Cleverly Worded Intro?
I definitely don’t think I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to read Oryx and Crake with Kevin. Being honest though, he probably didn’t know what he was getting into either. Basically imagine reading Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but instead of a societally different America, it is a post apocalyptic genetic and chemical fallout that hops between 3rd person omniscient narration across 3 different time periods. So it definitely has Atwood’s writing style written all over it.
As much as I would like to immediately go into the style and tone of the book thus far, I think it will be more important to know a little bit about the characters themselves. Unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake is not afraid to tell you who the main characters are right off the bat. The 3rd person omniscient narrator doesn’t beat around the bush with telling the audience who is talking, who the characters are, and where they came from. But in the same way the style of Atwood’s writing does manage to still remain ambiguous in some spots about who is who. Anyway the main characters that I have taken note of thus far are:
Snowman/Jimmy
Snowman is our present tense main character. He is a survivor in the chemical fallout and he may also be the last human alive on earth. Much of his time thus far seems to be spent going through his daily tasks for survival. Even though his memory is, to his understanding, actively decaying, he still manages to recite a personal mantra that goes, “It is the strict adherence to daily routine that tends towards the maintenance of good morale and the preservation of sanity”. He also largely spends his time during the day recalling the events of his past, not always happily however. It seems to the audience that whenever he finishes recalling a sequence, that he does not reflect positively upon it.
When Snowman is recollecting his past in before “this situation”, he calls himself by the name “Jimmy.” This suggests that there may be something in the book to come to cause this personal change in his character. It certainly bothers me that it seems I will simply have to keep reading to get there. If there is one thing that bothers me, it is when the author keeps implying that something really important happened in the past, but keeps waiting to actually reveal to the readers what happened. I am getting off topic, but boy it grinds my gears.
Jimmy is basically the kid version of Snowman though who lives in one of the housing compounds where his parents work. His parents both work, or at one time worked, for a genetics company specifically attempting to grow human organs in genetically modified animals. This really creepy concept is quite important to Jimmy as a character because of his being a child at the time. This leaves room for his childhood interpretation of the events around him to give a new perspective to the readers. From his earliest memories up into his teenage years we watch Jimmy grow from a curious child seeking his parents attention, to a teenager who resents his parents’ lack of interest in his personality
Crake
Crake is the name that was given to one of Jimmy’s better friends when he was a teenager. From the audience’s first introduction to Crake, he is a very objective and seemingly emotionless character. He is very centered on winning and being the absolute best he can be at what he does. This is explained to the readers in Jimmy’s explanation of how they would play video games and how Crake would methodically figure out how to win 9/10 times and then move on. Also a considerable amount of time is spent just explaining what each of the games are and how they are played, not to mention strategy, which, in my opinion, was just not necessary for the reader.
Wrap it up
Now that you may have a basic idea of the characters, and boy do I mean basic, I think that later I can get into tone and style of Atwood’s writing. The characters are definitely more complicated than their descriptions here, but I think I would have trouble really describing them without putting readers to sleep with the length required for that.
I agree; I had no idea what I was getting into either. A lot of the time, the novel is fine, but after reading multiple chapters in a row about Jimmy and Crake visiting beheading, torture, and other disturbing websites for enjoyment, I question my choice. From all the mention of genetic engineering, I would guess that will have a lot to do with the transition between Jimmy and Snowman, but what do you think? Also, what kind of role do you think Jimmy's parents' relationship played in Jimmy's development?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post because of your writing style. It had Keegan written all over it. When I read it in my head it was like you were right there with me. Keep up the personality piece for further blogs!
ReplyDeleteI agree with K. I felt very uncomftarable through several sections of the book, with its child pornography, and snuff that Jimmy and Crake were watching together. Like K, I was quite disturbed by this detail, and cannot at the moment see why it is needed. On another note, I feel like Snowman is actually less mentally stable than he makes himself out to be. He seems obsessed over his past, and spends quite a bit of time remembering, to the point where I think that he is not insane, but at very least unstable. Also, the orgin of Snowman's name is already revealed, he named himself after the abominable snowman. Though a question to ask is why he still does not call himself Jimmy, which has not yet been revealed. Do you think that this has to do with the dislike of his past that you mentioned?
ReplyDeleteYeah Atwood is definitely known for her ambiguous language. I agree with you when it comes to authors just referring to an unknown event with an ambiguous language, and it comes across to me as a bit of a cop-out because it's just a simple play on your curiosity.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in your discussion about the in-depth discussion of the games, do you think that Atwood is trying to suggest something there? I remember in "The Handmaid's Tale" time spent on unrelated things sometimes seemed unnecessary, but become relevant through either an explanation of a motif or things discovered in later reading.
Keegan, do you dislike it when movies keep details unclear? Isn't that what creates the suspense? How do you think the book would have been different if we followed Jimmy chronologically from childhood to his present life as Snowman? Wouldn't it be a much longer book?
ReplyDeleteWhile I can see your point about the video games and videos they watch, you might look for patterns, what the games suggest about human nature at this point in the future.