Search This Blog

Friday, February 20, 2015

Oryx and Crake- goals of the antagonist

Hello all! I do hope you are all enjoying your breaks and having an amazing time with this beautiful book project to keep you company.
I have finally finished all 432 pages o the novel Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. This week I shall share some of the goals of the ANTAGONIST.
Now, this may be slightly different to what was expected of us, yet, within Oryx and Crake, the antagonist doesn't really DO much. He hunts around for food, I give him that, but aside from survival, he doesn't really have any aspirations. He was assigned to look after the 'Crakers', but not out of his own free will, and he barely completes that job anyway. Most of the story is told through his flashbacks, in which his past, and the story of the antagonist is told.
The antagonist in Oryx and Crake is Crake, a crazy physcopath, in my humble opinion. His goal is to replace the human race with beings of his own kind, 'Crakers'. These beings have been gentically modified to be perfect - they don't feel hate, they don't believe in anything, they can heal themselves easily, they don't feel attachment. It seems like a dream race, but Crake had to work hard to achieve this.
Firstly, Crake needed the knowledge and inspiration. He had found flaws with the human race, and along with an upsettng childhood, his aspirations turned dire and harmful, yet he couldn't achieve anything great in his childhood. Crake worked hard in school, using his intelligence to his advantage, and was therefore accepted into the best university of his times, Watson-Crick. Watson-Crick was a university full of th best brains, using science to alter humans and animals alike. Here, he was inspired to create a pill that would have lthal efects- the found out that the human race had been unleashing diseases, and then selling expensive remedies. This sick form of capitalism inspires crake, and his school educates him to give him the necesarry tools.  
Crake also needs to find a way to get support - if he is to create a disease and a way to wipe out all of the humans on earth, he needs someone to support him, as to create a successful brand. He hires people from his past, for example 'Jimmy' also known as 'Snowman' or 'Thickney', under the impression he is doing something else- finding ways to save the world and human race, creating pills and potions to save us all. Crake also hires MaddAdam, the men behind the computer games Jimmy and Crake played in their youth. Together, these staff members follow behind Crake, blindly destroying the world they live in.
Lastly, but not least, Crake needed a WAY. He couldn't simply go around spreading viruses - he needed a way to spread his plague - this being 'BlyssPlus'. BlyssPlus was the lethal pill that Crake invented, which worked as contraception as well as antiaging - giving also health benefits. Of course, you would be crazy not to buy it! Prolonged life as well as looking and feeling younger? It seemed like a dream. The pill spread like a wildfire, until, all together, anyone who had ever taken this magic pill was struck down with the plague. This plague was contagious - soon everyone had the plague. People were dying left, right and centre, as well as being driven mad by anger and sadness. To top it all off, Crake killed Oryx, his wife and the love of Jimmys life, as then was shot by Jimmy. Crake had planned his death. He had nothing more to gain or do. Crake died an  accomplished man, having achieved his life goal - creating the Crakers, who were to continue living, as well as killing the human race. All, apart from Jimmy, who he had made immune to the plague. Crake left the Crakers in the arms of Jimmy, and died the death that he had longed for. Despite the pain and destruction caused, Crake did accomlpish his goal.
Thanks for reading :)

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I really liked this blog post and I am surprised that even though you told me that it was a terrible book you made a great blog post out of it, so well done!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha wow this post was both funny and highly interesting! I love the way you write, seriously. To be honest, I wanna read this...right now. I loved it! Simply amazing! (beautifamazing. a beautifamazing blogpost.)

    ReplyDelete