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Sunday, February 8, 2015

Setting of Oryx and crake

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Dear all,
This week I will be sharing the setting and conflict of the science fiction book Oryx & Crake, an amazing novel by the prestigious Canadian author Margaret Atwood. I have 17 pages left, and I plan to finish the book tonight, but I paused reading to do my blog post.
There are two separate settings in the book. This book is a dystopian book, set in our future, but it is much different to any other dystopian book that I have read. Many of these other books, for example, the Hunger Games, or other such books/series. These are set in the far future, and there is no real connection to how society got themselves into this mess. Whereas in Oryx and Crake, it is evident and explained how the future ended up like this - the use of genetic modification.
In the first time frame, we have Jimmy, or snowman, throughout his youth. He has grown up in a variety of compounds, all working towards creating  genetically modified animals, to use towards the benefit of the human race - pigs that grow extra organs as to replace faulty ones in humans, as well as creating pills and cures to all sorts of ailments that the human is troubled with.
The second time frame is set when Jimmy, now called Snowman, is an old man, living in a tree in 'Paradice'. This is almost a post-apocalyptic world - Snowman is the only one alive (or so he thinks- this has not categorically been disproved). The rest of the world has died at the hand of a terrible and contagious disease spread, originally, by a pill manufactured by Jimmy's best friend. He is left to look after a genetically modified species called the Crakers. It is a strange world, as there is no human habitation. Due to global warming, New York and a few other cities and even countries have drowned, and the weather is really hot. The sun's heat has intensified, and there are daily thunderstorms. According to the author, this book is set near to Boston, yet within the book, no exact location or region is specified. It seems like a very scary future, but it is in no way unrealistic.
In this book, there is no clear conflict type.
It is slightly man vs. man - Jimmy vs. Crake, Crake destroying the world and killing Jimmys love, and Jimmy killing Crake and looking after the world.
It could be man vs nature- Jimmy is struggling to survive in nature, without any human aid or support, and without any sort of modern conveniences - he can't wash, or dress, or go to the toilet in a civilized manner.
There is also the concept of man vs. society/the human race - the development of so much genetic modified material ended the human race and ruined Jimmy's life.
There is no clear conflict within this book,  as the problem - Jimmy is the last man alive due to the world and the human race being destroyed by a variety of factors - doesn't really classify into one individual conflict type. This is because the human races downfall is due to a variety of factors.
Thanks for reading :)


1 comment:

  1. Gemma your blog post is so well done and detailed!! Is this book in the library or is it your book?
    Thank yoou,
    Jana

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