Oryx and Cake by Margaret Atwood - Essay Example

Oryx and Crake: Society ’Oryx and Cake’, a novel by Margaret Atwood is the reflection upon the society that we live in and discusses in a elaborate fashion her perceptions and beliefs on what would happen if mankind does not mend its senseless ways. Clearly, this novel reflects that she is on a crusade to help preserve our society. The initial part of the story gives a sense that something is not appropriate with the world of today. Dawn casts a strong glow while waves crash past a pile of industrial garbage. ‘Oryx and Crake’ is in fact the story of how the world has reached such a desperate situation and is clearly projected given the storytelling genius in Atwood. Atwood depicts several moods and situations through few sentences and has the advantage of presenting a detailed description of a future that is unfamiliar in the minds of most readers. However, her skills in including specific details help sketch a precise vision of every such instance. The central theme of the story focuses on the process of creating newer forms of life by way of genetic engineering, which has been a phenomenon for the past several decades. This has led to the introduction of numerous weird creatures such as wolvogs and rakunks (a combination of the genes from different animals) in addition to creating life forms which are abnormally larger or smaller than their natural dimensions. The story, narrated through a series of small episodes, provides for the considerate discussion of a specific theme along each episode, thereby allowing Atwood to express her strong feelings in diverse areas. Despite the seriousness of the topic being dealt by her story, she includes a great deal of humor into her story in places like the depiction of the Martha Graham College and Jimmy, its student in English, who is the principal character in the story. ‘Oryx and Cake’ describes a period not far from our own where several aspects of life are quite similar, thereby allowing the reader a sense of familiarity along a sensible progression of time. The society as depicted in ‘Oryx and Cake’ comprises the privileged classes who thrive in closely guarded settlements and those who live around these areas in lesser favorable circumstances. The rich sell their wares to these less fortunate people, referred to in the story as ‘pleebs’, whereby the latter is clearly at the losing side of the bargain. The rich controlled the society through genetic fiddling and maintained a strict oversight over resources such as food and livestock. In fact, the ‘pleebs’ are even shown to be subjected to deliberate introduction of engineered diseases, forcing them to rely on medicines that have been manufactured to secure a profit from their sale. Further, producing newer varieties of plants, animals and medicines is shown as a highly competitive exercise, which has led to the evolution of a work culture where the executive is in huge demand and defection amongst corporate entities is considered a serious offence. This is the culture into which the protagonist, Jimmy, is born into and is part of a privileges family that is dependent on the income of a low-level professional in a genetic firm. The low income leaves the mother disappointed and leads Jimmy to realize as he grows that his coming into the world had brought her disappointment. One day, while Jimmy was away at school, the mother commits an offence by deserting beyond the barriers of her compound, which puts the family into trouble. Both Jim and his father are interrogated repeatedly by the security and leads them to conclude that the mother had aligned with the ‘pleebs’, given her sightings in revolutionary meetings within some pleeblands. This in fact places the mother right alongside Margaret Atwood herself. The story also describes the growth of Jimmy from childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood, wherein he becomes friends with Glenn. Despite being of the same age, Glenn is comparatively mature and reserved than Jimmy and excels in anything he participates. In fact, Jimmy’s mother seems to admire Glenn for being his honest self. However, as the story progresses, more facts churn out the monster that resides within Glenn and he is referred thereafter as Crake to reflect such qualities. Crake had this quality of flattering people through his regard. He seemed attentive and remained reserved so much that people were eventually wary of his presence. Both were watching pornography on the Internet on a certain day, when they are introduced to a child prostitute named Oryx. The story goes to lengths at detailing the arduous journey of Oryx from a poor and impoverished origin to North America, where she served as an assistant to Crake. Her story creates a rage within Jimmy when he realizes the numerous hardships that many young girls go through especially in poor countries, where selfish individuals profit from the sale of innocent young girls. Meanwhile, Crake rises through the organizational ranks to reach the pinnacle and his vision is to create a new set of humans, whom he labels as ‘Crakers’. In fact, this set of human beings were being cultured in the laboratory and are secured against contamination from the external environment. Given the episodic approach of Atwood, these Crakers have in fact been introduced over several times and appear as normal people who are resistant to radiation and diseases, safe from predators and are under the control of Oryx given their childish psychology. Crake even manages to rope in Jimmy into this project and makes him a senior partner in the venture. Thus evolves a strange triad where Oryx feels deeply committed to Crake while the former is willing to use her for achieving his motives. Jimmy on the other hand is enchanted by Oryx and both are in love. The story reaches up a point of high tension in this scenario and ends at a juncture where a few issues remain unresolved, leaving the reader to imagine the possible outcomes and reflect upon every such eventuality. The behavior, approach, attitudes, and beliefs of the characters in the story provide an intrepid and towering overview of the kind of society we live in today. Even a genius such as Margaret Atwood must have put in a tremendous effort to weave such a stupendous tale and could not have been possible without any stimulus and motivation from within. ‘Oryx and Crake’ clearly depicts that the society is progressing steadily towards an abyss and remains unmindful of the dangers ahead. Our current struggle to change this society to improve the prospects for our survival is clearly conveyed in the story through the distinct brilliance of Atwood.    Read More