Oryx and Crake
December 12, 2013
The Importance of Childhood in Oryx And Crake
In Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake we see the cause and effect of how our childhood and how we are raised has a large correlation to what type of adult we become. Through the character of Jimmy and later his new persona Snowman, the reader is shown the detrimental effects of an abandoned childhood. Not only do Jimmy’s poor choices in his adult life have a clear link to his neglected and unguided childhood they also create an adult that is emotionally damaged and unable to see the right path in his life even when he wants to.
Atwood’s similarities between Jimmy and Snowman and their relationship in his childhood through to adulthood clearly exemplify the cause and effect of one another. Early on in Jimmy’s life not only does his mother leave him but once she leaves, his father seems to drift away too. Jimmy’s father does not care about his son’s pain. He cares more about getting his new girlfriend into the family home as quick as possible. His father’s lustful and seemingly meaningless relationship with Ramona is reflected in Jimmy’s future relationships with woman. Later in Jimmy’s life he enjoys sexual relations with married women not because it is exciting but rather because he knows that they will not want anything long term or emotional! He comes to the realization that the relationships with these married women is purely about sex for them to, when his clock wakes him up one morning: “It was pink, phallus-shaped: a Cock Clock, given to him as a joke by one of his lovers. He’d thought it was funny at the time, but this morning he found it insulting. That’s all he was to her, to all of them: a mechanical joke.” (343). Jimmy’s quick one night stands are not only because he did not love these women enough but rather that he does not know how to love. He never knew the nurturing love of his mother or father. As well as a child Jimmy was only exposed to the negative relationships of his father.
The Importance of Childhood in Oryx And Crake
In Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake we see the cause and effect of how our childhood and how we are raised has a large correlation to what type of adult we become. Through the character of Jimmy and later his new persona Snowman, the reader is shown the detrimental effects of an abandoned childhood. Not only do Jimmy’s poor choices in his adult life have a clear link to his neglected and unguided childhood they also create an adult that is emotionally damaged and unable to see the right path in his life even when he wants to.
Atwood’s similarities between Jimmy and Snowman and their relationship in his childhood through to adulthood clearly exemplify the cause and effect of one another. Early on in Jimmy’s life not only does his mother leave him but once she leaves, his father seems to drift away too. Jimmy’s father does not care about his son’s pain. He cares more about getting his new girlfriend into the family home as quick as possible. His father’s lustful and seemingly meaningless relationship with Ramona is reflected in Jimmy’s future relationships with woman. Later in Jimmy’s life he enjoys sexual relations with married women not because it is exciting but rather because he knows that they will not want anything long term or emotional! He comes to the realization that the relationships with these married women is purely about sex for them to, when his clock wakes him up one morning: “It was pink, phallus-shaped: a Cock Clock, given to him as a joke by one of his lovers. He’d thought it was funny at the time, but this morning he found it insulting. That’s all he was to her, to all of them: a mechanical joke.” (343). Jimmy’s quick one night stands are not only because he did not love these women enough but rather that he does not know how to love. He never knew the nurturing love of his mother or father. As well as a child Jimmy was only exposed to the negative relationships of his father.