Reexamining Crake

Reexamining Crake

In an article concerning Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, Katherine V. Snyder describes Crake as a “mad scientist” (471); in a review on the same piece of work, Susan M. Squier describes Crake’s actions as “benign intentions go[ne] terribly wrong” (1154). In neither case does the discussion farewell fare Crake, (fairly) placing the blame of apocalyptic catastrophe and pandemic solely upon his shoulders. Like a not-so-distantly reborn Hitler, Crake forces his ideals upon literally everyone, every single living being, to carry out his own version of justice, which the idea of society and organization squarely opposes; he is the ultimate vigilante, playing God from a sealed-off bubble compound, his own personal heaven. This reception of Crake, however, overlooks some of the narrative steps that Atwood includes before revealing exactly what Crake is and was up to. By ignoring these components of Atwood’s projection of post-modernity, one might altogether fail to appreciate and fear her very point. Crake, it is clear, has nothing to gain from resetting humanity through a viral holocaust, nor is he mindlessly vengeful, spiteful against the world. No, Atwood gives him calm and precise exposition explaining why he believes the pandemic is necessary, and why the new breed of humans must replace the flawed ones. Crake is Atwood’s hero for a humanity that is too destroyed to fix as it is.

Atwood’s Jimmy has a relatable melancholy about him that acts as a neutrally placed eye, out of which the reader can see. Jimmy suffers from a loneliness starting within his own family. His father, a touchy husband and father full of empty cheer, fails to legitimize himself in Jimmy’s eyes. “Right, Jimmy?” is a running gag throughout the novel; “Jimmy’s father had been apologetic towards him lately, as if he’d punished Jimmy for something Jimmy hadn’t done and was sorry about it. He was saying Right, Jimmy? a bit too much” (Atwood 51). Their relationship is a symbol of a...