Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was an interesting novel. It is written as a more realistic future than most science fiction novels. In most realistic futures, things are bleak and depressing. I find that the way this book was written very similar to how A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami was written. It was very slow, very mellow, and very depressing. Mainly because the main character, Snowman, was not a very animated character. He was pretty down most of the time and didnt show much emotion towards anything. It may be because there really is nothing else he can do. He is (I think) that last human (that we are familiar with) left on earth. His friend, Crake, was some crazy smart scientist guy who messed with genetics and created an entirely new species of man. He also tried creating this drug that would pretty much make people live longer, have more sex, and not reproduce. Oryx, who was working with Crake, and whom Snowman had a mad crush on, went to different cities and distributed the drug for tests. Apparently, the drug was not quite right and ended up being a highly contagious virus that killed everyone. Everyone, except for Snowman and the new human species, who are called Crakers. Crake gave Snowman a vaccine that has prevented him from getting sick. Snowman and the Crakers were sealed off from everyone in this secret laboratory where Crake did all of his experiments. Crake kind of went crazy and when the virus hit hard and slit Oryx's throat in front of Snowman, so in return, Snowman shot Crake, which left Snowman in charge of taking care of the Crakers. The crakes now think Snowman is some sort of higher being and listen to all of his "wisdom" and all.

The thing I do not get is why Snowman is still alive. His life is so so so crappy. That vaccine Crake gave Snowman was pretty much a curse. He had to live through the human race dying, including his family and he had to watch Oryx be killed before his eyes by his best friend. He is all alone, except for the Crakers, who are not very advanced in society. They were created to live like jungle folk. They eat complete different food Snowman does, their mating rituals are freaky, they only know what Oryx in the beginning and what Snowman have told them. The world has changed so much that Snowman is not adapted to the climate the Earth has become so he can not go in the sun. They have all these freaky mutated animals that were created that are running lose now and are really dangerous. He is starving, he lives in a tree, and he has no real human contact anymore. Why does he still live? He has pretty much given up already so why not just end it? He is obviously not happy. He must be staying alive because of the Crakers. Oryx and Crake put him in charge of the Crakers just in case something went wrong, so maybe he is afraid of disappointing his best friend and his love. I guess this book really shows how far one would go for love, even if that love is lost.

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