Social Class In Margaret Atwell's Oryx And Crake

Social classes have existed since the dawn of humanity; it has been in place to establish order amongst tribes, communities, cities and countries. Successful societies the world over have always established some form of division in between the ruling classes and their subjects; this is true from the Roman Republic to the Soviet Union to modern Western society. This division, though it establishes some form order in human society, tends to rest largely on the backs of the lower classes. The well-off are able to stave off the eventuality of death for far longer than those who cannot afford such luxuries. Exploitation, segregation and classism are common problems in a socio-economically divided society as authors and artists have consistently depicted for centuries. …show more content…
Margaret Atwell’s Oryx and Crake demonstrates the effects of the absorption of the middle class into the upper and lower classes; the Compounds and Pleeblands serving as the two separate societies within this speculative fiction. The seeming non-existence of a middle class in Atwood’s society results in the scientifically-minded and business driven Compounds taking control over the exterior market; this in effect establishes the upper class’ as the controlling force in the Western world. It is through the oppression and manipulation of the lower classes that capitalistic pursuits create a segregated and isolated society in which the divide between the rich and poor grows continually