Analysis Of Oryx And Crake Atwood

Not since Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, has an author captured such a theme in their work in a way that is magical and captivates the reader.  Michael Crichton's science fiction novel Jurassic Park  portrays what happens when man plays God: his imperfections cause things to go terribly wrong.  The story's, plot, setting, point of view and characterization all add to an atmosphere of fear and raise readers' consciousness about the consequences of doing so.

” Adam and Eve, the garden, the serpent, the forbidden fruit. Every story about the loss of innocence is really about someone’s private reenactment of the fall from grace, since we experience it not collectively but individually and subjectively”. One example is the Garden of Eden where women tempt men and cause their fall. The apple is used as a symbolic object of temptation and a serpent is used to tempt men to do evil, and a fall from innocence. The Flood shows rain as a form of destruction and then it shows rainbows as a promise of restoration. The Apocalypse: Four Horseman of the Apocalypse usher in the end of the world. Biblical names often draw a connection between literary character and Biblical characters. Crist is also used symbolically. A Christ figure is good with children, employed as a carpenter, believed to have walked on water, very forgiving, believed to have spent time alone in the wilderness, believed to have had a confrontation with the devil, possibly tempted, thirty-three years of age when last seen. “You may not subscribe to this list, may find it too glib, but if you want to read like a literature professor, you need to put aside your belief system, at least for the period during which you read, so you can see what the writer is trying to

In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy illustrates the actions, geographical setting, and expressions to shape the psychological traits in the characters struggle to find survival in the gloomy and inhumane civilization. McCarthy uses imagery that would suggest that the world is post-apocalyptic or affected by a catastrophic event that destroyed civilization. In Gridley’s article The Setting of McCarthy’s THE ROAD, he states “On one hand the novel details neither nuclear weapons nor radiation, but the physical landscape, with his thick blanket of ash; the father’s mystery illness; and the changes in the weather patterns of the southern United States all suggest that the world is gripped by something similar to a nuclear winter”(11). In other words, Gridley asserts that McCarthy sets the setting as an open mystery, so that anyone can draw his or her own conclusions. The surrounding of the colorless and desolate society affects the characters behavior positively and negatively. Similarly the surroundings and settings of the society illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.

In this world what people often forget about that a human can do is cause mass destruction, things one should remember can be forgotten easily and just as fast as it came it leave, this can be seen in the books around us. Authors share their opinion through the words they write talking about society and how if we keep going the direction we are going we will find ourselves in deep trouble, the messages authors are trying to send can be seen through social commentary, many books have powerful messages behind them; especially in dystopian novels and movies. They show these messages through diction,syntax, imagery, and character development; for examples the books and movies; Fahrenheit 451, Incarceron, Wall-E, and Hunger games. The authors Ray Bradbury, Catherine Fisher, Andrew Stanton, and Suzanne Collins all convey a message through their works through syntax, diction, camera angles, and imagery; emphasizing their warnings of what they fear may happen.

Some people may believe that prophecy and apocalyptic literature is a well-known subject because there are lots of books and papers concerning it, but there is still so much that will always be misunderstood. Prophesy and apocalyptic literature may have some similarities but they are structurally different in a way that makes them distinct. This paper will address prophecy and apocalyptic writings and determine the differences between them by using Daniel and Amos as templates.

The concept of change within character is accepted by society to be an indisputable truth; however, when faced with a case where this notion proves false, it is overlooked. Throughout Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, Crake’s character seemingly has two shifts; his transition from Glenn to Crake and his shift in personality after meeting Oryx. However, when analyzing the actions of Crake and the descriptions provided through Snowman’s recollection of the past, the audience is able to see otherwise. In Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, contrary to the conventional perspective, the antagonist, Crake, shows no development as a character throughout the entirety of the novel to disprove the notion of change.

Socrates once said, “The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” While knowledge can be justifiably good through the use of learning how to help others, it can also be horribly dangerous. Society nowadays uses knowledge to classify the people who are worthy of greatness and those who are not. It is in these classifications that the state of human relationships is greatly tested because of inequality. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, Oryx and Crake, two of the main themes are academic importance and the state of human relationships. In the culture that Atwood creates, if an individual does not possess the proper intellect that measures up to societies standards, that individual will be ostracized and deemed worthless, and their social life will

In Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake we see the cause and effect of how our childhood and how we are raised has a large correlation to what type of adult we become. Through the character of Jimmy and later his new persona Snowman, the reader is shown the detrimental effects of an abandoned childhood. Not only do Jimmy’s poor choices in his adult life have a clear link to his neglected and unguided childhood they also create an adult that is emotionally damaged and unable to see the right path in his life even when he wants to.

Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner refuse to surrender to the temptation of writing fanciful stories where the hero defeats the villain and everyone lives happily ever after. Instead, these two writers reveal realistic portrayals of death and the downfall of man. Remarkably, O’Connor and Faulkner’s most emotionally degraded characters fail to believe that an omnipotent deity controls their fate. This belief directly correlates to the characters’ inability to follow a strict set of morals or value human life. On the other hand, one might expect Faulkner and O’Connor’s “Christian” characters to starkly contrast the vile heathens who deny the existence of God.

Currently, it seems that popular literature is filled with post-apocalyptic novels. These books sometimes venture into the fantasy and sci-fi genres, but always they portray the author’s idea of what humanity could look like after the world as we know it has ended. More importantly, they serve as mirrors for the vices currently plaguing society, demonstrating how these faults metastasize into major forces of evil when placed in the context of desperate circumstances. The Road, Cormac McCarthy’s harrowing description of a father-son pair slogging through the desolation of an unknown apocalypse, is no exception. McCarthy sets himself apart by emphasizing the nature of good and evil, utilizing flawless prose, and relentlessly confronting the reader with the inescapability of mortality. Truly, The Road is a brutally honest commentary on humanity’s capacity for cruelty and the never-ending struggle towards goodness.

As I first started to read ‘Oryx and Crake’, I was somewhat skeptical of whether or not I would enjoy reading it. The first chapter confused me with unusual words that I have never heard or seen before. Whenever I read something it is usually a book or magazine that I plan on reading or that is based on actual facts on a certain subject such as history or sports related. This book came as a surprise as I started to read it because it was not as hard to understand as I thought it would be and was actually quite enjoyable. The symbols in this book can mean many different things based on what the reader believes since religion plays a big part in it.

In stories everything revolves around a main theme. When one picks up a story to read, the first thing they do is evaluate the theme deciding whether or not it will be an interesting story. Everybody has their own theme or themes they enjoy reading like heroism, man against nature, and power and corruption. When first writing a story, Authors begin with the main theme then develop their story off that theme. Sometimes one reads a story expecting to not enjoy the story because it has a different theme than normal stories they read, but they end up really enjoying this new theme. Readers need to branch out and attempt to read stories with different themes even if they may not like it. In the stories "Salvation", "Revelation", and "The Channelled Whelk" they all have the main theme of life change, but the stories are so different that the reader receives a new perspective on life change

In order to expose the lack of inequality and nasty corporate interests, Atwood exposes the myths created by the corporations used to control the world’s population. Throughout her novel, Atwood creates “myth” about sex, beauty, birthing, sex, living and even dreaming. These myths then create a society built on lies. The purpose of these lies, from a capitalistic standpoint, was to increase the wealth of big corporations. Each of the myths created in the novel relates to a desired outcome that can be achieved only by people with the money and power to do so.

In a world that has a foreseeable future of climate change, genetically modified humans and animals raise the uncertainty of the future. The unforeseeable future is a reality in Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake. This dystopian novel highlights the concepts that have a possibility of happening in the near future. Main characters Snowman/Jimmy, Crake and Oryx live through these possibilities, while conquering the their own difference in viewpoints of humanity. The Protagonist is Snowman who as a child was named Jimmy and was Crake’s friend who is responsible for the state their world is in.

Philp Reeve in the article, THE WORST IS YET TO COME, claims that fiction stories do not picture the future the way it used to be depicted. Reeve supports his statement by listing several different books that he describes are very vivid and gruesome images. The author’s purpose is to inform the audience that fiction today is the near future so that people will realize what might happen to the world. The author writes in an informal tone for young teenagers.