Analysis Of Oryx And Crake By Margaret Atwood

The essay The Writer's Responsibility by Margaret Atwood is written with the intent of urging the privileged writer to utilize their position to speak out for those who are unable to. Her intention is a noble one which I am in agreement with, however, in order for her to express this intent her tone is quite straightforward. It is this candid tone in combination with several generalizations which I have a gripe with. For example, on several occasions Atwood degrades her readers through grand generalizations such as when she says “on a whole the audience prefers art not to be a mirror held to life but a disneyland of the soul” (Atwood 1).

The Crucible and Fahrenheit 451 both center around the same theme and despite being set in completely opposite time frames, show the same problem. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in the late 1600’s and focuses on the events of the Salem Witch Trials. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury has an ambiguous time frame, but is clearly set in the future with advanced technology. Both of these books show strong understandings of psychology, and how people will often manipulate to the point of it getting out of control and causing a proverbial witch hunt. Humans by nature will fear what they don’t understand, and hate what they fear.

While on the scaffold, she has a strong face on, attempting to look as if having a baby out of wedlock and then living in prison has held no effect on her. However, Hawthorne states on page 55 that Hester “felt at moments, as if she must needs shriek out with the power of her lungs, and cast herself from the scaffold down upon the ground, or else go mad at once.” She is still trying to figure out what is best for her daughter, and she obviously still has feelings for the father that she has yet to acknowledge and deal with in an emotionally healthy manner. After Hester is released from the prison, she seems to become more charitable, more pious, and accepts her punishment. The narrator states that walking out of the prison was much more torturous for Hester than the scaffold was at its peak. Here, she accepts that the public scrutiny of her and her child will become an ever-present part of their life. While she still feels deep shame for her actions and having the Scarlet Letter branded in her clothing makes her miserable, it allows her to think clearly. She has chosen to stay in Boston, since it is the birthplace of her daughter, Pearl. The narrator reveals on page 77 that she has accepted it as the place where she will live out her punishment and purge her soul. She has also become more perceptive of the society. She feels as if the Scarlet Letter allows her to look past her own sins and into the sins of others. In conclusion, she is still the same woman she was before

John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. John decided to be a writer at the very young age of fourteen. “John used to lock himself in his bedroom and to be alone and write stories and poem”(John Steinbeck Biography). John was the first in his family to have a striving desire to become a writer, his father did everything he could to keep food on the table and his mother was a former school teacher. To do this he worked several jobs at a time, he never got to enjoy what he does like Steinbeck went on to do. John went on to try to be a freelance writer, so he work as a construction worker and a newspaper reported in New York, New York. He wrote his first novel called The Cup of Gold while living in Lave, Tahoe working as a caretaker. John went on to marry Carol Henning. She was supportive by working several jobs to help him continue with his writing career.

Many, if not all novels portray a theme, a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition, within them. The theme is the heart of the story. It is used as the central focus, and expresses the intended lesson, conclusion, message, or point of view of the author. Countless novels share communal themes, some of them being Fahrenheit 451 and Oryx and Crake. These are two distinct novels with many dissimilarities, yet they share common similarities within them, both carrying parallel themes. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury paints a dystopian future where the government has forbidden books and orders them to be burned through the work of fireman. These firemen include the likes of Guy Montag, who begins to question his life after

However, there are many characteristics that remain uncontrolled in the Crakers, and these people eventually begin to create art and place both Oryx and Crake in God-like positions in their society: two things against which Crake had warned. Crake’s understanding of biology and psychology leads the Crakers to initially have none of humanity’s flaws. This shows Crake’s grand understanding of biology, but not any knowledge of how these people will soon acquire notions of art, gods, or symbolism. He has done few trials, and consequently has little evidence to prove that the Children of Crake will be successful.

Among many diseases, judgment is an epidemic virus within the human mind; more dangerously with the lack of discernment can create a toxic atmosphere and such intoxication is highlighted within the short story, Revelation, by Flannery O’Connor. The story is set in the south, and revolves around an irrational yet religious character, name Mrs. Turpin, who overlooks her own flaws to cast judgments on others. The author uses language, irony, and archetypes within the story to present that judgement is a form of unconscious self deception that causes hypocritical behavior and ultimately self agitation. The author demonstrates this by having the characters cast judgment upon each other, which makes the act of passing judgment on to others an infectious disease fed by society.

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.

Childhood is a reoccurring theme in Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake. Children often grow up and develop into unique individuals based upon their own morals and values however their later lives are largely influenced by their childhood and those who were around them. Atwood dives into the childhood of two characters Jimmy who is also known as Snowman and a young girl by the name of Oryx. The novel follows the characters back and forth between childhood and adulthood and it is made clear what has influenced the characters in the past to be who they are in their later lives. The evidence is shown in ways such as their occupations, behaviour and even ability to possess and maintain mature relationships.

“Is there, then an evil that is innate, that is the little piece of monster in all of us.” (Cusatis). Every person has two sides, no one is completely good or completely evil. In the East of Eden, John Steinbeck uses a biblical metaphor to illustrate the innate good and evil that humans encounter. The novel includes several characters that are purely evil or do evil deeds. The Trask family is directly correlated to the Garden of Eden and other biblical narratives. “Steinbeck puts more into his stories than Genesis 4” (Fontenrose). Steinbeck illustrates the concepts of good and evil, family, and love to describe the frailties of the human experience.

Kelly J. Mayes defines plot in The Norton Introduction to Literature as the way the author sequences and paces the events so as to shape our response and interpretation. Every piece of literature contains a plot pattern that follows Freytag’s pyramid. This pyramid consists of an exposition, rising action, a climax, falling action, and a conclusion. Though each story displays this pattern of organization, authors use many different literary devices to differentiate their work and to acquire the response they want to achieve from their audience. The author of “The Jewelry,” Guy De Maupassant, correctly followed Freytag’s Pyramid and used varied literary devices to create a suspenseful read for the audience.

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 the books The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood truth is large concept. Throughout the books truth is used to define the perception and the reality through key symbols that go above and beyond an object. In The Crucible The Bible plays an immense part in shaping characters characteristics, also in The Handmaid’s Tale it shapes one of the main motifs of the story. Throughout the two books, flowers are a meaningful symbol which is compared to a real relationship and death. In The Crucible the doll symbolizes innocence and child play which is similar to Abigail. Likewise, in The Handmaid’s Tale the red habit’s that the handmaid’s are forced to wear are symbolizing who they are and what they do. Symbols

Throughout American history, no matter what time period, humans have been categorized, discriminated against, and treated according to their class, financial status, and race. Many concrete and obvious examples of this have appeared throughout the years, ranging from the Salem witch trials in the late 1600’s, all the way to the recent civil rights movements in the 1950’s and 60’s. Social history uses personal stories to show how class/status and race played a part in the way people were treated in America.

Crake’s main goal for his society from the start of the novel is to create a perfect version of humankind. He planned to do this through the creation of the Crakers. Crake wished to create an immortal