Eunice Renteria 

Can Oryx and Crake Relate to A Utopian / Dystopian Novel?

            As we finish this semester, we have learned the difference between a utopian world and a dystopian world. Utopia is a place where there is love, care, safety, and everything being perfect, whereas dystopia is a world where there is chaos, it’s unfriendly, there isn't much safety, and is far from being perfect. So as I read our last reading, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, I thought to myself how could this reading be compared to a utopia reading and also to a dystopia reading?

            Oryx and Crake has been classified as speculative fiction because of its use of futuristic elements. In the beginning of this novel, there is some kind of apocalyptical theme happening because the main character and the children are the only ones we meet. These children do not know what the names of certain objects are so they go to the main character to ask him. The main character’s name is Jimmy but goes by Snowman throughout the novel. Snowman tries to keep memories such as language, what certain objects where used for, and also the way the world was in general. At times he still wishes that it could be like it used to be.

          The novel explores futuristic elements but it also contains conventions that allow us to see a utopian and dystopian world. In this novel the author has given us two worlds, the pleebland and the privileged compound. The pleebland is characterized as being dystopian and the privileged compound is more like a utopian world. We can relate this convention to other novels. For example, the privileged compound can be compared to the novel Utopia by Thomas More, because of it being perfect and away from all the chaos and destruction that belongs with dystopia (pleebland). Another example is Anthem by Ayn Rand, where in this novel the utopian world has slowly begun to shut down. Just like Anthem, Oryx and Crake also has slowly shut down from being a utopian world because of its misuse of technology.

Another novel that came to my mind that was not read in this class was House of Bones by Robert Silverberg. In this novel the main character is also trying to fit in society and also trying to remember how his past life was. He tries to teach the tribe what he has learned from his world and incorporate it to this world he belongs to now. Snowman does the same thing; he tries to not forget about the past and continues to remember what it was like. In both of the main character's worlds, their utopia was their past world and now they are living in a dystopian world.

          So as we can see, even though Oryx and Crake has been classified as speculative fiction, it can also relate to having utopian and dystopian literature. Like Michael Luna states, “Altwood may not write utopian stories, but Oryx and Crake does an excellent job in bringing the aspects of utopian/ dystopian literature back to the general audience and providing new grounds for discussion”(2013).