The Future

More and more things in the book are adding up. I am understanding more about the world Jimmy once lived in and the one Snowman lives in now. Information is given in small snippets that you have to piece together, which is kind of frustrating, but also really interesting and suspenseful.

I think that the book is set in the future for a couple of reasons. When Jimmy mentions his surroundings, he often mentions solar cars and how gasoline cars are few to come by. In our time period, it is the opposite. Even though we know that gasoline will not be around forever, we continue to use cars that are fueled by it. This could be a positive step in the future, replacing all the cars.

Another reason why I think this is set in the future is because of the fact that Jimmy considers books obsolete. When looking through the Martha Graham Academy Library, he says, "Better libraries, at institutions with more money, had long ago burned their actual books and kept everything on CD-ROM, but Martha Graham was behind the times in that, as in everything." (Atwood 237). I guess in today societies, books are being replaced by electronic devices, but actual books are still around and being produced. Maybe in the future all books will be electronic, which is pretty sad.

This also may be the future because of the advanced technology. When Crake takes Jimmy on a tour of the Watson-Crick institute, he shows him some of the things the students are working on. They include these fake rocks that absorb water, wallpaper that changes colour with your mood, and a chicken alternative that only supplies meat, but has no actual feeling. The rocks and wallpaper are made from altering the genetics of living microbes. They are able to change the DNA of living things to do pretty well whatever they want.

Also the way that Jimmy speaks makes me think that he is from some futuristic time. He talks about using outdated cultural references, but they are things that would not seem so out of place now.

I find it pretty interesting how he—if he is in fact from the future—still talks about Shakespeare. Jimmy talks about first seeing Macbeth as a live performance and about watching it on the internet. I think that is a statement of how somethings will never be outdated, how Shakespeare's plays will always be around in some form for all generations to study.