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.