Entertainment and Recreation in Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is a fiction novel written around the split narrative between a future dystopian society and a post-apocalyptic world. The narrative follows the thoughts and flashbacks of Snowman, one of the lone survivors of the apocalyptic plague, as he dreams of memories with whom he deems as the most important figures in his life, Oryx and Crake. Within these flashbacks, Snowman reminisces the days of going to school with Crake at HelthWyzer Compound and becoming good friends with him. They would hang out after school at Crake’s house and entertain themselves with the internet, games, and marijuana. The explicit content they consumed online, the virtual games they played, and …show more content…
While watching the a show on world political leaders, Crake questions the evidence that these “generals and whatnot existed any more”(48) while Jimmy concludes that they were being replaced and killed off “with such rapidity, that it hardly mattered”(48). Jimmy and Crake barely consider the generals and countries they watch as real people and only see them as videos on a screen. Similarly, while viewing livestreamed videos of beheadings Crake speculates and dismisses the executions as just movies filmed in a “back lot somewhere in California”(48). Crake does not register the brutal reality of the killings because viewing them is such a commonplace and everyday event to him. Infact, even when browsing the forbidden—more gruesome—websites, Crake “didn’t seem to be affected...except when he thought it was funny”(51), further adding to the disconnect between the reality of the scene and his emotional …show more content…
Before browsing through the internet after school in Crake’s room, the two often steal and smoke Crake’s uncle’s “high-grade Vancouver skunkweed”(49) marijuana. However, marijuana is openly available to kids their age, sold even at the HelthWyzer Compound school retail shop “for fifty bucks a baggie”(50). Due to the easy access to high potency marijuana, Crake and Jimmy would watch explicit and pornographic videos while getting high in Crake’s room “at least twice a week — after school” (43).
This drug use often leaves Jimmy to “wobble homewards”(51) feeling “very light”(51) on his journey. He shows effects of someone whose mind and body is not developed enough to properly handle the substances. Crake, however, when he uses the marijuana “never seem(s) to get high”(51) but also does not “seem to be affected by anything he (sees)”(51). Crake’s mind gets blocked of realization for the cruelty of the videos he watches when using
Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is a fiction novel written around the split narrative between a future dystopian society and a post-apocalyptic world. The narrative follows the thoughts and flashbacks of Snowman, one of the lone survivors of the apocalyptic plague, as he dreams of memories with whom he deems as the most important figures in his life, Oryx and Crake. Within these flashbacks, Snowman reminisces the days of going to school with Crake at HelthWyzer Compound and becoming good friends with him. They would hang out after school at Crake’s house and entertain themselves with the internet, games, and marijuana. The explicit content they consumed online, the virtual games they played, and …show more content…
While watching the a show on world political leaders, Crake questions the evidence that these “generals and whatnot existed any more”(48) while Jimmy concludes that they were being replaced and killed off “with such rapidity, that it hardly mattered”(48). Jimmy and Crake barely consider the generals and countries they watch as real people and only see them as videos on a screen. Similarly, while viewing livestreamed videos of beheadings Crake speculates and dismisses the executions as just movies filmed in a “back lot somewhere in California”(48). Crake does not register the brutal reality of the killings because viewing them is such a commonplace and everyday event to him. Infact, even when browsing the forbidden—more gruesome—websites, Crake “didn’t seem to be affected...except when he thought it was funny”(51), further adding to the disconnect between the reality of the scene and his emotional …show more content…
Before browsing through the internet after school in Crake’s room, the two often steal and smoke Crake’s uncle’s “high-grade Vancouver skunkweed”(49) marijuana. However, marijuana is openly available to kids their age, sold even at the HelthWyzer Compound school retail shop “for fifty bucks a baggie”(50). Due to the easy access to high potency marijuana, Crake and Jimmy would watch explicit and pornographic videos while getting high in Crake’s room “at least twice a week — after school” (43).
This drug use often leaves Jimmy to “wobble homewards”(51) feeling “very light”(51) on his journey. He shows effects of someone whose mind and body is not developed enough to properly handle the substances. Crake, however, when he uses the marijuana “never seem(s) to get high”(51) but also does not “seem to be affected by anything he (sees)”(51). Crake’s mind gets blocked of realization for the cruelty of the videos he watches when using