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.

Vertical Integration

While at the Watson-Crick Institute, Crake shares a secret with Jimmy. He talks about how Health Wyzer creates medication to cure people, but also things so they never have to be sick in the first place. To the citizens taking the drugs, this sounds wonderful, but because Health Wyzer is a business first, they cannot have this. 

If no one gets sick anymore, there is no need to buy any medication, so Health Wyzer is out of business. This is where vertical integration comes in. Health Wyzer is not just inventing new medication, but also new diseases that they plant in their medication so there is an endless cycle of profit.

When Crake is explaining this concept, he says, "The best diseases, from a business point of view, would be those that cause lingering illness. Ideally—that is, for maximum profit—the patient should either get well or die just before all of his or her money runs out. It's fine calculation." (Atwood 256). This stood out to me because it seems like Crake thinks it's more genius then evil. 

This could just be Crake covering up his feeling though, because he does explain how his father died because he knew about Health Wyzer's plans. His father added up all the information, but before he could tell anyone, he 'fell' over a bridge. 

I find it ironic how Health Wyzer would do this to innocent people because they have such high faith in Health Wyzer to make them better, when what they are actually doing is making them more sick. Health Wyzer's sole purpose is to produce medication; to heal, but all they care about is making money.

This could be a reason why the world is like what it is like for Snowman. People could have found out about Health Wyzer's secret and riots could have broke loose. Since Jimmy already knew, he could have avoided them and hid somewhere and that is why he is still alive.

Connection: I connected this section to an episode of 30 Rock called "Let's Stay Together," because they talk about vertical integration and that is why I know what it means. 

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.