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.

What I don't understand...

I am quite confused about a lot of things in the novel so far, but one thing is on the top of my list; the people in the wasteland besides Snowman. There are the children of Crake, and there are these other adult beings. Snowman describes both as perfect, and alien like. So, who are these people, where did they come from, and why is there no other humans like Snowman?

Snowman gives little information about how he has become to living in a tree, but there are a few hints here and there. Whenever he thinks about exploring more of the land, he thinks about how there were a lot of raids at one point, and how people had to leave quickly, so there are some supplies left were people used to live, and nothing in others.

When Snowman thinks of the past, it has been about his childhood and adolescents, rarely about his adulthood. His frequent visits to the past could end up in the present at some point though.

I also find it strange how Snowman is the leader of these people. He is viewed as a sort of godly figure in their eyes. They are constantly asking him questions about their past, and Snowman makes up stories that they believe, but leaves the reader guessing on what is truth. Which must mean that these people have absolutely no prior knowledge to what the world was once like.

I do have some predictions though. When he talks about the world he is in now, he brings up Crake a lot. He talks about how they socialized these people together and seems to blame Crake for a lot that has happened. So, I predict that the world, or this part of the world that Snowman lives in, became a wasteland because of Crake. I think it has a lot to do with genetic altering too. That would explain why the people and the children of Crake are not human like. Maybe Crake was doing some wild experiments, that Jimmy was helping him with, but things got out of hand, and something terrible went wrong that caused something extreme to happen to the world they once knew. I also believe Oryx had something to do with it because Snowman tells the people that the animals are the children of Oryx, and that is why they must not kill or harm them.

I hope a lot of my questions are answered in the book, as to not leave me guessing for myself once I turn the final page.