Chaos

Everything is coming together. I was very shocked to find out that Crake meant for everything to happen. He purposely planted the infection in his pills so that essentially the human race would be wiped out, except for Jimmy.

It is somewhat irritating how the book never fully explains why Crake did it, but I think that is because Jimmy never truly knows why he did. I think it is because Crake wanted the world to be run fully by his Crakers. I think he knew that humans would continue to destroy the world, so he decided to 'play god' and make the world a better place. If that was his logic, then I do not understand why he did not want to be there for himself instead of enlisting Jimmy with the Crakers.

Then this poses another question; did he expect Jimmy to shoot him? If he did, then he must of known about Oryx and Jimmy's affair. If he did not, then he must have thought Jimmy would not care if he killed Oryx in front of him.

When Jimmy is alone, playing over the events that have entailed in his mind, one of his thoughts really stuck out to me, "How long had he been planning this? Could it be that Uncle Pete, and possibly even Crake's own mother, had been trial runs? With so much at stake, was he afraid of failure, of being just one more incompetent nihilist?" (Atwood 409).

Nihilist: Someone who rejects theories of morality or religious beliefs.

It really stuck out to me because the doctors could never explain Crake's mothers death, and Uncle Pete suddenly dies too. If they both died from a mysterious infection, Crake could have used them as a trial to test out what his microbes were capable of.

But why his family? This is why another one of Jimmy's thoughts stuck out to me, "Had he been a lunatic or an intellectually honorable man who'd thought things through to their logical conclusion? And was there any difference?" (Atwood 409).

Maybe Crake was just a psychopath.

Crake's Plan

Crake's plan ties in with, what I think are, the main themes of the novel. That people will do anything for money, as well as people want to be perfect. These two can be combined with one major theme: Humans become caught up in the material things in life.

The first part of Crake's plan is a pill. A pill that he knows everyone will want. The benefits of the pill include,
     
        a)    would protect the user against all known sexually transmitted diseases, fatal, inconvenient, or merely unsightly;
        b)    would provide an unlimited supply of libido and sexual prowess, coupled with a generalized sense of energy and well-being, thus reducing the frustration and violence, and eliminating feelings of low self-worth;
        c)    would prolong youth. (Atwood 355)

And with these points only, everyone would be lining up to buy the pill because you could pretty well do what you want with little to no consequences, as well as staying younger longer. This is not the end of Crake's plan though. What he would not tell people is that upon consuming the pill, it sterilizes you.

Crake's logic is that it will reduce the population in a positive way, but I find it horrible. I do not think he is visualizing how this will effect people in their everyday lives. People will not be able to start families when they are ready. They will have to go through all the heartbreak knowing they never will be able to.

But this is where the Crakers come in. All these people who consume the pill and now cannot have children can purchase the next best thing. The ones who have enough money anyways. They can buy a 'child' made in a lab and pick out what features they want to to have and how it will look. One thing is for sure, every one of them will be the parents ideal of perfection.

I find this very sickening. Would anyone actually want to buy one? They are not even humans. They do not look like humans. The way Snowman describes them in the wasteland, they seem more alien then anything. So, if people were that desperate to have a baby, would they succumb to one of these Crakers? That is what Crake is hoping for.

If I could ask Crake some questions, I would ask him:

Do you expect everyone to take the pill?
Are you expecting no one to catch on that your pill makes them sterile?
Are you trying to make your Crakers the dominate species?
Are the Crakers supposed to take over the world?
Why do you feel that every child has to be perfect?

Things are Getting Worse

It seems like things are continually becoming worse in Jimmy's world. A quote that stuck out to me—and proves this—is,
        "He'd watch the news: more plagues, more famines, more floods, more insect or microbe or small-mammal outbreaks, more droughts... There were the usual political assassinations out there in the pleebs, the usual strange accidents, the unexplained disappearances. Or there were sex scandals: sex scandals always got the newscasters excited," (Atwood 307).

Yes, all of these things seem horrible, but what really stuck out to me is the way that Jimmy does not seem bothered by any of it. It seems like they happen so often that it does not effect anyone anymore. Especially when he says, "...the usual political assassinations," because it makes it sound like it is not breaking news, just a typical news story.

I am also kind of confused about what the 'pleeblands' are. It seems like it is the area that is not the compounds, but I do not know why it is referred to as the pleeblands. The pleeblands are viewed as quite negative, to the people in the compounds at least. They are said to be dangerous and you need to be tough to survive in them.

Though pleebland is not a real word, it means poor, crime-infested neighborhoods. Or where ordinary people live. I guess we are kind of living in a pleebland now. Maybe that is why they built the compounds; they tried to make this perfect world.

Their version of 'perfect' turned to chaos because of everyone's imperfect actions, such as creating new diseases and doing everything just for profit. I think one of the main focuses of the novel is how there can never be a perfect world. There will always be fault and greed and suffering.

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.

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.

Some Questions Answered

It turns out that a lot of the questions I asked in my last post were answered in the next chapter.

The children of Crake are both the actual children and the adults, other then Snowman, living in the wasteland. Crake did make them by genetic alterations. He was trying to make a super race that did not have the problems that normal humans do, as well as many additional features. Crake added such things as a natural body odor that repels insects, urine that repels larger animals, and faster developing children.

I also found out that Jimmy did not help Crake with this vision. Crake went to university for genetic science, while Jimmy went to a different university for arts and literature. This explains a lot about Jimmy's character. In the wasteland he is constantly quoting Shakespeare and other novels that he wishes he could read again, but they are no where to be found. Though, Crake and Jimmy continued to stay friends, so Jimmy knew all about Crakes experiments.

It also reveals somethings about the world outside the compound. One quote in particular stuck out to me, "Crake was top of the class. The bidding for him by the rival EduCompounds at the Student Auction was brisk, and he was snatched up at a high price by the Watson-Crick Institute. Once a student there and your future was assured. It was like going to Harvard had been, back before it got drowned." (Atwood 211)

The way Jimmy thinks about how Harvard had been drowned makes me think of global warming and the estimated raising of the oceans because of the melting polar ice caps. Since Harvard is near the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean, it would make sense. This could be what happened to the word outside the compounds. Humans caused so much damage to the Earth that is was unusable. I also find it strange how they had their high school graduation in February, because unlike June it was not as wet and rainy. This could also be because of global warming because of the climate change.

Another strange thing is how schools bid for the graduates to go to their school. It does not seem like they have a choice, everything is decided by money once again.

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.