Old New York

Jimmy is attending a university called the Martha Graham Academy. I was surprised to find that it is an actual school of dance in New York that is very respected and praised among dancers in our world. When Jimmy goes to Martha Graham, it is falling apart and is not a respected school in the slightest.

Upon describing the school, Jimmy says, "The Academy had been set up by a clutch of now-dead rich liberal bleeding hearts from Old New York as an Arts-and-Humanities collage at some time in the last third of the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the Performing Arts—acting, singing, dancing, and so forth. To that had been added Film-making in the 1980s, and Video Arts after that." (Atwood 227)

The part that stuck out to me the most is, "Old New York," because it makes me think that the New York we know now has been relocated and this Old New York is what remains. This would explain why the Martha Graham Academy is so rundown. This once again would support my global warming theory if Old New York in its current state is unlivable.

The difference between Jimmy's school, and Crake's school is drastic. Crake goes to the Watson-Crick Institute which specializes in sciences such as genetic altering. His school is top of the line, all up to date, and has the best education you can receive. Jimmy's school is quite the opposite, it is falling apart, is very outdated, and is considered a poor academic school.

Seeing the difference between the Martha Graham Academy, which currently is a very respected school, and the Watson-Crick Institute, which is a new school, shows how the people of this time/reality do not respect the arts. All they seem to care about is genetic altering, and that is why their school is the best school out there and why the Martha Graham Academy is in ruins.

Allusion: Though the Watson-Crick Institute is not a real school, Watson and Crick are real people. Between 1951-1953 they worked together on DNA structures. They studied how genetic information might be stored in molecular form. That science talk may be over my head, but it does seem to tie in with the genetic altering and what Crake might be studying at the Watson-Crick Institute.

Francis Crick was born in 1919 in England and won a Nobel Prize. His fields of study are physics and molecular biology. He is known for DNA structure.

James Watson was born in 1928 in the United States and won a Nobel Prize as well. His fields of study are genetics. He is known for DNA structure and molecular biology. He is still alive today at the comfortable age of 83.

Slaughterhouse-Five

Reading the plot of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the general idea of the novel is a boy who goes to war and becomes captured by the German soldiers. Seems normal enough, but upon further reading, it is also about the boy getting abducted by aliens and brought back to their planet. He becomes "unstuck in time" and is forced to visit and revisit his past and future events.

This can be related to Oryx and Crake because Snowman feels trapped in his past. He is constantly thinking back to his childhood and adolescence. He becomes consumed in the memories and the thoughts of regret. Many chapters are of Snowman revisiting his past, and I believe they will eventually add up into his present. As of now in the book, I have no idea what happened to Snowman, why he refers to himself as Snowman instead of Jimmy, and what happened to the world.

The major themes of Slaughterhouse-Five are fate, free will, and the illogical nature of human beings.

I think all these themes can be tied into Oryx and Crake. Fate because Snowman, it seems, has given up on any hope he once had. I think he knows his fate is simply death. This could also be foreshadowing though, maybe something drastic will happen to change his fate. In the compounds, it does not seem that young Jimmy had a lot of free will. No one did. They could not leave and had a lot of restrictions on what they could and couldn't do, such as curfews. In the present, Snowman has too much free will because there is no one to tell him what to do.

I think the illogical nature of human beings relates most to Oryx and Crake because it seems like the humans in the novel do not have their priorities straight. These people are living in these compounds where they alter animals to give them things they need, such as organs. The organs can help people immensely, but they also do other experiments such as create new species and create microbes to alter your skin to 'perfection'. In a world where you can't freely travel wherever you want, you would think that they would have bigger priorities. I think that has a lot to do about the novel, how humans easily lose their way and get too caught up in the material things in life. I think it is a message that we need to change our ways as to not end up with a world similar to the one in this novel.

The allusion in Oryx and Crake can definitively relate to the novel. I also predict there to be some sort of extraterrestrial involvement too.

Reader Response

"'It is the strict adherence to daily routine that tends towards the maintenance of good morale and the preservation of sanity,' he says out loud. He has the feeling he is quoting from a book, some obsolete, ponderous directive written in aid of European colonials running plantations of one kind or another. He can't recall ever having read such a thing, but that means nothing."

This passage stands out to me because it reminds me of when I have some sort of quote stuck in my head, whether it be from a television show or simply a song lyric. I recite it over and over in my head trying to recall where I got it from until I can find a computer to Google it and end my curiosity. For the character in this book, there is no way for him to find out where it's from. This also stands out to me because of the way he quotes the line to himself. Snowman is stuck in this endless routine for survival. He says it to himself to remind himself that he gets up everyday for a reason, and even though his circumstances are very extreme, I think we all need that reminder sometimes.

Allusion: I decided to look up the quote he says and it turns out it is from a book called Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The novel was published in 1969.