths of sex, beauty, and motherhood and
myths about how people should eat, make love, breed, live, and dream. These myths converge to
create a society that is built on an obsession with fictions and with the construction of the fictional to
create a better reality. The purpose of these myths, from the capitalistic standpoint, is to increase
the wealth of corporations. Myths work well in this context because they make sense of the
inchoate flux of life, and provide a sense of purpose and conviction (Cornwall, Harrison, &
Whitehead, 2007, p. 5). Myths do this by providing, through media, images of the ideal life that are
able to be realized through the consumption of products. Sorel explains this concept with the
argument that myths are not descriptions of things, but expressions of a determination to act
In Atwoods novel, the concept that sex is a consumable commodity has been instilled into culture
by corporations through various forms of media. Through this commodification, sexual situations are
altered and become no longer genuine. According to Baudrillard (1998), a prominent French theorist
with expertise in media, once people aspire to create their realities from fictional ideas of what
reality should be, never again will the real have to be produced (p. 167). His theory suggests that
the real is replaced by replications of the real, and all further replications are based not on the real,
but on the most recent replication. In Oryx and Crake, technology and myths of what sex should be
have become so prominent that sex itself is provided technologically.
For Crake, the appropriation of a sexual partner during college is even more of a capitalistic venture
than watching Internet pornography. Student Services provides students at Crakes school with
sexual companionship in the form of prostitutes, adding the cost of such services directly to the
students tuition bills. According to Crake, you could be very specific there, take them a picture or a
video stimulations, stuff like that, and theyd do their best to match you up (Atwood, 2003, p. 310).
The Student Services system allows users to purchase as close to their concept of ideal sex as
possible. According to Deery (1997),
The BlyssPluss pill, a sexual supplement produced by Crakes corporation, as Crake describes it to
Jimmy, is the height of this modification of sex and the human body in order to mirror the more ideal
myth of the perfect human. The pill will take a set of givens, namely the nature of human nature,
and steer these givens in a more beneficial direction than ones hitherto taken (Atwood, 2003, p.
293). This more beneficial direction involves three myths of ideal sexual humans: shelter from all
known sexually transmitted diseases, an unlimited supply of libido and sexual prowess, coupled
with a generalized sense of energy and well-being, and prolong[ed] youth (Atwood, p. 294). All of
this will occur without jealousy and violence, eliminating feelings of low self-worth (Atwood, p.
294), therefore corrupting the natural emotions of human beings. Through the BlyssPluss pill, even
sexual encounters between two willing participants not involved in sex trade are made artificial and
a part of commerce. Because libido is purchased, sex becomes nothing but an artificial corporate
creation.
compounds are pirates of human generative powers. Scientists in both compounds work with
pigoons to create human genetic material in non-human creatures. At OrganInc Farms, the goal of
the corporation is to grow an assortment of foolproof human-tissue organs in a transgenic knockout
pig-host organs that would transplant Page 49 Oshkosh Scholar
smoothly and avoid rejection (Atwood, 2003, p. 23), thereby removing humans from the process of
growing their own organs. At HealthWyzer, scientists are using pigoons to do research on
regenerative skin cells and are attempting to grow a young, plump skin cell that would eat up the

worn cells in the skins of those on whom it was planted (Atwood, p. 55), thereby growing human
tissue on non-human animals. These artificially grown organs and implantable skin cells, through
marketing, are viewed as human replacement parts and not as animal-farmed human genetic
material. Through glossy and discreetly worded (Atwood, p. 23) brochures and catchy slogans such
as NooSkins for Olds (Atwood, p. 55), the global market is convinced to purchase simulations of
human body parts.
The generation of new concepts of humans and animals by global corporations changes what
is perceived as real. These new ways of considering reality lead to a broad and extensive change in
the culture, in the way identities are structured (Poster, 2001, p. 611). People no longer base their
self-images on the self they were born with because that self is easily manipulated. They need no
longer to consider animals as food or their food as animals because the concept of food as coming
from nature is no longer appropriate. The new reality of Oryx and Crake is one of the promise of
eternal youth. The global economy, through its product marketing, has created the ideal human for
people to attempt to become. The capitalist compound counts on this myth to create demand for its
product, operating on the belief that no
well-to-do and once-young, once-beautiful woman or man, cranked up on hormonal
supplements and shot full of vitamins but hampered by the unforgiving mirror,
wouldnt sell their house, their gated retirement villa, their kids, and their soul to get a
second kick at the sexual can. (Atwood, 2003, p. 55)
This ideal human is perfectly young and healthy and has the money to remain in this state for
generations, if not forever. This is a reflection of the current spread of new bio-technologies of
Life which involve the widespread phenomenon of the traffic in organs and body-parts; and the
growing industry of genetic engineering and farming of living tissues and cells (Braidotti, 2007, pp.
7071). Oryx and Crake hypothesizes a future to our worlds current ventures into the manipulation
of nature.
Western scientists, too, have traditionally been depicted as subduing natureThey share some of
the same attitudes as colonists: Page 50 Oshkosh Scholar
conquer, map, know, sell (Deery, 1997, p. 482). Jimmys father, in this way, is similar to a
cartographer who maps territories and then becomes conquerer of the lands he maps. His job is that
of a geneographer[:] Hed done some of the key studies on mapping the proteonomeand then
hed helped engineer the Methuselah Mouse (Atwood, p. 22). Jimmys father, like transnational
corporations, moves from creation of the map to manipulation of the territory to benefiting from the
sale of the results of this manipulation.
While the upper-class scientists benefit from the manipulation of the population to buy into the
concept of humanity that powerful corporations offer them, the true benefactors are the
corporations themselves. The transnational corporations of Oryx and Crake and of our own world
take part in global commercenot for the altruistic reason of merging the gap between cultures and
classes, but to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Through capitalist globalization, the
wealthy have access to foods, technologies, medicines, and ideas to which those in poverty will
never have access. When Jimmy goes to visit Crakes college, there is a considerable difference
between the images of Crakes more affluent school and Jimmys less affluent school. While Jimmy
shared a dorm suite [with] one cramped room either side, silverfish-ridden bathroom in the middle
(Atwood, 2003, p. 188), Crake got real shrimps instead of the CrustaeSoy they got at Marth
Graham, and real chicken (Atwood, p. 208). While Jimmy is with Crake at his school, he savors the
real food and the clean environment that he cannot achieve himself. Even worse is the difference
between these schools and the pleeblands; the pleeblands are a giant Petri dish: a lot of guck and
contagious plasm got spread around there...the air was worse in the pleeblands...more junk blowing
in the wind (Atwood, p. 287). Despite the obvious standard of living gap, the people of the
pleeblands also savor what pieces of the capitalist myth of perfection they are allowed. Jimmy and
Crake encounter advertising in the poorer areas of the pleeblands for products that compounds like
theirs have produced.

For a price, corporations will fulfill the desires that they instill in society, creating a cycle of
fulfillment and desire through commerce that results in greater and greater riches for corporations
and greater and greater desires to be fulfilled by scientists and embodied by the masses. This
unending cycle of human alteration and corporate riches that is found in Oryx and Crake is Atwoods
interpretation of the effects of globalization through capitalism and her prediction of what might
occur if global capitalism is left unchecked.

Crake has removed what we people see as human traits like race or hierarchy which do not exist
in their world, nor does family-trees, marriages nor divorces (Atwood, 359). Snowman on the
other hand sees the traits of hierarchy in the Crakers when Crake is gone which I see as a
11
development in the Crakers humanity. Hes getting to be a bit of a leader, that one. Watch out
for the leaders, Crake used to say. First the leaders and the led, then the tyrants and the slaves,
then the massacres. Thats how its always gone (Atwood, 184). The quote shows how Crake
sees humanity. Humanity is what leads to murder and death according to Crake: if someone leads
it will eventually end badly for the rest of the people. What is said in the quote above might have
some truth in it though since this is the way humanity has expanded, with the help of leaders and
conquerors and how humans can do a lot of damage to each other.
Another human trait I would like to discuss briefly while on the topic of Abraham Lincoln is the
custom of us humans having names. When the Crakers lived in Paradice they were not called
anything but the Crakers as a group. As Snowman proceeds to take care of the Crakers he starts
giving them names. These names are known to us readers as names of famous and important
people, such as Lincoln and Madame Curie, and I see this as a way for the Crakers to gain their own
identity even more.
the Crakers do not have houses, tools, weapons nor clothing which are all traits of humanity
(Atwood, 359). Crake explains that traits such as clothes would confuse the Crakers and therefore he
tries to devoid them from clothed human beings. What Crake wants to do is to construct the perfect
human being which can reproduce just as a human being without having neither human traits nor
tools which are used in a daily basis for humans. The Crakers, as opposed to humans, do not cook
their food, nor do they hunt or eat meat like most humans do. Instead of cooking their meals the
Crakers eat berries, roots and they are caecotrophs (187)
The resemblance between Paradice and Eden is quite obvious. The Crakers, just as Adam and Eve,
got expelled from Eden, and Paradice, since they acquired knowledge. The Crakers first step to
knowledge was to ask where they came from, which inevitably made them more knowledgeable
about who they were. The part of asking questions leads us to the next topic: language.
In George Yules The Study of Language Yule discusses the difference between animal language
and human language. He says that humans can refer to past and future time something which
animals cannot (Yule, 9). Since the Crakers have dialogues in the novel that show past and future
and also things that are happening around them I see this as a human trait. Yule also discusses how
we acquire language through communicating with other speakers and not from genes which can also
be seen with the Crakers and their language development (11).
15
This is something Donna Jo Napoli agrees with in her Language Matters: A Guide to Everyday
Questions about Language where she also discusses how language is acquired from the people
around us. Napoli writes about how children mimic their parents to fully acquire a language meaning
that they use the vocabulary of their parents and make it their own (Napoli, 5). She also says that
this is not enough for a language to be fully developed which takes us back to the biological aspect
of the human brain that can be seen as another small failure to the floor-model people built by
Crake. Napoli writes that there is some sort of language mechanism in a humans brain which is
located throughout a persons brain to comprehensive language ability (5-6). Napoli concludes by
saying that we are hard-wired to process and produce natural human language. We acquire our
specific native language in a natural way, by sifting through what we are exposed to or what we
create with the UG [Universal Grammar] principles that we are born with (15). This leads me to
analyze the language the Crakers have and have acquired throughout their lives with Crake, Oryx

and Snowman. The Crakers language might be, according to Crake programmed to fit a certain
pattern, as you will later read below, but with regards to Napolis
quote.
In my opinion Crake's language programming, as he wanted it, is flawed. Crake thought
he could program the Crakers to speak as he wanted to but his programming failed him. If Napolis
theories are correct then Crake cannot control the Crakers language by merely programming them
to speak in a certain way since language acquisition also is based around cultural happenings and
society. In the beginning of the novel the Crakers live in Paradice. They only knew certain subjects
which were taught to them, but in the end they were able to have discussions about animals they
saw out in nature and also discuss the making of the world,
The notion of religion is something that the Crakers do not know of before they meet Snowman.
They did ask Oryx who made them, but not in a religious sense. I assume that theCrakers wanted to
know who actually made them, not who their God was. Snowman has made himself look like a
prophet in the eyes of the Crakers and he holds all the answers to their questions, whether they are
correct or not. Snowman has made up religion to the Crakers in which they firmly believe. He has
told them that their gods are Oryx and Crake, that Crake made the Crakers and Oryx the rest of the
world. What I want to discuss with this is how the Crakers, finally, have an answer to where they
came from, and although it is not a completely truthful answer, the Crakers do believe him. Like
most religions this one has its prophet which is Snowman. He talks to the Gods and tells the Crakers
stories of how they were born, made, and how the universe got made too. This gives the Crakers the
human sense they have been looking for according to Marks. This sense of having a superior being is
also linked to the hierarchy that Crake did not want the Crakers to have since a God is a higher being
and some sort of leader.
Theyre up to something though,something Crake didnt anticipate: theyre conversing with the
invisible, theyve developed reverence. Good for them, thinks Snowman. (186). This quote shows
how Snowman, yet again, accepts how the Crakers try to develop to something else but prototype
humans. Even with all the tests the Crakers have gone through and all the programming Crake has
done to make them less
human the Crakers, just as humans, have found something to believe in and something they want
to have more knowledge about.
Starting with how to keep the knowledge true, the following quotation shows what can happen if the
person with the power may lose it. At first hed improvised, but now theyre demanding dogma
he might not lose his life but hed lose his audience. Theyd turn their backs on him. and he
couldnt stand to be nothing, to know himself to be nothing. He needs to be listened to, he needs to
be heard (Atwood, 120).
When it comes to power and knowledge someone who wants to control, or have the power over
another being must keep true to his own words, in this case Snowman has to repeat the same
stories to the Crakers repeatedly without flaws. If he does not succeed with this it would mean that
he would be incorrect and instead of following his words as their teacher and prophet they would
simply ignore him, something a person in power does not want. If this would happen, all knowledge
that Snowman has ever shared with the Crakers would be invalid and the Crakers would feel
betrayed which would mean that they would stop listening to Snowman, believing that everything he
said was false.
Moreover, Snowman holds power over the Crakers by choosing what to explain and what not to
explain to the Crakers. This gives Snowman the power to selectively give the Crakers the information
they want and if he wants he can also manipulate this information to something which is false for
him but will become the truth to the Crakers. An example of this is when the Crakers want to know
what toast is. Toast in this sense does not refer to the sandwich but when someone is in trouble, he
or she is toast. Instead of answering the complete truth, which will be followed by many follow-up
questions Snowman finds it easier to describe toast as something very, very bad. Its so bad I
cant even describe it (Atwood, 112).
Snowman says that the Crakers are fond of repetition, they learn things by
heart which in the end means that they remember what they learn (Atwood, 118). I want to bring
up a certain part of the novel where Snowman has to, yet again, tell the Crakers the story about
the deeds of Crake which means how Crake made the world (117).

10

Margaret Atwoods novel Oryx and Crake oscillates between the post-apocalyptic world of Snowman
and the Crakers and the disparate communities of the Compounds and the Pleeblands. Atwoods preapocalyptic setting is an extreme marriage of science and capitalism. This dystopian narrative
addresses the consequences that occur when a communitys fixations on science and control over
nature displace an engagement in a cultural memory, canon and history

The protagonists best friend, Crake, is detached, science-driven and devoid of emotion, which
suggests that he is not only a product of Compound life, but also an embodiment of Atwoods
dystopian society. Science and consumerism epitomize this economically disparate world. Products
and animals created in the Compounds are sold in the Pleeblands. Humans execute ultimate control
over nature. Creations such as pigoons are bioengineered pigs that are used to grow and harvest
human organs, and ChickieNobs are genetically modified headless chicken breasts. These items
become part of a fast food chain, exposing this communitys overpowering need for utility. Each
Compound adopts scientific approaches, whether it be OrganInc Farms, Helthwyzer, or
RejuvenEssence. The Pleedblands, in contrast, only perform the buying and selling. . .there [is] no
life of the mind (Atwood 239). When Jimmy meets Crake for the first time in the Helthwyzer
Compound school, Crakes clothes are dark in tone, devoid of logos. . . a no-name look and he
volunteer[s] no information about himself. . .[except] that the Chemlab was a dump (Atwood 8687). The passage visually illustrates Crake as culturally and socially detached
Furthermore, Jimmy and Crakes childhood fixation on video games and internet media reveals how
this ages media is debased, whether it be the 24-hour surveillance of Anna K, the assisted suicide
site, or the child pornography site HottTotts. When the pair watch the site that airs assisted-suicides
for big bucks, Crake grin[s] a lot while watching, making Jimmy feel like a coward for having
empathy (100). Thus, Crake emblematizes the desensitized viewers of sordid media

The last words of Jimmys mother were: Goodbye. Remember Killer. I love you. Dont let me down
(313), which reveal that Jimmys mother expects him to resist the corrupt system and advocate for a
life that is more than just the capitalist-driven science that provokes ethically objectionable
experimentation. The ability to remember Killer, Jimmys childhood pet, reveals Jimmys still-potent
capacity for empathy, a potential that Crake capitalizes on, for Crakes scientists and even Oryx
wouldnt have the empathy to deal with the Paradice Models (385).
A female Craker implies a kind of prayer in her assertion that tonight we will apologize to Oryx
[for hurting an animal]. . .[but] Crake thought he had done away with all that, eliminated what he
called the G-spot in the brain. God is a cluster of neurons (Atwood 192). Andrew Hoogheems article
entitled Secular Apocalypses: Darwinian Criticism and Atwoodian Floods discusses the issue of
religion in the novel. He argues that humans have a proclivity for storytelling, and for art in
general. . .[It] is an adaptation, an evolutionary extension of animals play that enables us. . .to make
sense of the world around us (55). Hoogheem furthers his claim that religion is the outgrowth of art
and storytelling (58), an idea which aligns with Snowmans mythical way of narrating the world and its
objects to the Crakers, and how they acquire a natural tendency to idolize Crake, and even, by the
end, perform rituals around an icon of Snowman. Snowman observes that the Crakers eagerly partake
in storytelling rituals, such as repeating In the beginning (Atwood 124); they are fond of repetition,
they learn things by heart. Thus, they ask Snowman to retell the story of Crake, which resembles the
beginnings of an oral tradition and history. Although Jimmy believes Crake would have been disgusted
by the spectacle of his own deification (125), it appears that story and myth, facilitated by Snowman,
naturally evolve into a kind of religion. Thus, Crake never intended Crakers to be completely void of
the God-spot in the brain; he modeled them to evolve naturally aligned with Jimmys vision of the
world.
Indeed, the model of society described is predominantly based on manipulation, which we
could interpret in various ways in the novel: the manipulation in the genetic field, the
manipulation of words and the manipulation of minds. Then it really follows the pattern of

11

the canons of the dystopian writings we previously mentioned: the main character, a antihero
figure who until then had adapted to the environment in which he lived, begins to
question his society, yet supposed to be based on a utopian model, because he does not
manage to fit its ideals and begins to see its flaws and failures. This society is grounded on
the desire of a world structured on improvement and uniformity, through manipulation as
we just mentioned. This motif therefore allows Margaret Atwood to question our
nowadays society through her fiction, being as she claims a speculative fiction, therefore
likely to happen in a close future.
Oryx and Crake is not only another example of dystopia:
from a society based on manipulation, on the desire to improve human life and humanity,
she constructs a terrible reality which does not seem so far from ours, and through
speculative fiction, she brings us to wonder about our own society and its vices, about
our own vices, our own humanity and our responsibility as human beings. From the
description of a hierarchical, purified society in which consumerism helps the
standardization of people, the manipulation seems to surround Jimmy and be a central
feature, concerning relationships between people, language and the genetic innovations;
starting with a bleak assessment of Jimmys society,
Oryx and Crake follows the tradition of 20th century dystopias such as Orwells,
Zamyatins Huxleys or Bradburys, insofar as it features a society pursuing an ideal of
perfection, through every sort of cleansing: the differentiation of people, categorization,
and the broad acceptation of the loss of private life, and of increasing surveillance, in the
name of improvement for the greater good.
This categorization is mainly linked to peoples skills, and their progression at work. In the
novel, we stay mainly focused on one side of this society: the biologic domain, the
research related to it and the employment of people in that field. People working on genetic
modification and scientific improvements, people with mathematic, scientific skills seem
to be considered as the top of the social ladder, according to the importance given to
scientific developments. The distinction is pushed as far as a clear rejection of the people
who do not fit the standards of the society: Jimmy, as a middle-range student who is no
genius in bio- or math-fields, and studies words and language at Martha Graham
University, is considered as a failure: the system has filed him among the rejects, and
what he was studying was considered at the decision making levels of real power an
archaic waste of time.
Jimmys father, working in the genetic field, more
specifically with pigoons, in order to make them produce five to six kidneys for human
transplantation, seems to be much valued as he gets headhunted by a branch of the
company he works for, NooSkins, therefore obtaining a promotion. The advantages and
consequences linked with this promotion give us an idea of the way the system works: the
more people are valued as to their skills in the genetic field, the more gifted, materially
speaking, they become. Indeed, with the promotion, the family has to move into a
Compound, the OrganInc Compound (from the name of the corporation employing
Jimmys father), with a better house as a result, but also another school for Jimmy, with a
better level.
The organization of people into a hierarchy is emphasized by this separation in terms of
space, which is itself heightened by high walls around the houses in the pleeblands
The pleeblands are considered as lawless, as designed for people who do not deserve
much more than a growling city considered as den for every possible vice and where
people from the Modules or Compounds may sometimes come in order to enjoy
themselves. They are directly referring to the poorest people in society (from the plebeians
in Ancient Rome, being the people living out of the city, the poor citizens, as opposed to
the patricians); above them are the Modules, where the middle class people, such as
Jimmys family, live (before moving because of Jimmys fathers promotion). finally, there
are the Compounds, which are highly secured (security measures are heightened to such
an extent that people cannot even move freely in or out of them, with CorpSeCorps men
keeping a constant surveillance but also many material advantages..

12

First of all, the researches are mainly based on the wish to improve human health. The pigoons are
raised with rapid maturity genes in order to grow five to six kidneys for human transplantation, as
previously explained. NooSkins Corporation, where Jimmys father works, also works on a neuroregeneration project: with genuine human neocortex tissue growing in a pigoon (63). These
developments are claimed to help treating people suffering from diseases. Genetically modified body
parts are supposed to put an end to misery: any accident, any injury become reparable. The
company, on the other hand, rears smaller pigoons for more aesthetic purposes, as also
mentioned: their cells would be compatible with human cells, therefore might enter the composition
of products to make the skin look younger. This kind of innovation is also potentially very attractive
for people, ready for any device to get a second kick at the sexual can according to Jimmys father
(62), and which is easily assumable, from the way society is extremely focused on healthy and
young appearance. The innovations therefore
clearly seem to fit the desire to reach a perfect society, with perfect people, and also perfect
species.
Genetic modifications, once they begin, lead to further genetic modifications: another important field
in which they are used is food. Indeed, genetically modified products may give much more food than
the original raw materials: the Happicuppa beans, developed by a HelthWyzer subsidiary, would
ripen simultaneously, and coffee could be grown on huge plantations and harvested with machines
(210).
Finally, genetic manipulation goes as far as to breed animal species, creating new ones in
order to keep the best characteristics of each species while avoiding their flaws. There are the
rakunks, from the breeding of raccoon and skunk (no smell to it, not like a skunk and supposed
to be calmer than raccoons, 58); but also the bobkittens (bred from bobcat and kitten, smaller
than bobcats, less aggressive (192), or the wolvogs, carrying characteristics of both wolf and dog.
These animals were designed to fit better human beings, to be more human-friendly, with,
therefore, an adaptation aim, to facilitate human life. This adaptation was also linked with the desire
for security from the corporations, fearing the spread of bioforms in the compounds: the rakunks
were specifically designed to be sure of not conveying exterior microbes or viruses in the research
area, in order to take no risk of destroying them. We can therefore say that genetic manipulation is
the main tool used by this society to reach the ideal it aims at achieving. Every aspect of society is
linked, at a different degree, to those innovations: improvement of human living conditions and wellbeing, yet meaning also severe drawbacks that put
the genetic issue into perspective. The cult of perfection might mean important sacrifices.
Genetic manipulation, considered as a game, becomes an entertaining tool, making men feel like
God. There the ethical question is raised of how far people can go in the name of improvement for
the greater good, in the interest of the progress for the better, and what right we have to change
nature as humans. The novel is about hubris and humans playing god6 There seems to be no limit
in this society for the sake of innovation: no law is regulating the inventions or scientific research.
The blunders we previously mentioned might ask the question of where are the boundaries for
genetic modifications, and if anydevice is acceptable: in the novel, everything is apparently
acceptable.
Another staple of dystopia is the impossibility of having relationships based on genuine trust.
Indeed, manipulation is used to such an extent that people do not dare to put theirentire trust into
someone, taking therefore the risk to be betrayed.
As previously mentioned, there are no trust relationships developing in the novel. At every level,
there is always some distrust, and this statement is especially obvious as for thefamily sphere.
Taking only Jimmys family circle, we clearly see that confidence in eachother is not clearly
established. Jimmys mother has been hiding her possible illegal activities from her husband, both of
them spied by Jimmy thanks to his mini-mikes.
Concealment and distrust are both very much part of the manipulative issues developed. Trust
issues were also what destroyed Crakes family, his mother having possibly betrayed his father
because she was afraid of the consequences of her husbands compromising discoveries about
HelthWyzer activities.

13

Besides, trust issues can be found in the relationship with Oryx: Crake, Jimmy and herself seem to be
stuck in a kind of love triangle that we see from Jimmys point of view. In this relationship, it is not
possible to know exactly what the nature of Oryxs feelings is, neither are we sure of the exact
nature of the relationship between her and Crake. This situation, making Jimmy uncomfortable, is
partly explained by the lack of communication between the three characters, never speaking overtly
to each other, therefore apparently never putting full trust upon one another. Yet this lack of
complete comprehension of these relationships may also be explained by the fact that Oryx exists
in a relative emotional
disconnect, according to Sandy Englishs writings.7The society in which they live does not allow the
characters to let themselves go to any confidence, and the loss of trust between people, meaning a
loss of communication, might be both a factor for the establishment of hierarchy and a consequence
of the power relations at stake and the manipulation of masses they imply.
Jimmy himself is to a certain extent a manipulative character: he knows how to use others to obtain
what he wants. This is particularly true as to his relationships with women: he knows how to make
them feel
useful; he chooses sad women, delicate and breakable, women whod been messed up and who
needed him.; comforting them, he expects that a grateful woman would go the extra mile. (115).
He also manipulates his mother in the sense that he wants to get a reaction from her, by any means,
from making her laugh to making her cry. He wants her to feel something and manipulates her
feelings until he gets what he wants. This is not the first time Atwood depicts a male character
exercising power over women: Men aredangerous, she perceives, not because they are intrinsically
more evil than women, but because they are in control, because they have the power. (Rigney Hill
15) These power relations are extremely connected with man / woman relationships largely
developed in various works by Atwood.
This vision of manipulation as using the credulity and lack of questioning of people to get authority
and influence might be put in parallel with the way Jimmy cares about the Crakers, the human-like
creatures that Crake created in order to replace human beings.Jimmy, being left alone with them by
Crakes will, and having renamed himself as Snowman, has to explain to them many abstract ideas
and human features they do not know. Being created as extremely nave creatures, they allow Jimmy
to invent a wholemythology around Crake and Oryx, deifying them (against Crakes will to erase any
religious impulse, as we will subsequently see). He invents legends, myths around everything the
Crakers do not understand, such as his watch, represented as a watch to listen to what Crakes says,
to communicate with him; more often than not, they ask for explanation about their creation, to
which Snowman answers with forged myths about chaos, the Crakers being the children of Crake
and the animal kingdom being the children of Oryx. The legends he creates for them are first the
pure product of his imagination, as if he could write a whole mythology on blank paper. Then he very
quickly realizes that their naivety and absolute faith in him allow him to make them believe
anything: Now even when hes caught in a minor contradiction he can make it stick, because these
people trust him.
Plus, one can use the power and influence he has to manipulate the others for his own sake: Jimmy,
as he can have any control he wants over the Crakers, can ask them for whatev er he wants. Indeed,
he asks them to catch him a fish once a week, in spite of Crakes will to avoid any human
predation, claiming that Crake decided it should be this way. For personal purposes, Snowman goes
against Crakes will and the characteristics he expected the Crakers to have; in a way, he damages
their purity.
In some aspects, language in Oryx and Crake is a tool for individuality, to escape from the
standardization of society, at least if we focus on Jimmy. He is a word-lover, quoting
famous sentences, using old words (the odd words, the old words, the rare ones 78). In a
world where only mathematic skills are praised, his ability with words makes him a sort of
rebel against the order of things. He differentiates and so does everyone in this society
30
numbers people from word people, qualifying himself as a word person. Barbar Hill Rigney states
that language, in itself, is the ultimate affirmation and the greatest revolution, in Atwoods writings
(Rigney Hill 121). Language represents a way out of thesociety structured around genetics and skills
only related with practical, usable knowledge. Language, words, and even arts in general

14

Not only is language a way of protesting, a way of escaping, it is also simply a way of existing.
Through Jimmys story, one fundamental aspect of language emerges: it is the central feature of
human beings. The possibility of the concepts related, of the imagination he develops faced to
loneliness, of the memories that help him surviving instead of giving up, show the importance of
language as intrinsically human; Karen F. Stein quotes Atwood: the love of language, which has
been with us for at least 35.000 years [] helped to make us human in the first place (Stein 153).

The manipulation of language leads furthermore to the manipulation of thoughts. Having started the
process of simplifying every concept, it becomes even easier to simplify peoples range of thoughts, and
therefore to make them believe everything you wish. This is the process at stake in Jimmys society, but
this is also, at another level, the process we can witness with the Crakers. Because of their restricted set
of thoughts, conceptualization is very difficult for them: they can only understand what they clearly see,
and even pictorial representation is a problem for them.
The Crakers may be perfect in the fact that they live in a total harmony, without any violence, any
vice, any flaw. They do not experience bad feelings, but there is a reason for that: they do not
experience any feeling at all. The drawback for this apparent genetic innovation, this leap from
humans full of failures and contradictions to these Paradice models, is their total absence of
emotions. From a utopian desire we find a totally dystopian outcome. By creating a species better
than humans Crake has finally destroyed humanity, from a species point of view but also from a
conceptual point of view: along
with the human species went language precisely dear to Jimmy, and at the heart of humanity
arts, and other mental representations, and those were totally erased with the
destruction of men.

15