What If: Oryx and Crake

One of the great things about Science Fiction and Fantasy is that they are entertaining while offering a new social or political perspective or commentary. We love these books, movies, and TV shows because they get so much right, they tell a great story, they make us think, and of course they entertain us.

But sometimes, there’s a character or plot point or some other little thing that niggles at us. Maybe it’s a missed opportunity, or a contradiction that weakens the impact of the story.

What If is a column that takes a piece of speculative fiction and examines why it is so good, but also what could have made it better.

There will be spoilers.

Let’s talk about:

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 

The Premise:

Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey — with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake — through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

Oryx and Crake is really just another entry into the catalog of “The Earth’s population has been wiped out except for one lone survivor who searches for other survivors.” It is a Margaret Atwood book, so it was always going to have major appeal to the literary reading audience. The problem that most regular readers of science fiction point out is that while it is beautifully written — this is Margaret Atwood after all — this kind of story has already been told, and in much more compelling and interesting fashion. The various adaptations of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, I am Legend, come to mind, but especially the 1971 movie The Ωmega Man.

When Oryx and Crake was first published in 2003, Atwood had distanced herself from the science fiction community, even though with Oryx and Crake and The Handmaids Tale, she could have considered herself at least a dabbler in science fiction. For whatever reason, be it that science fiction and fantasy writers don’t get writing grants in Canada or that she may have thought science fiction readers were beneath her and not worth her time, she would not acknowledge that her book was science fiction. And I think that hurt her story.

Now, I also think Atwood played it right. She is best known as a literary superstar. While science fiction and fantasy readers embrace stories and authors who are both literary and genre writers, the literary audience would not. Not back in 2003. Though it is often the case that literary writers, as opposed to genre writers, don’t generally earn a lot of money, Atwood is one of the exceptions. Alienating her literary audience would have been a death knell to her career.

As a side note, I am happy to see that, in part thanks to the success of The Handmaid’s Tale TV series, and the greater acceptance of science fiction in general, Atwood is learning to embrace her science fiction side as well.

The strength of the novel:

One of the things I appreciate most about Margaret Atwood’s storytelling is that she doesn’t make wild predictions. In The Handmaid’s Tale, nothing happens to the women that hasn’t already happened somewhere in history. It’s what makes the story so chilling: we’ve seen it happen, and if it’s happened once, it can be done to us again.

Similarly, in Oryx and Crake, Atwood depicts a world prior to the plague that wipes out humanity that is clearly in the direction we were heading. (And dare I say has now arrived!) There is overpopulation, food shortage, and synthetic meat being manufactured. The story is told through Snowman’s perspective. Snowman used to be called Jimmy. He was good friends with Oryx and Crake, not their real names, but the names they gave themselves. Crake is a mad genius and creates these people who come to be known as Crakers (long “a” sound). They are created with emotion removed, to mate like apes and heal with purrs like cats. Any means of worshiping a deity, or creating one, is removed. It is the Crakers who call Jimmy Snowman, because his skin is so pale.

Snowman wanders, looking for any other survivors. As he searches, he tells the story of how the world came to be this way through flashbacks, so that the reader can experience the relationship between Oryx, Crake, and Snowman. He takes it upon himself to look after the Crakers because they are child-like. He is also annoyed by them, because they help him, look after him, and worship him like a god. Yes, that’s right. They aren’t supposed to be able to create a deity, and yet they do.

Where the real story lies:

As I read Oryx and Crake, it was the Crakers I was most interested in, especially the notion that they were created in such a way that they were not supposed to be able to worship any kind of god, and yet they do. Gods, objects of worship, are such a basic tenet of humanity. Whether we worship a superior being, a celebrity, money, or anything else, we all have something we value higher than anything else. I wanted to know more about how it was possible for Crake to remove such a thing from the genetics of the Crakers. More importantly, if it was removed, how is it that the Crakers managed to create a god out of Snowman?

The Crakers’ ability to evolve enough to create a god has a greater impact on the outcome of the story than Atwood gives it. Atwood treats it more like a throw-away bit of information. For me, it makes me wonder at the greater implication such evolution might have on the Craker population. Are they destined to succumb to plague and self-destruction like their predecessors?

Perhaps it is the age-old debate of nature versus nurture that intrigues me. Snowman does his best to not interact too often with the Crakers, which just might be why, when they see him, he is like a god to them. On the other hand, is there something in human nature destined to need some kind of object to worship that simply can’t be eliminated scientifically?

In conclusion: Oryx and Crake is the first in the MaddAddam Trilogy. I have not read the others, though it sounds like the Crakers play a bigger role in book 3. It is an interesting book, definitely well-written (as should go without saying, considering the author). But I feel like Atwood picked the least interesting character to be the main point of view. While a novel written from the point of view of a Craker would likely be unreadable, they are far more interesting than Snowman ever was.

Have you read Oryx and Crake? What did you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Let’s talk.