Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It is definitely an odd novel, but it is a very good read. I would love to ask the author about some of the themes in the novel, if she feels our would is heading down a similar path. I would also want to ask her about Crake, why he decided to wipe out humans. Another thing I am also confused about is Oryx's character. It did not seem like she had that big of a part in the novel, but she had such a huge and lasting impact on Jimmy. 

What I really liked about the novel is the writing style. I like how the time frame would jump all over the place and you would not really know where you are in Jimmy's life until the end. For example, in the middle of the book there would be chapters devoted to Jimmy talking with Oryx, yet Oryx was not introduced in the novel yet. We only truly meet her in the end, where we find out Jimmy was an adult.

I liked getting to know Jimmy and Snowman as two separate people until the time frame blurs and Jimmy becomes Snowman. I think that represents how much Jimmy changed in the short amount of time what the world was in chaos. He wanted to be a different person. He wanted to leave Jimmy behind in the compounds.

I would also have liked to know what happened to Jimmy's father. Most likely he also died with the infection, but it would have been interesting to have one last meetup with Jimmy and his dad because they have not seen each other in a long time.

The ending also kind of threw me off. Snowman is just about to meet the other humans, and it ends. Also with his foot infection. Does he meet the other humans, and then dies? Or does he outlive the infection? I would like to think he does, but maybe it is irony. Everyone else in the world dies from this horrible disease which Jimmy is immune to, but he ends up dying from a small cut on his foot.

Even though there are questions left to be answered, I really did enjoy the book. It is not as bad as I thought it would be to read between the lines and make up conclusions for myself.

New Beginning

I found it very interesting how the first paragraph of the novel,

        Snowman wakes up before dawn. He lies unmoving, listening to the tide coming in, wave after wave sloshing over the barricades, wish-wash, wish-wash, the rhythm of heartbeat. He would so like to believe he is still asleep. (Atwood 5)

and the first paragraph of the last chapter,

        Snowman wakes up before dawn. He lies unmoving, listening to the tide coming in, wish-wash, wish-wash, the rhythm of heartbeat. He would so like to believe he is still asleep. (Atwood 439)

are almost identical.

Since in both are him waking up, I think it represents a new beginning. In the first chapter, Snowman is starting his routine. He is living day by day barely surviving. We do not know anything about him yet. It not only starts his journey, but the readers journey as well.

In the first paragraph of the last chapter, we know Snowman. We know his story and how everything came to be, but he is about to start a new journey. He knows that there are more people around his vicinity. When he wakes up, he is starting his new journey to meet these people.

I really like how the author did this. To me, it feels like Snowman is starting a new life, and a brand new chapter, even though the book is soon coming to a close.

Visualization

As Snowman is walking though the deserted compounds, he really explains his surroundings well. It is easy, as the reader, to picture this once booming compound as something that is slowly being taken over by nature. Objects that once held important value are strewn in the streets and are useless now. Everything the people have worked for, gone.

I find irony in this because the people of the compounds wanted nothing less then perfection. They wanted perfect looks, perfect lifestyles, and perfect families. Now it is just a place of the past with ugly memories of a horrible time.

Snowman decides to go to a residential area first in search of food and shelter. I find it very interesting that he feels like he is breaking in to the house, even though he is—might be—the last human alive. He takes caution though, and even yells out to see if anyone is home. It surprised me that people were in fact home, a mother and father, but they were both dead.

I thought that the people in the compounds had died from riots and wars, and maybe some did, but Snowman mentions a disease. Something that wiped them all out before they had a chance. I think this ties in with Heath Wyzer and how they are creating diseases. They could have created this horrible disease and it could have gotten out of control. They could have sent it out in the medication and people started dropping dead. They could have figured it out and started fighting. This could be why Snowman is still alive; he would not have taken any medication if he knew what Health Wyzer was doing.

A part that really stuck out to me is, "The back of his neck prickles again. Why does he have the feeling that it's his own house he's broken into? His own house from twenty-five years ago, himself the missing child." (Atwood 282). This stuck out to me because it reveals a lot about Snowman's character. It seems like at that moment he wants nothing more then to be able to go back into that house and have his family waiting for him. It shows a side of Snowman that longs for the past and even though things were not perfect, anything is better then what is it now. Snowman is alone now.

Seeing the state of the world, getting to know Snowman better, and getting a more in depth look on how everything became this way, makes me wonder one thing: How will this book conclude? I have a feeling it will end one of three ways,

One: Snowman will die. He will die and the world will stay, and repopulate with the Children of Crake.
Two: Snowman will find more humans. He will find these humans and they will restart the world with the help of the Children of Crake.
Three: Snowman will just keep living day by day. There will be no specific conclusion. The reader just makes their own ending that suits them best.
Or, of course, it could be something completely different.