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Oryx and Crake
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Hmmm...I'm thinking that people are not very interested in this book!
Mod
Mod
-Angela
Does anyone have any thoughts on what role Oryx played in the novel? It seemed like she had very little effect on the overall plot.Also, I found the issue of spirituality to be very interesting. It seems like Crake took great pains to erase "religion" from the DNA of his Crakers, but yet they still fell into a sort of spiritual worship towards the end. Is it being implied that religion is part of our genetic makeup?
Mod
I agree with Trisha that it was interesting that the Crakers did seem to be developing the spiritual/religious aspect regarding Oryx and Crake despite Crake's efforts. I think it is an interesting link the the Nature vs. Nurture question. Were they naturally developing the spiritual aspect or was it more to do with the way Jimmy/Snowman taught them about Oryx and Crake. I think he turned it into a mythology for them because that is what he understands.
As for thoughts on Oryx, I thought that her character was awkward. I felt as though I was being steered in two different directions with her. One direction was the 'nurturing mother' figure that cared about the Crakers and taught them things, and who's dying wish was that they be cared for. On the other hand there was this manipulative girl who knew how to play off of people's emotions as well as how to act. I wasn't sure if I believed anything that she said and I almost feel like she was multiple characters all threaded together. (Most obviously with the girl from the website, the girl from the news, and then what we know is Oryx herself.)
I think the thing that I noticed repeatedly throughout the book was Jimmy/Snowman's concern for how he sees himself. I think that for most of this book he acted like he was better than Crake, somehow more moral, and I wasn't sure if the author wanted us as readers to think that too, or if we were meant to pick up on the hypocrisy of it. I think that, although Crake was an extreme individual in an extreme environment, and I don't agree with what he did, I think that he at least stuck to what he genuinely (or at least from what I could see) thought was right, or best for the Earth and intelligent life on it. Crake was upfront about watching the kiddie porn, and enjoying all of the horrible games and shows and websites that they frequented, but Jimmy tried to act like he was better than it all. There is even a passage where he says:
//"He'd meant well, or at least he hadn't meant ill" He never wanted to hurt anyone, not seriously, not in real space-time. Fantasies didn't count." //
I think that says a lot about his character. Also he created a new name for himself so that he could wipe the slate clean. I didn’t realize how much he had separated himself from his past until he was reading what he had written just after the outbreaks and he says:
//”Whatever Jimmy’s speculations might have been on the subject of Crake’s motives, they had not been recorded.
Snowman crumples…”//
This felt a lot like him separating himself to the point that he thinks of his past self (Jimmy) and him now (Snowman) as two different people.
I think my favorite character was Crake, because he was the most interesting. I think that part of the reason he ended up the way that he did was that he grew up playing God. He graduated from a high school in a development for family members of genetic scientists, went to a college that encouraged creating new species or animals and plants. He spent his whole life playing God while surrounded by a world that was tearing it's self apart, and entertainment that made death into a game.
Anyone have thoughts on Jimmy & Crake?
-Angela
Mod
What does everyone think about the ending? Do you think that Snowman/Jimmy killed them?
-Angela
I won't post any of my questions yet because I don't want to spoil anything.