TD - Oryx and Crake Blog

What Does it All Mean? Here we are folks, I've finally finished the book! I'm not quite sure how to feel however, this book was packed with some heavy content and an incredible plot. I overall enjoyed the book, I think it's a captivating novel but would middle school me appreciate the book? Absolutely not. Complex books weren't really my thing at the time, I was into cliche high school romance books. I'm glad I read this book once I matured so I could appreciate it and see the book for what it was.  Moving on, let's dive deep into this book and talk about what the meaning behind it. This book is obviously about the potential downfall of a STEM society. With the Pigoons (genetically engineered pigs), rakunks (a cross between a skunk and a raccoon), the "twenty thick fleshy tubes" that are supposed to be chickens, and lastly, the Crakers (202). I'd say STEM is a crucial element in the overall meaning.  Science and math are also a key element. People ...

AP or Nay-P? It's no secret that Margaret Atwood, the author or Oryx and Crake , is a remarkable author. She's become one of my favorite authors thanks to Ms. LaClair after reading The Handmaid's Tale in class and I've been dying to read some more of her work. The way she toys around with different themes, literary devices, and writing styles is, to put it simply, incredible.  Before discussing why this book is considered AP worthy, we must first know the requirements of an AP worthy book. I used an outside source to conclude what makes a book AP worthy and summarized it.  In order to be AP worthy:   The book must endure through time The book must contain complexities, tensions, ambiguities, and/or emotional depth The book must speak to important, challenging, or relevant real-world issues Lastly, the book must have a certain high quality in its writing style - imagery, motifs, allusions, tone, foreshadowing, theme, etc., the author should be using their high qualit...

A Sweet Chat about Style Margaret Atwood has a unique sense of style in terms of writing, after reading her book The Handmaid's Tale, her novel Oryx and Crake is just another example of that. The book bounces in and out of flashbacks and the present, leaving the reader with questions that may or may not be answered in the following chapters. The book is told through an omniscient third person point of view which fills in the blanks of the story. Atwood uses a very cynical tone throughout the book. When considering the circumstances, this makes sense due to life being completely uprooted by disease, leaving the survivors with practically nothing. Her cynical tone is accompanied by sophisticated word choice and imagery in her work.  Something I've noticed throughout the book is how much sex and genitals are mentioned. You can imagine my surprise when I was only forty-one pages into the book and read the word “big butt” and the inappropriate string of words that followed (41). In ...

A Chill Chat about Characters The main character Snowman in Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake is a survivor of a global pandemic. With a unique name like Snowman, it’s expected for the character to be a tad complex. There are a few brief mentions of his parents, Crake, and some other less important side characters, though Snowman appears to primarily be the focus of the novel.  From what I've gathered in the first few chapters of the book, Snowman is a sentimental character. He keeps things like his "authentic-replica Red Sox baseball cap" as a reminder of what life was like before the pandemic (4). He also recites things to himself like quotes from before but he’s slowly beginning to forget the endings, meanings, and where they came from. Snowman appears to be doing these sentimental things in an attempt to keep the memory alive of what life was like before the world went to ruins, perhaps something that motivates him to survive. The baseball cap seems to be of ...