Allusions In Oryx And Crake

The biblical sphere in which Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake operates in provides little room for doubt. She brings in elements from both the Trinity and the Garden of Eden, both found in the book of Genesis and uses it in a post apocalyptic context. The novel begins with the aftermath of the destruction of the world as we know it. Narrated from the perspective of Jimmy, also known as Snowman, he is a lone survivor of what he believes is the extinction of mankind as he knows it. What is left instead is a race of genetically modified humans whom snowman becomes guardian to. They are seemingly perfect in every way, created with the intention to replace those that lived before them. The question that arises then is what could mankind have …show more content…
However while it is his vision and intelligence that brings about the creation of the Crakers, he relies on both Oryx and Jimmy for their survival and well being. From the very beginning, we see that Crake possesses this divine presence, an aura of being among the people while simultaneously being not of them. Jimmy, in his reinvented persona as Snowman, describes him saying that “Crake had a thing about him even then...he generated awe...He exuded potential...” (Atwood, 75). This aura and potential that Crake possessed, even as a child, comes in the form of scientific ability and ensures his survival in a world that is essentially overrun by consumerism and consumption. It is only those who can create products to be consumed by the people that thrive and prosper and Crake seems to have and innate ability to do so. This supreme godlike presence that he possesses is further illustrated by the fact that he is a “grandmaster”, not only in the game “Extinctathon” that he and Jimmy play as teenagers but in the real world as well. His ability to change the nature of the plants and animals around him on a genetic level as well as create new forms of life exceeds the ability of all others, giving him godlike powers. Even the final collapse of the world is a product of Crake's own mind and comes in the form of a pill called BlyssPluss. It is marketed as a drug that protects one from diseases while …show more content…
His power and status within his Paradice is clear and its similarity to the Garden of Eden is uncanny. Jimmy tells us that “Paradice had been his concept, and he'd made that a condition when he'd agreed to actualize it.”(Atwood, 297). As the creator, this grants him sole control, including the decision of who is allowed to enter into Paradice, a task that he does not take lightly. Even the guards that surround Crake's Paradice are not those of the compound but rather ones that are specifically assigned by Crake himself. Snowman's recollection of this Paradice is very telling. He says simply “After lunch they went to Paradice” (Atwood, 301). This line is significant because it shows the ease with which they are able to move between spheres, that of the world and that of Paradice, a privilege that next to Crake, only he and Oryx are granted. What is unique about Crakes’s Paradice however is that aside from the three of them, Crake makes sure that no one leaves Paradice. The reason for this goes back to what is essentially his downfall and that is the fact that Crake only exists only in the sphere of logic and reasoning. He only sees things a certain way and he feels justified in what he is doing as it is, for him, a means to reach his goal of eradicating the ills of the