What are we doing to the environment? —Consider over population, genetic engineering, species extinction, climate change. This one’s no big mystery, though the novel is good for raising it for those who haven’t thought much about it.
Over-population did not seem like a big theme in the novel, or at least I didn't catch much of it. From the narrator's perspective, the elites, or the "knights" and "lords" lived in insulated high-tech domes that protected the residents from diseases and natural disasters which infested the pleblands, ghetto-like areas with weeds and high crime rate. The biggest problem, instead, I believe, lies in an uneven distribution of wealth: the affluent West and poverty-stricken Southeast Asia being the prime example, contrasting the life of Crake and Oryx. It's the powers that be, authority, political and technological advantages that wreak the most havoc. From fake food to the game that Crake becomes a master at, Extincathon, one can already see the trend towards the destruction of the planet. He can manipulate just about any genes to achieve the desired affect.Earth actually becomes so unlivable, its heat reducing the normal human to "snowman," that a new species, tailor-engineered, must be produced to combat the harsh environs. I don't think it will take that long, either, to reach such a state.
How does the destruction of the environment hurt people? —Consider hunger, human trafficking, war, etc.
Lack of real food, first and foremost, utterly horrified me. While eating at Shanghai Express just the other day, the chicken, shockingly to a regular customer as I, suddenly tasted like packaged hormones. It was gross. I come from a Hakah family that serves home-raised chicken for dinner. I can taste soil difference in vegetables that are not local. The erecting of the first modern supermarket in town was the beginning of the end of the fresh open air bazaar, the end of daily-butchered meat, the end of hand-picked bok choy. I can't tell you how much this bothers me, almost as much as human trafficking, which is actually very nearly related to this matter of groceries. If farming families such as the ones that my grandparents know personally can no longer afford to keep their children alive, whether through economic monopoly or environmental devastation, there will be almost no choice but human trafficking. And that is the very case Atwood is making in reference to nations such as Cambodia (though discreetly unnamed in the novel). People will rape and pillage if desperate enough.
How does an out of whack economic system ruin everything, human relationships and ecological ones? Consider that money is a shorthand notation for power—People having power with each other is good; having power over others is bad; similarly, money with is good; money over is bad.
Above I just mentioned the economic loan sharks that suck the life blood out of ordinary citizens trying to stay alive. Dealers who are called "uncles." Even aside from the moral implications of sex-trafficking catering to the demands of perverted consumerism, the closer-to-home "health" facilities even manipulate chemical material to perpetuate a certain level of illness in the population, thereby ensuring steady income for their doctors. The people have modern China have long decried the whack doctors who prescribe them medicine that have no value, but they have no choice except returning again and again, with the same uncured conditions. Is life becoming better? For who? Only those who can afford it, only the "knights and lord" inside the castle. But even they won't be able to escape the Bubonic Plague.
What are the solutions to the economic/ecological problems we face? —Consider social/technological engineering, social resistance, etc.
For one, Snowman, well Jimmy's mother, represents the liberal advocate who could no live in the moral degradation of a corrupt engineering enterprise. Her escape into the pleblands to join resistant forces may be deemed as heroic (I'm still feeling a bit iffy on this as it involves child desertion, whether or not it was "worth" it or whether or not her calling truly called for such sacrifice). I think the over manipulation of genetics lead to many almost irreversible effects including the worship of science and progress. An elite arises out of this to dominate the culture and money flow of the entire world, a dangerous situation for sure. How then to to integrate? to encourage biodiversity? to recover a sense of that which is natural? We already have ghettos now, we already have corn everything now, we already have virtual reality now. Communism might be too radical, but loving and caring for people in your neighborhood is not. Everyone going back to subsistent farming may also be much, but buying from local produce is do-able, cheaper, and better for health. Shane Claiborn has proposed a beautiful way of life that I think serves as tenable for the serious, and if modified, for many as well.
What is human’s place in the world? —Including the romantic dramas of individuals and in terms of time and space—especially, what happens afterhomo sapiens sapiens?
The story of Oryx and Crake, beloved and friend, has not been a particularly fresh one: think Pearl Harbor. From the moment Oryx first enters the eyes and minds of the two young men, she was destined to become an object of affection and hope, a new Eve if you will. Her origin, from the poor back village of nowheres is very crucial--her journey of hard persistence from illiteracy to efficient business woman and sensual flower of the East. She represents for Crake all the human-ness that his progeny would need to learn, thus her being the teacher, unassuming, gentle, and maternal; while he, the Father Creator, would remain in the distance, stand-offish, and planning the collapse of chaos. I'm still not quite sure where Snowman stands in this drama, stuck under an INTJ best friend who apparent runs the show, but somehow also entrusting his last wishes to another. Why is Snowman left to care for the Crakers? He makes a very reluctant prophet at that. Most of the stories he makes up are almost comical, but bitterly ironic at the same time. The idea of story, though, is important: Snowman is the prophet, the story-teller, the poet, the last relic of art. I think Atwood is definitely making a statement here.
What is nature?
This is the million dollar question. It would take me forever to write everything I think and feel about the topic. Will be continued.
Over-population did not seem like a big theme in the novel, or at least I didn't catch much of it. From the narrator's perspective, the elites, or the "knights" and "lords" lived in insulated high-tech domes that protected the residents from diseases and natural disasters which infested the pleblands, ghetto-like areas with weeds and high crime rate. The biggest problem, instead, I believe, lies in an uneven distribution of wealth: the affluent West and poverty-stricken Southeast Asia being the prime example, contrasting the life of Crake and Oryx. It's the powers that be, authority, political and technological advantages that wreak the most havoc. From fake food to the game that Crake becomes a master at, Extincathon, one can already see the trend towards the destruction of the planet. He can manipulate just about any genes to achieve the desired affect.Earth actually becomes so unlivable, its heat reducing the normal human to "snowman," that a new species, tailor-engineered, must be produced to combat the harsh environs. I don't think it will take that long, either, to reach such a state.
How does the destruction of the environment hurt people? —Consider hunger, human trafficking, war, etc.
Lack of real food, first and foremost, utterly horrified me. While eating at Shanghai Express just the other day, the chicken, shockingly to a regular customer as I, suddenly tasted like packaged hormones. It was gross. I come from a Hakah family that serves home-raised chicken for dinner. I can taste soil difference in vegetables that are not local. The erecting of the first modern supermarket in town was the beginning of the end of the fresh open air bazaar, the end of daily-butchered meat, the end of hand-picked bok choy. I can't tell you how much this bothers me, almost as much as human trafficking, which is actually very nearly related to this matter of groceries. If farming families such as the ones that my grandparents know personally can no longer afford to keep their children alive, whether through economic monopoly or environmental devastation, there will be almost no choice but human trafficking. And that is the very case Atwood is making in reference to nations such as Cambodia (though discreetly unnamed in the novel). People will rape and pillage if desperate enough.
How does an out of whack economic system ruin everything, human relationships and ecological ones? Consider that money is a shorthand notation for power—People having power with each other is good; having power over others is bad; similarly, money with is good; money over is bad.
Above I just mentioned the economic loan sharks that suck the life blood out of ordinary citizens trying to stay alive. Dealers who are called "uncles." Even aside from the moral implications of sex-trafficking catering to the demands of perverted consumerism, the closer-to-home "health" facilities even manipulate chemical material to perpetuate a certain level of illness in the population, thereby ensuring steady income for their doctors. The people have modern China have long decried the whack doctors who prescribe them medicine that have no value, but they have no choice except returning again and again, with the same uncured conditions. Is life becoming better? For who? Only those who can afford it, only the "knights and lord" inside the castle. But even they won't be able to escape the Bubonic Plague.
What are the solutions to the economic/ecological problems we face? —Consider social/technological engineering, social resistance, etc.
For one, Snowman, well Jimmy's mother, represents the liberal advocate who could no live in the moral degradation of a corrupt engineering enterprise. Her escape into the pleblands to join resistant forces may be deemed as heroic (I'm still feeling a bit iffy on this as it involves child desertion, whether or not it was "worth" it or whether or not her calling truly called for such sacrifice). I think the over manipulation of genetics lead to many almost irreversible effects including the worship of science and progress. An elite arises out of this to dominate the culture and money flow of the entire world, a dangerous situation for sure. How then to to integrate? to encourage biodiversity? to recover a sense of that which is natural? We already have ghettos now, we already have corn everything now, we already have virtual reality now. Communism might be too radical, but loving and caring for people in your neighborhood is not. Everyone going back to subsistent farming may also be much, but buying from local produce is do-able, cheaper, and better for health. Shane Claiborn has proposed a beautiful way of life that I think serves as tenable for the serious, and if modified, for many as well.
What is human’s place in the world? —Including the romantic dramas of individuals and in terms of time and space—especially, what happens afterhomo sapiens sapiens?
The story of Oryx and Crake, beloved and friend, has not been a particularly fresh one: think Pearl Harbor. From the moment Oryx first enters the eyes and minds of the two young men, she was destined to become an object of affection and hope, a new Eve if you will. Her origin, from the poor back village of nowheres is very crucial--her journey of hard persistence from illiteracy to efficient business woman and sensual flower of the East. She represents for Crake all the human-ness that his progeny would need to learn, thus her being the teacher, unassuming, gentle, and maternal; while he, the Father Creator, would remain in the distance, stand-offish, and planning the collapse of chaos. I'm still not quite sure where Snowman stands in this drama, stuck under an INTJ best friend who apparent runs the show, but somehow also entrusting his last wishes to another. Why is Snowman left to care for the Crakers? He makes a very reluctant prophet at that. Most of the stories he makes up are almost comical, but bitterly ironic at the same time. The idea of story, though, is important: Snowman is the prophet, the story-teller, the poet, the last relic of art. I think Atwood is definitely making a statement here.
What is nature?
This is the million dollar question. It would take me forever to write everything I think and feel about the topic. Will be continued.
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