Preview

Oryx And Crake Margaret Atwood Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1625 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oryx And Crake Margaret Atwood Analysis
Atwood’s Criticism of Commodification Revealed Through Language
The 21st century includes several countries consisting of capitalist societies. These societies function through the exchange of money for goods and services. Workers produce these commodities for a company, but they do not benefit the worker. Karl Marx, a sociologist, created a theory based on capitalism to explain how commoditizing people and goods effects society. Margaret Atwood uses Marx’s ideas about commodities in her novel Oryx and Crake. She uses specific language and situations to portray a society centered around people as objects. Karl Marx defines a commodity as “an external object, a thing which satisfies through its qualities human needs of one kind or another” (Marx). The value of said commodity, does not come from its use value, but in its exchange value or what it can be traded for. A commodity can also have sign-exchange value, which refers to the elevated social status the commodity gives to its owner (Tyson, 62). Marx states in his book Capital Volume that, "The common substance that manifests itself in the exchange value of commodities, whenever they are exchanged, is their value. That exchange value is the only form in which the value of commodities
…show more content…
The novel depicts a society centered around Marxist capitalist society. The world is essentially owned and operated by several corporations. Workers of the corporations live in compounds where the companies can control every aspect of life. The companies commodified the workers in the book. The simplest form of this occured because the workers perform for the company they work for such as OrganInc. The company profits from the workers’ production, creating an exchange value. As the company grows, its social standing grows. The workers then reach a sign-exchange value. The evidence of the worker being commodifies becomes clear when there is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Karl Marx’ theory of the relations of production can be used as an important platform in locating the origins of class and gender inequity to the early stages of capitalism. In his theory ‘the relations of production’ he explained that private ownership of…

    • 1881 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition to the influence of the children’s perspective on the reader’s interpretation of the adults’ roles in the novel, the reader also makes inferences and conclusions about the adults based on their actions. Consider the various failures of the adult characters in this novel: moral failures, the failure to parent well, and the failure to negotiate life successfully, to name just a few. You may choose to analyze only one character and his or her failures, or write a comparative analysis of several characters, but in any case, build an essay in which you posit reasons for the failures of adults to protect children and to offer hope to the next…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the start of the novel the idea has been presented that how the capitalism is failed and how the…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Society divides people into classifications of high, middle and lower class. Who is society to say that one group of people is more important than another? Society judges people and perhaps because of simple things like their career, they are classified lower than others. Social classification has and will continue to be a compelling issue within society, now and in the coming future. Margret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is a dystopian novel set in a futuristic world where a disease has killed off humans. Atwood has continually distinguished that being number smart over word smart immediately makes you higher class and thus successful. Atwood is able to expose the way that the upper class chooses to ignore the affairs the lower class has to face. As portrayed though Oryx, it is seen that if one is…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oryx & Crake Summary

    • 1718 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another such as from pigs to humans ( Medical grafting). Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants. The term allotransplantation refers to a same-species transplant. Human xenotransplantation offers a potential treatment for end-stage organ failure, a significant health problem in parts of the industrialized world and worldwide shortage of organs for clinical implantation. It also raises many novel medical, legal and ethical issues. A continuing concern is that pigs have different lifespans than humans and their tissues age at a different rate. Disease transmission (xenozoonosis) and permanent alteration to the genetic code of animals are a cause for concern. Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/ manipulation (GM) and gene splicing are terms that are applied to the manipulation of genes. It involves the isolation, manipulation and reintroduction of DNA into cells or model organisms, usually express a protein to reach desired effects. Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of something. Genetic recombination is the process by which a strand of DNA is broken and then joined to the end of a different DNA molecule. A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using the genetic engineering techniques generally known as recombinant DNA technology.…

    • 1718 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oryx And Crake Summary

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In “Reasonably Insane: affect and Crake in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake”, Ariel Kroon claims that Crake is a product of a desensitized society that profits from suffering and normalizes it and that he destroys the system by behaving exactly as he is expected to. In Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood introduces as character that drifts away from the concept of the mad scientist. The author argues that, instead of a person who fails to stick to the societal values, Crake is presented as an extremely intelligent individual who contributes to the development of his society. Using the concept of “happiness dystopia” (a society where its citizens are expected to be happy about the status quo) coined by Sara Ahmed, the author claims that Margaret…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Oryx And Crake Essay

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is an extremely creative book that challenged my imagination as a reader. The basis of her book, being the vague life of the character snowman, as she unfolds the meticulous sequence of snowman’s evolution. Atwood uses a story to tell a story. The text sways back and forth from the present to the past, only revealing what is necessary. It is not until the end of the book, that I as a reader was able to connect all of the dots. Throughout the book there were many elements and devices that contribute to the success of the narrative. One subsection in particular that Atwood reveals the depth of characterization, symbolism, foreshadowing and so forth is Blyss Pluss.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Created by Crake as a part of the Paradice project, they are humanoid creatures that possess what Crake considered the best bits of genetic material from across species. Crake envisioned them to be ideal, immortal predecessors to humans after the dispersal of his killer BlyssPluss Pill. The Crakers, with their restricted reproductive capacities, certainly appear to pose an ideal solution to the problems associated with overpopulation and the lack of pair-bonding amongst them. It no longer matters who is the father of the inevitable child since there's no more property to inherit and no father-son loyalty required for war. It means there is no more prostitution, no sexual abuse of children, no racial disharmony, no haggling over the price, no…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unit 7 Sociology

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This focuses on the inequality that occurs in a capitalist society. It suggests ways that this inequality can be overcome through revolution this theory was said by Karl Marx. Karl believed that the proletariat (working class) gets exploited by the bourgeoisie (ruling class). The statics show that 90% of wealth is owned by the bourgeoisie the rest of the society is suffering (being exploited). In order to end this exploitation in society there needs to be a revolution.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “The worker puts his life into the object; but now his life no longer belongs to him but to the object”. This is because the worker’s labour is invested into the object, however as he does not own the fruits of his labour, which the capitalism appropriates from him. “Labour’s product—confronts it as something alien, as a power independent of the producer” (p. 32). The more the labour produces the more he becomes estranged.…

    • 2988 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As Margaret Atwood herself put it best, “not real can tell us about real.” Oryx and Crake is a dystopian novel, which plays on the fear of human extinction by the hands of humans themselves. As implausible as it may seem, certain technologies and social developments presented in the novel are not entirely farfetched. This essay will discuss the real life analogue of Atwood’s “perfect” modified human race, and how technological advances in our current world can possibly lead to our loss of morality when it comes to genetic modification. The Crakers are physically beautiful, strict vegetarians, and live peacefully and harmoniously with nature. At first glance this is definitely implausible, but is it really so improbable when…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    It all started when a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri shot a black suspect by the name of Michael Brown, who was trying to surrender. This caused an uproar as people demand that justice must be served because of the fact that Michael Brown died by a white police officer, having citizens concluding that the white officer fired shots at the suspect is because he was black. However, the reality is that Michael Brown robbed a convenience store, assaulted an officer in uniform, and made a move for the officer’s gun. In reality, a cop is six times more likely to be killed by a black individual than the vice-versa. The reality is that the individuals who are like Michael Brown are the ones who are a big threat to black lives than the police.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout history, the presumption of innocence has been a preventative tactic to prevent the wrongful conviction of innocent people. In this system, the burden of proof is on the way who declares the action, not the one who denies. However, the distinction between guilt and innocence is dependent upon the agency, the capacity to exert power, of the convicted. The move from innocent to corrupt requires that an action be taken with free will. In Henry James’ “Daisy Miller: A Study,” Daisy Miller suffers due to the ambiguity of innocence and guilt applied to her as a person. Through the use of dehumanizing imagery, the narrative structure which objectifies Daisy, and indirect characterization,…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Bartleby, the Scrivener” forces readers to consider the numbing effects of capitalism upon a worker’s mind. Although American capitalism, democracy, and individualism are often seen to be mutually reinforcing the economic, political, and philosophical pillars of American society, Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener” suggests that capitalism can dehumanize workers and that its stability relies upon the illusion that it is an inevitable, inhuman system. “Bartleby, the Scrivener” implies that this system of social and economic relations is ironically threatened by human desire, choice, and preference, the very attributes that seems to shape our individual identities. As such, the primary guardian of capitalist values, in the novella, is the narrator who represses human desire, choice, and preference to ensure the smooth operation of his law office. In Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” he argues that work in a capitalist society dehumanizes its employees because the upper class regards them as working tools instead of as people.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. Snowman living conditions are as follows he sleeps on a metal cot with mattress, he is homeless, and he drinks water with twigs and dirt in it from a runoff.…

    • 278 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays

Related Topics