Apologia

The value of “Oryx and Crake” lies in its themes and accessibility. Of course, Margaret Atwood is a widely acknowledged Canadian writer understood to be “outspoken in [her] critiques of the restrictive tendencies of public policy” (New “1985-97”); part of the influence of “Oryx and Crake” is merely that it is attached to such a respected name. Given the anticipation and guaranteed audience of such a novel, discussions of the eternal human themes of logic versus emotions, reality and existential purpose are made much more poignant by framing the story in a world based on our own. Atwood portrays possible effects of the human tendency for selfishness and lack of compassion on modern issues, from the environment to politics to religion. Furthermore, many of the “fictional” aspects of the book—speculations about disease and terrorism—were closely paralleled by real-world events during and immediately following the book's development. This combination of timeless and contemporary content, discussed astutely and pointedly, makes “Oryx and Crake” a welcome addition to the canon of Canadian literature.

Most important and prevalent of the themes of “Oryx and Crake” is the contrast between science and art (or the humanities), directly paralleled by the discussions between Crake and Jimmy; Atwood's stance on the subject is clear in Jimmy's reflection: “[he] would like to have said Why are you always putting me down? but he was afraid of the possible answers, because it's so easy being one of them” (Atwood 167). In an interview, Atwood clarified her thinking by saying “Science is a way of knowing, and a tool ... it can be turned to bad uses ... But it is not in itself bad ... it's neutral” (“Interview”) and that “The driving force in the world today is the human heart - that is, human emotions” (“Interview”). It is all too easy to infer from “Oryx and Crake” that the “numbers people” really are the most powerful, but one must not forget that Crake, the “avatar of science”, cannot even speak meaningfully to the superior humans he creates; he “[needs] a go-between” (Atwood 309)—namely Oryx—to communicate for him. At the discussion's heart, Atwood is remarking that rational thinking cannot be allowed to dominate emotions. This is an equally important lesson today, with regards to the Canadian Prime Minister's recent actions against arts and culture, and the general trend in education and business to focus more on science-related occupations.

Crucial to the value of the book is the fact that, as Atwood says in her essay, “it invents nothing we haven't already invented or started to invent” (Atwood “Writing”). Furthermore, in accordance with the book's epigram, it “relate[s] plain matter of fact in the simplest manner and style ... to inform you, and not to amuse you” (Atwood epigram). In the world of “Oryx and Crake”, horrible things happen: prostitution and child pornography are widely available, the environment has almost entirely collapsed, democracy has floundered and been replaced by a corrupt caste system where “Compound people [don't] go to the cities unless they [have] to, and then never alone” (Atwood 27), and the genes of all life are manipulated wildly for the thrill of playing God. All of these facts can be explained by the fact that the rich, dispassionate people of the Compounds and Modules have exploited the poor, unintelligent, animalistic pleeblanders to allow their goals for profit and control to flourish—this eerily resembles the gap between the “first” and “third” world. Part of what makes these events so moving is that, much like the broad audience of the real world, the narrator is consistently indifferent to the moral implications of anything that goes on. This resonates with us and disturbs us.

Perhaps the most influential and distinguishing aspect of the novel is how well it predicted actual events: When the September 11 attacks occurred, Atwood remarked: “It's deeply unsettling when you're writing about a fictional catastrophe and then a real one happens” (Atwood “Writing”). Both 9-11 and the chaos caused by the fictional JUVE virus have been described as “mayhem” (Atwood 340), and “conspiracy theories [have] proliferated” (Atwood 341) about both. More disturbing still, according to Atwood, was "not so much the Twin Towers as the anthrax scare" ("Interview"). JUVE's effects—"high fever, bleeding from the eyes and skin, convulsions, then breakdown of the inner organs, followed by death" (Atwood 325)—are strikingly similar, and quite as horrifying as those of anthrax.

Ultimately, Atwood has created a novel that reflects likely outcomes of decisions that are being made by powerful people in the world of today. Her novel illustrates arguments surrounding eternal human themes in a contemporary way that can be easily related to by a broad audience. Most surprising of all, situations in the real world that took place after the novel was published were shockingly similar to fictional events in the story. These facts combine to make "Oryx and Crake" a worthy Canadian novel, deserving of status as a classic.

Explication

Explication of Georges Polti's Twenty-Second Dramatic Situation in "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood

Civilization as we know it and almost the entire human race are destroyed in “Oryx and Crake”; the events including and directly surrounding Crake's final decision to cause this destruction clearly constitute the climax of the story. I argue that the plot as a whole fits the mould of Polti's twenty-second dramatic situation, “All Sacrificed for Passion”. Polti states that the elements of this dramatic situation are a Lover, a Thing Sacrificed, and the Object of the fatal passion. By my taxonomy, Crake is plainly enough the “Lover”, though his passion may be loveless. Similarly, it has already been established that the “Thing Sacrificed” is humanity and the world of the present (our future). What is much more difficult to penetrate is Crake's reason for doing so—the “Object” of his passion.

Ironically, humanity is sacrificed, in a way, for Crake's lack of passion. He believes that humans are "'hormone robots ... only we're faulty ones'" (Atwood 166); he simply intends to follow the example set by his respected father ,who “believed in contributing to the improvement of the human lot” (Atwood 183), by observing the negative traits of humanity, logically inducing their causes, and addressing those causes by means of transgenic modification: his Paradice Project. Emotions never enter into it.

Ultimately, why Crake chooses to poison the human race with his BlyssPluss pill is never explained. He had his two-pronged strategy of the “Pill and the Project” (Atwood 304), which should have gradually corrected humanity's flaws; why did he need to end it all so soon? It could easily have been a mistake, as Crake never has to face the results of his decision; when Jimmy confronts him about it, Crake "[looks] at Jimmy, a direct look, unsmiling" (Atwood 329), kills Oryx, and Jimmy understands that Crake intends for Jimmy to kill him. While Crake is, on the whole, disappointed with the human race, it certainly seems out of character for him to make such an impulsive, possibly illogical decision. It should be noted, however, that the Paradice Project would have been designed to “incorporate any feature ... that the buyer might wish” (Atwood 304), and Crake believes that the wishes of most humans are terribly mistaken, so perhaps he needed more drastic action to correct the species. According to Atwood, “Crake ... suffered from Asperger's syndrome” (Elliott 824), so perhaps the “madness” of his autism is to blame.

Arguably the most likely explanation of Crake's behaviour is that Oryx has something to do with it. As Snowman says, “there were signs” (Atwood 320). Crake “had never been a toucher ... but now he liked to have a hand on Oryx” (Atwood 313), and Jimmy also observes that “Crake was in love, for the first time ever” (Atwood 309); Crake finally embraces the human emotions he condemned for so long. Both Oryx and Crake make Jimmy “'promise ... to take care of the Crakers'” (Atwood 322), and Crake predicts that “'If [Crake's] not around, Oryx won't be either'” (Atwood 321). The two of them probably didn't plan the destruction of the species, as Oryx claims, “'I did not know'” (Atwood 325), but Crake could have been inspired by his love of Oryx to quickly create the “'better place'” (Atwood 322) that she believes in so strongly.

In the end, Crake's decision is suitably enigmatic. Oryx and Crake become like gods to the Crakers, who think of all life as “the Children of Oryx, [and] the Children of Crake" (Atwood 96); this is paradoxical, because “Crake was against the notion of God, or of gods of any kind, and would surely be disgusted by the spectacle of his own gradual deification” (Atwood 104). In fact, there is further confusion when the Crakers create an image of Snowman to “'call [him]'” (Atwood 361); Crake, when making his designs on humanity, believes that “Symbolic thinking of any kind would signal downfall” (Atwood 361). The implication is that Crake, the consummate “numbers person”, has made a fundamental mistake in exterminating the human notions of art and love and meaning.

It doesn't matter why Crake chooses to eradicate humanity as we know it; whether it happened all at once or over the course of hundreds of years, humans would be eventually replaced by Crakers, who, as it turns out, are still imperfect. Atwood's cautionary theme, that science without passion does not hold the secret to all truths, is eternal, and the vehicle of having the avatar of science sacrifice all for his beliefs (mysterious as they are), only to be proven wrong, is a perfectly effective method of conveying this theme.

Works Cited

"An Interview with Margaret Atwood". Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake. Random House. 20 Apr 2009. <http://www.randomhouse.com/features/atwood/interview.html>. Electronic.

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2003. Print.

Atwood, Margaret. "Writing Oryx and Crake". Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake. Random House. 20 Apr 2009. <http://www.randomhouse.com/features/atwood/essay.html>. Electronic.

Elliott, Robin. "Atwood and Music". University of Toronto Quarterly 75.3 (2006). 821-832. Electronic.

New, W.H. "History". Literature in English. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 20 Apr 2009. <ttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?pgnm=tce&params=a1sec823471>. Electronic.

Personal Reflection

Probably the only “profound” lesson I learned from the novel itself was from Jimmy's philosophy of the “body” as a part of the self equally as significant as the mind and the soul. The passage "When did the body first set out on its own adventures? ... after having ditched its old travelling companions, the mind and the soul, for whom it had once been considered a mere corrupt vessel ... it had dumped culture along with them: music and painting and poetry and plays ... nothing but sublimation according to the body. Why not cut to the chase?" (Atwood 85) inspired me after reading it several times. I now think of the body as emotionally significant, containing the primitive chemical impulses of the reptilian brain that influence us more consistently and powerfully than most ideas or beliefs. Before reading “Oryx and Crake”, I understood my consciousness to revolve around only what I had reasoned to be true and what I had faith was true; I had failed to acknowledge the usefulness of intuition and instinct. Since reading the novel, I have tried to expand my “kinaesthetic” intelligence and be more attentive to my hunches.

Researching for the ISU was challenging because the requirements are so open-ended and I didn't know how much information to be satisfied with. Especially since Margaret Atwood is already a well-established Canadian author, the requirement of the ISU to “learn about the context of Canadian literature” was confusing. Ultimately I decided that since Atwood has already shaped Canada's literature, it would be best to focus on unique aspects of “Oryx and Crake” as they relate to the real world, and Canada specifically. Hopefully my Apologia is on the right track.

Actually writing the ISU, the Explication in particular, was fraught with a lack of confidence. I'm usually very analytical in my approach to “snapping questions” and look for a formulaic, fill-in-the-blanks type response, but for the Explication I was told only to find three elements within the book and fit them into the description of the dramatic situation I selected. It seemed impossible to write 700 words about that, until I relaxed my idea of the ideal response. Having read the book thoroughly multiple times, I knew I understood the themes and purpose, and clearly that was the part I was supposed to communicate through the Explication; suddenly a very challenging and confusing problem became a positive opportunity for creativity, and I just regurgitated my understanding through the model of explaining a dramatic situation. I feel especially successful with my Explication.

I avidly enjoy solving mathematical problems, and over time I've developed the ability to forget unhelpful assumptions caused by reading a problem the wrong way (usually these are caused by emotional connotations surrounding the specific words used to describe the problem). However, in doing so, I've developed the habit of treating all problems this way—this is an assumption in itself; completing the ISU, and, in fact, almost any project in English class, has taught me to forget my new “assumption”. I've learned to loosen my approach and not to expect all of the answers to be carved in stone, but instead to work hard, cite thoroughly and use my ability to draw logical conclusions constructively—then I can be satisfied once I've made all the points I can think of. This is a very useful skill which, I'm sure, will aid me in the future. Overall, I'm glad to have participated in the ISU.

Journal 4

"Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood, Final Reflection

This book has humbled me. Atwood is an undisputed master of irony.

Atwood uses ironic devices to unify the work as a whole. For example, when Snowman is considering the Crakers, he imagines an "earnest aid worker in a khaki jungle outfit, with netting under the arms and a hundred pockets" (p 118), and calls her a "Condescending self-righteous cow". When Jimmy has to confront the Crakers for the first time, he wears "a set of standard-issue Rejoov khaki tropicals, with mesh underarms and a thousand pockets" (p 348). Perhaps this is to illustrate that Jimmy is a hypocrite, or to show that Crake and those at RejoovenEsense think too highly of themselves, or simply as a coincidence which makes Snowman's thoughts more relevant to the real world.

To me, one of the most beautiful ironies is the paragraph "What happened then was a slow-motion sequence. It was porn with the sound muted, it was brainfrizz without the ads. It was melodrama so overdone that he and Crake would have laughed their heads off at it, if they'd been fourteen and watching it on DVD" (p 326). This metaphor perfectly offers the connotations of the situation (since Jimmy and Crake's experiences are discussed in philosophical detail earlier in the novel); the irony lies in the fact that something with familiar qualities is alien and terrifying. Smoking weed and watching porn was once Jimmy's release and it defined him and now the same spiritual significance is directly related to the climactic scene when Oryx and Crake die; this represents understanding Crake's terrible plan for humanity, the death of everyone Jimmy loves and the understanding that he never had any control of the situation: "Did he set up the grand finale as an assisted suicide, had he intended to have Jimmy shoot him because he knew what would happen next and he didn't deign to stick around to watch the results of what he'd done?... Could it be that Uncle Pete, and possible even Crake's own mother, had been trial runs?... Had he been a lunatic or an intellectually honourable man who'd thought things through to their logical conclusion? And was there any difference?" (p 343). The page 326 reference creates unity by linking the initial complication of the plot (meeting Crake and watching porn) to the climax (the same bloody bodily significance, only now it's the end of all happiness).

The climax, specifically when Jimmy kills Crake, was terribly exciting, and I'm sure it fits a Polti situation: Supplication (but is Jimmy begging Crake to be merciful, or Crake begging Jimmy to end it all?), Deliverance (Oryx delivered from Crake? Crake delivered from life?), Rivalry of Kin, Self-sacrifice for an Ideal (though it's tragic), Necessity of sacrificing loved ones, Erroneous Judgement (though Jimmy is happy with the decision), even Conflict with a God (Crake being the God... he does have a religion amongst the Crakers...)? I want to discuss this scene heavily in my project.

Interesting to note that an experience with familiar qualities in an unfamiliar context is so horrifying for Jimmy, but his greatest joy came from Oryx; who had unfamiliar qualities ("What did she have in mind? Snowman wonders, for the millionth time. How much did she guess?", p 323) in a "familiar context" (that is to say, she was an affectionate female lover, and Jimmy admits to being a sex addict who had had many similar previous experiences). I guess this also isn't particularly surprising since we are more likely to be tolerant of change (unfamiliar properties) when we are comfortable (familiar context), and to be fair, when we are uncomfortable we are wont to suspect anything, even that which is familiar.

I'm shocked and disappointed that Jimmy was such a minor character in the end. He was kept in the dark by his love and his best friend and never had any true influence after all. It's astonishing because I became so attached to him; I pitied his awkwardness, admired his persistence, respected that he didn't really understand why he was put through the whole adventure.

I like how the epigraph from Gulliver's Travels connects so intimately to Jimmy. Throughout my reading I've commented on how Snowman/Jimmy is so direct in his discussion he "[chooses] to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest manner and style". He generally just states the facts and avoids the airy hypothesizing of a lot of the other characters, particularly Crake. I just realized that he has one important and deep philosophical reflection, on page 85:

"When did the body first set out on its own adventures? Snowman thinks; after having ditched its old travelling companions, the mind and the soul, for whom it had once been considered a mere corrupt vessel or else a puppet acting out their dramas for them, or else bad company, leading the other two astray. It must have got tired of the soul's constant nagging and whining and the anxiety-driven intellectual web-spinning of the mind, distracting it whenever it was getting its teeth into something juicy or its fingers into something good. It had dumped the other two back there somewhere, leaving them stranded in some damp sanctuary or stuffy lecture hall while it made a beeline for the topless bars, and it had dumped culture along with them: music and painting and poetry and plays. Sublimation, all of it; nothing but sublimation according to the body. Why not cut to the chase?"

This explains a lot, come to think of it. If the body is most important, no wonder Jimmy's always doing drugs and having sex. No wonder he leaves all the thinking to other characters. No wonder he's disillusioned with both art and science. This belief, while it offers him release and freedom (for example, "Crake's sexual needs were... not intriguing, like sex with Jimmy", p 314), seems to be Jimmy's central flaw as well; from a practical perspective, he's either too drugged or unwilling to think/feel on a nonphysical level to get any work done. In another frame, he can't penetrate Crake's "intellectual web-spinning" or Oryx's "[refusal] to feel what he wanted her to feel" (p 191); instead he's confused and upset most of the time. Weird, maybe the three central characters can be described as Crake-Mind, Oryx-Soul and Jimmy-Body. Maybe they all experience their tragedies because they cannot understand/communicate with/respect each other properly (Crake tells Jimmy he needs to grow up, Oryx says Jimmy is silly, Jimmy fears Crake and is mystified by Oryx, and Crake seems to dominate both of the other two). I think this is thematic, but I hope I'm not getting too ahead of myself and overanalyzing.

I associate Oryx and Crake in many ways with Frank Herbert's Dune, possibly my all-time favourite novel. Both are science-fiction concerning human evolution, both discuss the application of logic to emotions and the power and danger inherent in that. Crake's philosophy reminds me of the Missionaria Protectiva of Dune. The critical difference that puts Oryx and Crake apart is the heavy discussion of the body and naturalistic thinking (just about everything Jimmy thinks) and their place/misplace in life. I feel the exposure to these ideas has been beneficial to my own "kinaesthetic" intelligence.

Way to go, Margaret Atwood!

Journal 3

"Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood, pp. 1-300

I'm impressed by Atwood's ability to create so many different specific and evocative emotional impressions. It's almost as though she's part of a bunch of different high-school cliques and she knows the connotations and language of each; she talks about drugs, sex, computers, government, religion... Using the romantic, idealistic, “immature” Jimmy as a narrator is perfect for this. Snowman's reflections are like listening to a friend at a party: he's so earnest about what he wants, what actually happened, what his standing is, and what it all means (generally speaking, he doesn't read much beyond what actually happened into his experiences; he considers nothing “intellectually profound” and it's wonderful since it avoids academic nonsense).
Interestingly enough, after the halfway-point of the book, the two storylines (Jimmy's and Snowman's) change roles; discussion of Jimmy's life has become stagnant for the most part as Jimmy becomes more disillusioned with life and less invested in outcomes, while Snowman has left the beach and is risking his life to make progress in surviving by finding Crake's bubble-dome.

I'm confused about what happened to Jimmy's mother; it seems she could have become a meaningful part of the plot, but instead she just turned out to be dead. Perhaps the events surrounding her were only intended as "red herrings". Overall, her part in the story has been dissatisfying.

Another part of the story I don't fully understand is the italicized parts of Snowman's thoughts that refer to himself as "honey". I now realize that they are related to his dreams about the procession of "young slender girls" (p 261)...

Journal 2

"Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood, pp. 1-201

I've been thinking about Crake's views on humanity. At first, I thought he was wise for considering the long term future of the species; a lot of error and destruction comes from humans ranking themselves above their environment. The problem lies in mechanizing humans ("'we're hormone robots anyway, only we're faulty ones'", p 166). I felt Jimmy was right to suggest the significance of humanity through art ("'All that mismatching you talk about. It's been an inspiration, or that's what they say. Think of all the poetry -- think Petrarch, think John Donne, think the Vita Nuova, think...'", p 166), and that human error (and success) are part of us, not merely glitches. It seems Crake takes the supposition that the world is a machine (a common "science-person" view) too far; he reaches the logical conclusion that our emotions are merely chemical impulses with no inherent meaning, but he ignores the evidence that he's a human himself. It seems like he arbitrarily chose to believe that everything in the world is designed to work with survival or efficiency in mind according to completely determined equations, then assumed that everything he observed reflected that; therefore, when humans use energy on tasks other than feeding and breeding, they are making a mistake. Crake has as much right to appeal to logic as Jimmy does to appeal to emotions in making conclusions, but I think he has to admit that his central assumption (as I've perceived it), that efficiency is most important, is not based in logic; he can't justify that it is true, he just feels that it is. And if he's going to allow a feeling to define his core beliefs, he should allow feelings to affect the results.

It is interesting to note that, while Jimmy holds the more "humanistic" opinion in the discussion, he seems less knowledgeable and comfortable with human behaviour patterns compared to Crake. For example, when Crake tells the story of his father dying, Snowman reflects, "How could I have missed it... What he was telling me. How could I have been so stupid?" (p 184). Jimmy asks, in reference to his relations with "the semi-artistic, wise-wound kind" of women he has relationships with, "why would he be stupid enough to give up his grey rainy-day allure -- the crepuscular essence, the foggy aureole, that had attracted them in the first place?" (p 190). He later reflects on Oryx, "She refused to feel what he wanted her to feel. Was that the hook -- that he could never get from her what the others had given him so freely?" (p 191). Snowman's explanation for this behaviour is that he "just had a short attention span" (p 191). I wonder if Jimmy's investment in emotions is what causes him to be so awkward and confused in social situations (as he anticipates more than he observes), whereas Crake's willingness to dismiss emotions (instead seeing only results of decisions) allows him to be decisive. It would seem reasonable, since "the more you know, the less you know you know", so conversely the more you "know" (that is to say, believe) you know, the "more" you know, or at least your knowledge seems more effective. This is just the sort of dichotomy that would make a great theme for the novel.

I can't say for sure what the theme of the novel is at this point, because Jimmy is so insecure. He's unsure of his own feelings ("Why can't he control himself?", p 162) and he does not believe he deeply understands other people, so he has trouble reading their intentions. Because he's the only narrator, the reader only knows as much as he does.

Lately I've toyed with the idea that Snowman is actually psychotic and Oryx is purely imagined, as he does experience hallucinations ("he can feel Oryx floating towards him through the air", p 113) and I don't understand how they could have met; it hasn't been explained yet, and the only connection seems to be from a pornographic video Jimmy saw when he was fourteen. I hope Oryx's appearance gets explained.

I'm glad that the scenes with Snowman in the "present" have begun to take on a plot. During his trip to RejuvenEssence and Crake's bubble-dome, he is sure to explain more of the cataclysm that affected the world. Perhaps he will meet another human in the bubble-dome? I'm still curious as to how Crake managed to create his own species of humans, but the conversations he has about his Transgenics work are getting more philosophical; perhaps he'll have a breakthrough.

The disconnect between the life that Snowman leads and the life that Jimmy leads means there is still suspense, and, clearly, many questions have yet to be answered. Atwood is doing a good job of illustrating Snowman/Jimmy's experiences, and despite the cold, hopeless tone (this is what I was referring to when I accused Atwood of being a cold hard bitch) he often takes, I feel hopeful and invested in his future.