Oryx And Crake Themes

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Recommended: Symbolism of violence in Oryx and Crake

In this reading of Oryx and Crake, there is a dominant theme of growing up as a young adult and dealing with the sexual, violent, and uncontrollable impulses which comes with it. Due to the timeline shifts within this section many times we are able to see Jimmy (Snowman) reflect back many times on his own childhood. The author, Margaret Attwood uses these timeline shifts so that we may see the creation (Jimmy with his parents), development (Jimmy with Oryx and Crake), and end product (Snowman) of the novel’s central character. Those who read this section would want to look back on their own lives, and think about what things they have done in the past to mould them into the person that they are today.
We can first see the development of Jimmy’s personality though the contrast between Jimmy and Crake. During their first encounters they had very similar traits and personalities, but …show more content…

Though Snowman has the children of Crake to keep him company, they are just as useful to him as the Volleyball was to the stranded survivor, “…And he couldn’t stand to be nothing, to know himself to be nothing. He needs to be listened to, he needs to be heard. He needs at least the illusion of being understood…” (Page 104). This quotation shows us the desperation of Snowman’s need for human’s companionship, or at least the illusion of it. It is what compels him to stay alive, and is his only form of social interaction.
A passage I found to be very vivid was the scene where Uncle En had died. “His stomach was puffed up like a pillow, his face was bloated, but it was Uncle En all right. He had no clothes on - someone must have taken them” (Page 134). Reflecting on this passage I picture a dead body, listing down the canal, all wrinkled, bloated, with a stomach “puffed up like a pillow”. The sounds of a bustling city would be in the background, accompanied by the rancid smell of soaked, exposed rotting

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