The Final Answers and Heartfelt Words

That Was a Love Story?

According to the back cover of the novel, this is a love story.  Looking back, I see how this is developed, but it was not obvious to me until late in the book.  I didn’t know whether to trust Snowman’s paranoia; also, Crake’s character is so focused on intellectual pursuits that I did not expect him to be using Oryx for more than physical relief.  I expected this because when inquiring with Student Services, he “’… told them what [he] was looking for – you could be very specific there, take them a picture or a video stimulation [(not simulation)], stuff like that, and they’d do their best to match you up’” (310).  I have no idea what a "video stimulation" is, but I can confirm that is what Crake calls it; anyway... From this dialogue, I would think that he isn’t looking for a relationship, but the chapter is called “Crake in Love” and he does continue to see her outside of the Student Services when he “’… [wasn’t] supposed to” (310).  I guess the narration has made me so paranoid that I doubt everything the characters say, but I can put this one to rest.

The Acknowledgments

Like in The Handmaid’s Tale’s “Historical Notes,” I thought something would be up with the “Acknowledgements” at the end of the novel, but it was surprisingly genuine.  After digging for a while, most of what is in the acknowledgments check out, with the notable exception of “oryxandcrake.com” not existing.

The Epigraphs

This is an appropriate time to discuss the epigraphs.  After completing the novel and thinking about its themes for over a week, I would like to comment on them.

I could perhaps like others have astonished you

with strange improbable tales; but I rather chose

to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest

manner and style; because my principal design

was to inform you, and not to amuse you.

Jonathan Swift,

Gulliver’s Travels

This quote could be taken two ways.  I first interpreted it as ironic, because of how clearly spectacular the contents of the novel are and how its style is by no means simple, but after thinking about it, I noticed something else.  As part of the themes of the novel of the dangers of extreme capitalism and genetic engineering, the idea of “inform[ing]” is appropriate in a foreboding manner.

Was there no safety?  No learning by heart of

the ways of the world?  No guide, no shelter,

but all was miracle and leaping from the

pinnacle of a tower into the air.

Virginia Woolf,

To the Lighthouse

Although I have not read To the Lighthouse, I interpret this as questioning whether anything can be certain in the world and if everything that happens is but a miracle of leaps of faith.  In the context of cautionary science fiction, this is a very interesting quote.  In the past, everything seems so certain; it is written and so it is, but the future is always the question.  In this perspective, however, the past was just as uncertain as the future is today and we must consider that in our evaluation of who we, as a society, should be.  Don’t just remember the past; rather, remember how the future looked in the past and consider that perspective for advice on how to move forward. 

The other question I see coming from this quote is about preparing for the future; is there any way we can predict the evils that are yet unseen?  After being put down in the post-disaster world, the whole novel builds up an answer to that question.  The answer I extracted is that only those who have the control to prepare for the future will really know before it’s too late and although for small, relatively insignificant events it may seem quite the contrary, in the time of world change that we haven’t seen the likes of since World War II, the masses will only be faced with the undeniable, absolute truth of it.

What Now?

Before my parting words, I would wholeheartedly recommend Oryx and Crake to anyone.  I don’t know if I would warn them about some of the uncomfortable content because it plays an important role in the tone the novel sets.  I would venture to say most people would not enjoy some parts of the novel, but that is what makes these parts so critical.  Satires should focus on making the reader uncomfortable and thus provoke thought.

Usually, this is the time I say my farewells to the world I have invested the past month into, but this time I don’t have to.  Should I?  What comes after that, then?  Is it better to live knowing the world continues to exist in the mystery of my imagination, or would it be better to have closure, to know the entire universe has died? 

Much like the long-awaited game, Half-Life 3, I don’t know if I want to find out what happens next because once it’s done, it’s done (and I mean really done); closure is the enemy of fantasy.  I don’t live every second of my life in anticipation of this game, but every time I replay the game, the cliffhanger at the end is just as emotionally shocking.  I suppose Oryx and Crake is conclusive and inconclusive enough to be more satisfying than a cliffhanger, but they both evoke similar emotions.  I would stare into my computer monitor whose blank panel reflects my outlook.  I don’t want life to go on; I want to say in this moment forever, to continue this euphoria.

But life goes on, and, after writing that last paragraph over a week ago, I can confirm that it does.  This will be the last time you hear from me, but know that I appreciate the audience and countless fans that flock to my weekly blog posts as soon as I publish them only several hours before the due date.


(With the exception of this one of course)

Marginally better than The Hunger Games

After completing the novel, I can confirm that Margaret Atwood has written a novel that exceeds The Hunger Games in its word choice, use of literary devices, and character development et al.  I had some doubts at first, but I can now put my mind to rest. 

Seriously, though, I can appreciate the different elements of Oryx and Crake that make the story so captivating beyond plot.  Every time I put down this book, I came out asking so many questions I could not find an answer to.  Sure; some of them have answers I flat-out missed, but others are deep questions that root themselves in the novel’s themes that may not have clear answers.  Such a novel that can provoke this confused sensation in me is worthy of an AP level class.

I’ll admit, I write way too many sticky notes in my books, but I think that’s another way to measure the complexity of a novel.  If several times each page I can make a connection or have a note-worthy thought about a book, it must have so much more to it than action.

AP Worthiness

I suppose it would be easier to define AP Worthiness before trying to make a point of whether Oryx and Crake is deserving of it.  Books that have a lot of depth and different perspectives to view them are good because they have a diverse set of options when answering a free-response question.  It is not particularly helpful to have fifty novels that all have their own messages because they would be too hard to remember.  Another key is that the novel both says something meaningful, but also in a meaningful way; I should be thinking about the different themes being developed as I read and see the methods the author uses to deliver them.  One-liners don’t meaningfully deliver theme.  As such, an AP novel should build them up through character development, diction, and selection of detail among other things.  Many books may work for answering an AP question, but ultimately the importance is how far a novel can stretch in this regard.  Because of this, I will mostly be discussing depth.

Devices

One interesting device that is used is the juxtaposition between Martha Graham Academy, the school Jimmy goes to, and Watson-Crick, the school Crake goes to.  Atwood makes clear that, “[c]ompared with Martha Graham, Watson-Crick was a palace” (199) and throughout the next number of pages, more connections are made.  After learning about the maid service at Watson-Crick, “Jimmy was depressed … as he had to do his own laundry at Martha Graham, using the clanking, wheezy washers and the dryers that fried your clothes” (201).  There are several of these obvious comparisons, but some are subtle.  For example, the use of colors in the description of Watson-Crick are very vivid, using words like, “lurid shades of chrome yellow and brilliant flame red and phosphorescent blue and neon purple.” (199).  The lack of commas in this sentence further emphasizes the importance of each of these traits individually.  Atwood’s comparison of the two schools emphasizes the rift between the sciences and the humanities that grows in her extrapolated world.  With the hyper-elites looking for the newest in science and genetic engineering, which provides fantastic results, the creative work without immediate function sits on the bench.  

As I discussed in a previous post, the similarities of the two careers they go into is significant.  Although the two careers different in almost every way, they are both focused on exploiting the money from the masses using manipulative practices.  This connection is critical for the juxtaposition.

The amount of discussion that can take place over only a few pages of this novel is huge; I could take any two are three consecutive pages and find just as much depth.  Personally, I find this far more interesting to read, and worthy of an AP class, even though it is more mentally taxing.

Throughout the entire novel, foreshadowing is used in an extensive, yet atypical way.  Often the events have already occurred when the foreshadowing happens, which builds a huge amount of dramatic irony and emphasizes the question of, “what went wrong?” that is typical of the dystopian setting.  All Snowman has to do is look into the past, because the future is hopeless for him.

One example of this foreshadowing is when Crake poses the question to Jimmy: “Would you kill someone you loved to spare them pain?” (320).  This could be taken in two ways.  Is the “someone” the entire human race, which Crake kills to save them from overpopulation and replace with the Crakers, or is the “someone” Oryx, whom Crake loved deeply and didn’t want to see the world he created?  This double-meaning is an interesting and complex element that could be perfect for an AP question about foreshadowing or the past.

Later in that conversation, Crake tells Jimmy that, “if anything happens to me, I’m depending on you to look after the Paradise Project” (320).   We, the readers, know that Crake dies, but this quote suggests that Crake planned on not being able to take over after he releases the disease.  This is another interesting use of foreshadowing, because not only does it hint at his future decision, it also hints to a future event that we know about.  Atwood uses this kind of iterative story-telling to add information to our knowledge base as the novel progresses, but hold out on telling us everything until another cycle.  It’s like looking at a picture cut into strips and then over time we get to piece together more of these strips.

Satirical Depth

Part of why I loved this book is every few pages there is a passage that makes me think, “wow, that is an interesting perspective,” or, “this feels so wrong, but the justification is so good.”  This integration of Atwood’s satirical messages allows so many different points to be made over the course of the book and thus has a lot to pull from when trying to answer an AP question.  There are countless of these messages, but I’ll explain a couple of my favorites here.

After the breakout, everyone fled the compound and, “[n]obody else buzzed the outer door [of Paradise] … once they’d realized the guards were gone they must have rushed outside and made a beeline for the outer gate.  For what they’d confused with freedom” (339).  I like the use of confusion and freedom in the same sentence because freedom seems so natural and intuitive, but the reality of human behavior is the opposite.  As Crake says earlier in the novel, “[t]hose walls and bars are there for a reason, … [n]ot to keep us out, but to keep them in.  Mankind needs barriers in both cases” (206).  While the roles are reversed, the same kind of point is made.  Don’t confuse a prison for armor, nor the other for the other.

Another really impactful quote is when, “the end of a species was taking place before his very eyes.  Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.  How many legs does it have?  Homo sapiens sapiens, joining the polar bear, the beluga whale, the onager, the burrowing owl, the long, long list.  Oh, big points, Grandmaster” (344).  The parallel that Jimmy draws between the game, Extinctathon, and the real world is impactful.  The humans are now the extinct creature that must be guessed.  This passage also gave me chills because of the relation between the Grandmasters in the game and plot for releasing the diseases.  The irony of the game Extinctathon being related to the extinction of humanity is fantastic and is a great addition to an AP question about the past.

A Good Option

I believe this novel would be a great read for an AP English class, but perhaps as a replacement for The Handmaid’s Tale.  They are both written by the same author, so the style of the two are very similar, and they share a lot of messages.  The content of the two is very different, one focusing on dystopian theocracy, the other on dystopian capitalism, but they are both cautionary tales and thusly build on the same ideas of the corruption and desire for power while oppressing the masses.  I enjoyed both and they both have so much to think about, but I think it would be sufficient to read one or the other.

Don’t Say Goodbye Yet!

I’d love to leave you with my emotional response to the novel, but unfortunately, that will have to wait until my next post so I can organize my thoughts better and pull some good opinions from my head before 10:00 pm rolls around and I’m brain-dead.

Don't Mess with those Chromosomes

While the first half of the novel hinted at most of the themes, this most recent section hammers them in and backs them up with the actions resulting in the reality Snowman lives in (partially at least).

Some Style and Character Updates

A lot has happened since my analysis of style and characters in Oryx and Crake.  I am getting less skeptical of the truthfulness of the narration, but certain journalistic interjections keep me heightened (mostly the “revisions” that the narrator makes to Jimmy/Snowman’s thoughts).  It appears that the narration has converged on third person limited omniscient even in the flashbacks and the stories that Snowman remembers of Jimmy and his friends is Jimmy/Snowman’s understanding of them.

We finally have some confirmation on the timeline.  It’s been around 2-3 months since the incident happened and human activities have died down significantly (pun intended).  It still unclear, however, how Snowman survived it all, although my suspicion tells me it has something to do with Crake.

In General

Most of the ideas introduced in this novel are fresh to my youthful, poorly-read eyes, but the kinds of issues it deals with are very similar to those in The Handmaid’s Tale.  Where The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on the extrapolation of extremist religion, Oryx and Crake focuses on the dangers of science and genetic engineering.  Both novels use these messages to convey the same overall message that the leaders of these societies use religious ideas and the power of science to suppress the masses, further empower the elites, and widen the wage gap (maybe not widen the wage gap, but you know what I mean).

The Big Hitters

The novel is based around a post-disaster world caused by an outbreak of invented diseases: a clear vehicle for sending a message.  It isn’t lightly hinted at either when Crake tells Jimmy, “’The best diseases … would be those that cause lingering illnesses … the patient should either get well or die just before all of his or her money runs out.  It’s a fine calculation’” (211).  By distributing these diseases and providing treatment for them, the big genetic engineering companies with funny names can rake in the Franklins that fall their way.  Not only do they spread the diseases, but Crake’s father, who was a potential whistleblower, was killed, “for the general good” (212).  The general good for whom may I ask?  Sections like these that beg similar rhetorical questions from the reader are commonplace and make the book interesting to read (unlike Song of Solomon).

It isn’t only the genetic engineering firms that exploit the poor living in the slums, called “pleeblands”.  The also funny-named self-help company AnooYoo (say it out loud and it makes sense) does just the same.  Even though Jimmy takes a drastically different path through life than Crake, they still end up working for big, crooked companies.  Now, I’d like to think economically for a second; these companies are not inherently evil because they are large, but since their goal is to manipulate the needy into buying expensive products that don’t help them, thus causing them to spend more money on them, I can call that crooked.  It is simply good advertising “to describe and extol, to present the vision of what – oh, so easily! – could come to be,” (248) but Jimmy even, “[made] up a word … [and] [h]is proprietors like those because they sounded scientific and had a convincing effect” (248).

Other Critical Organs

The supporting theme of genetic engineering takes another form.  The animals that are invented get loose and live in an environment not prepared for them, but they seem to get by just fine (quite well in fact).  Atwood utilizes some spicy dramatic irony when Jimmy and Crake are talking about, “if [the wolvogs] got out … then the population spirals out of control.’” (206).  Crake astutely observes that, “’[t]hat would be a problem … but they won’t get out’” (206).  The irony is that earlier in the novel, in the Snowman time, the wolvogs are a persistent problem for Snowman for just this reason.

The other issue with these animals is that by creating a new species to solve a problem, new problems arise that may be worse than the old problem.  Bobkittens are a prime example of this.  They were supposed to solve the overpopulation of genetically engineered rabbits that got out and reproduced like crazy, but “small dogs went missing from backyards, babies from prams; short joggers were mauled … “ (164).  The question of genetic modification and adding foreign species to ecosystems is a hot topic among the ecology and biological community today.  While beneficial in some situations, Atwood reminds us of the consequences if done incorrectly.

Complementing the big-hitting idea of synthesized diseases, many medical treatment facilities are available for the upper class to essentially live forever.  A very early example in the novel is the pigoons, which are pigs designed to grow human organs for harvest.  All kinds of options are available, from kidneys to livers and even full sets of skin, anyone who could pay the price can get fixed up.  Atwood paints these services as impossibly evil through Snowman/Jimmy, but in reality, they are only a few steps further from the Botox injections that people get today to try and stay young.  She criticizes the obsession with staying young and living in your golden years forever.

Some Social Commentary

There are numerous different references to recent events of the time of publishing the novel.  One is the 9/11 attack and an extrapolation on the fear that it caused in our country.  In Jimmy’s art and creativity college, “live performance had suffered in the sabotage panics of the early twenty-first century – no one during those decades had wanted to form part of a large group at a public event in a dark, easily destructible walled space” (187).  This is a warning that we cannot let the fear of the past dictate the future so strictly.

Overall, the novel is critical of the hard-core fanatic activists.  Bernice is oh-so-memorable in this regard.  Her initial description repulsively renders her as, “a fundamentalist vegan … [who] wore a succession of God’s Gardeners T-shirts, which – due to her aversion to chemical compounds such as underarm deodorants – stank even when freshly laundered” (189).  The other similar, although less extreme, characters that Jimmy meets harass him for how he appeases the big corporations and eats ChickieNobs (imagine a plant that grows chicken wings).  Since Jimmy thinks his mother plays a role in this community, I suspect we will get more information about it.

Some New Uneasiness

I am getting worried that all the questions I am accumulating as I read this novel won’t be answered by the end, because Oryx and Crake is the first in a trilogy!  Without spoiling too much, I wish I could know how well the book can stand on its own.

And I thought I was going to read less about child porn as the novel developed

Some may not be brave enough to tackle this topic head on, but I recognize it as an important part of the characters and their relationships, so I’ll give it a glancing blow.  It is also interesting that the entire book has only spanned about 2 days of Snowman time; this makes me wonder how much time has passed since the big event if only two days have passed in this whole narration.

Oryx

I’ll start with Oryx and get the character that will be the least comfortable to talk about out of the way first.  If you do not want to hear the backstory of a child porn-star, then I’d suggest skipping this one.  To preface the backstory, Snowman questions, “[h]ow long had it take him to piece her together from the slivers …  There was Crake’s story about her, and Jimmy’s story … and … her own story about herself, which was different from both” (114).  The following story is broken up by sections of a conversation Jimmy and Oryx have regarding her past, but it is not clear whose version of the story is being told (I suspect it is Snowman’s recollection of Oryx’s story).

Oryx grows up in an unknown region of Asia and is sold out of her home village at a young, unknown age (around 5 years old we suspect) to a questionable salesman, Uncle En, who, while one of the fairest individuals by this version of the story, says that the children may come back if they work in the city for a while when, “things were better,” but, “no children ever came back” (121).  She worked by selling flowers, then by being pedophile bait (not to put them in jail mind you, just to take all their money).  Later, Uncle En shows up dead in a river and Oryx gets taken to San Francisco to where she becomes the Oryx Jimmy and Crake see.  She makes a deal with Jack the camera man to learn to read English in exchange for sexual treatment.

The most interesting part is how comfortable she can talk about her past and how she does not appear traumatized by the experience; to her, it was just her childhood.  In fact, “[i]t was less boring … to make the movies than to do what they did the rest of the time … “ (139).

Other than her childhood, the only information we know about her is that she is the goddess of the animals in the weird religion that Snowman teaches to the Crakers.

The Main Character

Jimmy

Surprisingly, Jimmy is one of the least interesting characters in the novel.  His role seems to only be a tool to develop the other characters in the novel and to provide an exposition of the setting (oh yea, and also to become Snowman).  Because of this, I there is some more elaboration on him in the other analyses.

One role Jimmy takes is Crake's foil.  He is not a numbers person, whereas Crake is, and his responses are primarily emotional instead of cold and objective like Crake’s.  Also, Jimmy goes to an arts and literature school but Crake focuses on the sciences.

Jimmy also plays an important role in contrasting Oryx’s thoughts on her childhood.  Jimmy recognizes what happened in her childhood as terrible and continues to ask Oryx questions about it when she answers them as if her life was like any other child’s.

Snowman

Snowman is the present tense version of the main character.  At some point in the transition period between the old world and the new, he dropped the name Jimmy, but he always looks into the life Jimmy, despite regretting it every time.  Snowman is slowly dying and he takes an alarming amount of time to do something about it (or at least it feels that way; it has only been two days).

To the Crakers, Snowman is Jesus, telling stories of Oryx and Crake.  He builds a religion centered around these two people: Crakers are the Children of Crake, and the animals are the Children of Oryx.  Interestingly enough, he builds up Crake as God, but he likes to see him be wrong, such as the very idea that the Crakers accept this religion he is teaching them, and, “[m]aybe he’ll endow Crake with horns, and wings of fire, and allow him a tail for good measure,” (104) to make Crake match his idea of evil (ironically the Crakers wouldn’t understand that any of these features characterized the devil).  During a drunken fit, his hatred of Crake continues to build.  He thinks, “[w]hat’s his life worth anyway … He’s served his evolutionary purpose, as fucking Crake knew he would.  He’s saved the children” (107).  This begs the question of why Snowman survived when Crake didn’t.

Crake

Unlike Jimmy, Crake is a numbers guy.  He thinks very objectively and carefully determines the best way to accomplish a task, especially when beating Jimmy at the games of their youth. “Crake would get fixated on a game, and would want to play it and play it … until he was sure he could win, …” (77).  He becomes very condescending during their college years.  When Jimmy brings up art as a justification for not making a Crake’s perfect species, Crake says, “’I guess they still do a lot of jabbering about that, over where you are” (167).  He even goes as far as to say that, “[p]eople can amuse themselves any way they like.  If they want to play with themselves in public, it’s fine with me’” (167) in comparison with “art-and-creativity” (166).

Crake’s communist beliefs materialize before Snowman goes on his journey; he notices that one of the Crakers is “getting to be a bit of a leader, … Watch out for the leaders, Crake used to say.  First the leaders and the led, then the tyrants and the slaves, then the massacres” (155).  Crake seems to believe that everyone must be equal in a perfect society, but this amplifies the issue of lack of creativity; if there is no desire for being better than someone, then why do anything extra?  Maybe for the purpose of survival, it is optimal, but for advancement Jimmy’s “art-and-creativity” may play a role!

The Children of Crake (Crakers)

Snowman oversees a village of Crakers, the genetically engineered species that Crake created, to make sure they do not get hurt (or so he thinks).  They are supposed to improve on all of humans’ flaws and have gone through many revisions testing different traits.  Crake develops them like a product for consumers and doesn’t consider their lives as meaningful in the testing phase, which supports the message criticizing the overuse of genetic engineering.

Even though they are supposed to be better than humans in every way, Atwood criticizes these improved traits through Jimmy’s character.  Jimmy says that, “[a]ll that [relationship] mismatching you talk about.  It’s been an inspiration, …” (166).  It begs the question of what the cost of a perfect species may be.  It may mean that nothing is left over, because, “art is all that’s left over” (167) of a population.

Final Thoughts on Characters

Overall, these characters are intertwined in a way that is not clear yet and all of our knowledge seems to be filtered through the decaying mind of Snowman so we may not know what is reliable and what is not.  Throughout the novel, Snowman is always trying to remember parts of his youth but doesn’t always do so with complete success.  Why should these stories about Crake, Jimmy, and Oryx be any different?

Feels very similar to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (Its almost like they have the same author)

Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, reads a lot like The Handmaid’s Tale.  While Oryx and Crake third person narrated, it shares a lot of stylistic elements.  For instance, flashback is used as a major story-telling device and although the novel is in present tense, the past constitutes most of the novel up to section 5.  There are two timelines of narration, the Jimmy time, the past, and the Snowman time, the present, but both names refer to the same person (many characters have two names, but it’s not entirely clear why yet).  Each trip back in time reveals more about the characters I presume will play a larger role later in the story, but they do not completely connect to the Snowman time before section 5.

Time plays a big role in the novel thus far, whether it be about wasting time, age, or the past.  One example is when Snowman comes back from one of his flashbacks.  He thinks that he, “has to find better ways of occupying his time … and the time is running out, no matter what he does with it.” (41).  He must hold onto the past, the familiar world, in order to forget about the new world, but he always ends up regretting his visits to a life that no longer exists.  He doesn’t choose to make a log book, because “any reader he can possibly imagine is in the past” (41).  The children of the new world, the Crakers as they are called, can’t read, so who would he be writing for?  On the other hand, he believes once, “the old words … [are] gone out of his head … they’ll be gone,” (68) which would support the effort to write.  Snowman’s beard is symbolic of this outdated existence; the new children weren’t designed with beards, but Snowman still has one, because it’s, “too late for him” (9).  It’s a bit depressing, because Snowman appears to be one of the last holdouts in a world that is trying to leave him behind, but the narrow scope of the narration may be misleading. 

Atwood’s use of flashback reads like a journal, which proves to be an interesting narration method, but I question its reliability.  Although it is third-person, many interjections exist in a journal or diary style, such as when Snowman “won’t dip a toe in [the lagoon] even at night, when the sun can’t get at him.  Revision: especially at night” (6).  This self-aware narration is reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale, which is perhaps the root of my skepticism (even though The Handmaid’s Tale narration is first person).  The narrator goes on to question why, “[the children] never stand too close to him.  Is that from respect, as he’d like to think, or because he stinks?” (6).  Are these questions from the narrator, or do they suggest that Snowman is asking them and we know them through the narrator?  Later, the children “ask him to take off his sunglasses and put them back on again: they want to see whether he has two eyes really, or three.” (7).  Do the children really care whether he has two eyes or three, or does Snowman suspect that the children think this?  The effect continues when the narrator describes when Jimmy’s dad starts being in a more involved relationship with Ramona, one of his work partners.  Jimmy, “has much worse things on his conscience.  So who is he to blame them?  (he blames them)” (67).  These bits of information also reveal an element of stream of conscience in the story that complements the journal style; others examples are more intricate, like when Snowman tries talking back to a woman he thinks he hears and, “she can hear him, he needs to believe that, but she’s giving him the silent treatment” (11).  Snowman imagines the voice, because, “he feels the need to hear a human voice,” (10).  Throughout this first section of the novel, the narration style has an interesting feel to it; its reflective, yet seemingly omniscient.

Another motif introduced in this section is about pretending, which heightens my suspicion of reliability; it also plays on the potential theme that people always look to the past to cope with change.  Snowman frequently goes back on the idea of pretending that he learned in his first three years of school.  We get a good taste of Atwood’s tone here when the narrator describes, “Ms. Stratton Call-Me-Sally, with the big butt” (40) and the fantasies that Snowman has involving her (there are much more uncomfortable parts of the novel to read than that, trust me).  Another time, when filling up the bottles during the rain storm, he wishfully thinks, “let’s pretend this is a beer,” (45) to lighten the dismal mood, but ultimately, “He shouldn’t dangle impossibilities in front of himself” (45).  Even when he demands that, “’[He] [is] not [his] childhood,’” (68) he looks back into it when he, “pretends [he] live[s] in India, and [he’s] going to do a mantra” (68).  While I may have cheated slightly by finding out that the word “pretend” does not appear very often later in the novel, it appears to be a fairly significant idea in these first few sections.

We don’t know a lot about the characters in the novel so far (or at least how they are relevant to the Snowman time), but Atwood’s tone and style are already well illustrated.  The motif of time is clearly introduced and will surely continue to play a large role.  I am still skeptical of what point of view the narration is, though, and how reliable it may be, but this concern may be eased with time.