Oryx And Crake Analysis

Margaret Atwood is an astounding author and activist, who mainly writes dystopian-themed novels. Streaming websites like Netflix and Hulu have helped Atwood gain much more attention by turning some of her books into TV Series. She’s the beholder of one of my favorite quotes, “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” She once stated in an interview, that her dystopian stories are “utopias gone wrong.” In my interpretation, this means her characters misuse the benefits they’re given, which ends up contributing to their demise. In her novel, Oryx and Crake, there are many themes present that represent this theory. Science and technology are a couple of the main motifs in Oryx and Crake, which is
HelthWyzer produced so many vitamins and vaccines, that the majority of basic diseases were eradicated. Although this is a great thing for the public, it’s a bad thing for HelthWyzer because they weren’t making any more money. HelthWyzer started creating their own viri, so they could sell vaccines at top-cost for their own benefit. An additional example of this could be the pill Crake created, BlyssPluss. This pill promised it’s consumers it would protect from diseases, provide unlimited libido and extend youth. Crake confesses to Jimmy that these pills also permanently sterilize anyone who takes it. In the end, the virus that ended humanity as we know it was secretly deposited in the BlyssPluss pills by Crake himself. This was merely the first step in Crakes’ plan to achieve
On the other hand, Jimmy’s dystopia lies within Oryx. Through the entire book, Oryx is the only thing that Jimmy is very passionate about, other than words and Killer. He was infatuated with her from first glance, and it was amplified when he saw her on the news being saved from a mans’ garage. Crake initially found Oryx through a prostitution student services program, because romantic relationships were frowned upon for being distracting. Oryx is then hired by the same company as Crake, RejoovenEsense. She works as a teacher for the Crakers and also, it’s implied that she uses connections through the sex-trade to distribute the BlyssPluss pills. Shortly after Crake hired Jimmy at RejoovenEsense, Oryx seduces Jimmy. He briefly describes their relationship and how much more personal and intimate it is than with Crake. Before the outbreak, Jimmy had asked Oryx to run away with him, but she said that she couldn’t leave the Crakers. Jimmy might not have realized it but, he began his transition into Snowman the moment he was forced to shoot Crake after he had slit Oryxs’ throat. Jimmy’s utopia turned into a dystopia in that exact moment. Which followed him through pure isolation, other than contact with the Crakers. The ghost of Oryx haunts Snowman, along with the presence of genetically modified specimens like pigoons and the