Marisela N. Caylor

July 2, 2013

Oryx and Crake: My Gateway to the World of Speculative Fiction

What had been altered was nothing less than the ancient primate brain. Gone were its destructive features, the features responsible for the world’s current illnesses. For instance, racism—or, as they referred to it in Paradice, pseudospeciation—had been eliminated in the model group, merely by switching the bonding mechanism: the Paradice people simply did not register skin color. Hierarchy could not exist among them, because they lacked the neural complexes that would have created it. Since they were neither hunters nor agriculturalists hungry for land, there was no territoriality: the king-of-the-castle hard-wiring that had plagued humanity had, in them, been unwired. They ate nothing but leaves and grass and roots and a berry or two; thus their foods were plentiful and always available. Their sexuality was not a constant torment to them, not a cloud of turbulent hormones; they came into heat at regular-intervals, as did most mammals other than man.          

                                                                   --Margaret Atwood               

                   Margaret Atwood’s 2003 novel, Oryx and Crake is one of the most complex, entertaining, and fantastic books I have ever read. When reading this novel, there were times when I would think to myself “how real” this world actually seems. Oryx and Crake was my “gateway” book into the world of Speculative Fiction, which I had never heard of before taking this course. Speculative fiction is a broad genre and covers so much territory and provides a unique blend of entertainment and information. It serves to entertain and educate its readers while maintaining certain conventions that may or may not adhere to one type of genre. The beauty of speculative fiction is it is a hybrid of so many other genres, can appeal to many types of readers, and can be taught within a wide range of disciplines while still maintaining its own identity. The purpose of this essay is to expose Oryx and Crake as the gateway to different ways of exploring Utopian Literature, to compare/contrast Atwood’s novels with other Utopian novels, and explore the strengths and opportunities of blending genres within Speculative Fiction.

          In my opinion, Oryx and Crake is a perfect hybrid of all the Utopian novels that we read throughout the semester and worthy of closer examination. The novel proves that speculative fiction draws inspirations and conventions from other genres like science fiction, fantasy, and adventure/travel narratives but does so in a way that does not alienate specific readers of each genre. Margaret Atwood states the lineage of Speculative Fiction “traces back to Jules Verne, who wrote about things that he could see coming to pass that were possible on the Earth—this wasn’t about outer space or space invasions—but things that we could actually do” (Rothschild 3).  Atwood’s explanation allows her audience to look past the “genre” or “label” and think in terms of a broader genre, something that does not fit into a neat little category. Speculative Fiction allows its authors to take from and “bend” these conventions to what they see fit within their work (Obj. 1b.). In “The Road to Ustopia,” Margaret Atwood describes “bendiness of terminology, literary gene-swapping, and inter-gene visiting has been going on in the SF world-loosely defined—for some time” (3). This “bendiness” allows Atwood’s novel to explore different worlds without adhering to one type of genre which at times, can alienate readers of a specific genre or pave the way for new readers.

          Speculative Fiction possesses conventions that are similar to other genres including Utopian Literature, Science Fiction, and conventional novels. In Oryx and Crake, we see more dystopia rather than utopia, millennial events, journey through time as Snowman narrates his story, a love interest in Oryx, and Socratic dialogue with Crake. Margaret Atwood calls this novel “ustopia—a world made up by combining utopia and dystopia—the imagined perfect society and its opposite—because, in my view, each contains a latent version of the other” (4).  In the novel it would be safe to say, the dystopia is the world Snowman was left with and utopia would be the world Crake thought he was to create with the Crakers. I chose the epigraph for this paper to demonstrate Atwood’s description of the Crakers as a utopian principle. The entire passage sounds like utopia, except in the novel, I feel utopia is created through people not a place. Eventually, if things would have worked in Crake’s favor, the Crakers would create a utopian world, but he built his utopia by creating an ideal species that would then create the perfect paradise (Obj. 3a.). This ideal is tested where our goal is “to review historical, nonfiction attempts by “communes,” intentional communities, nations, or cults to institutionalize or practice utopian ideals” (White 2).

In Oryx and Crake, this objective is challenged in how ideal inhabitants of utopia are created first rather than the other way around (Obj. 3c.). Objective 3c. asks the question: “How may utopian studies shift the usual American arguments over race, sex, faith and gender to cultural socio-economic class?” Atwood has addresses this question in Oryx and Crake by the creation of the Crakers. Through the Crakers, all of humans’ ills were expunged by Crake and only the good things about humans and animals were combined to make an ideal hybrid of human/animal species. However, the Crakers live in a world not free of humans, so we are under the impression that some of their behavior will appeal to the Crakers and run the risk of “infecting” Crake’s perfect species. The human nuances and negatives like racism, greediness, ambition, and gender inequality is absent in the Crakers. I feel Crake’s utopia would have been ideally successful, but I still have reservations of ever finding an absolutely perfect utopia in reality or in Literature.  Atwood’s novel serves the “Literature of Ideas” perspective by offering its readers “texts that goes beyond literary style or literary history” (White 3). Atwood weaves several genres into one great novel and offers the audience a taste of what can actually happen on Earth if we become too greedy and irresponsible.

The conventions that Oryx and Crake demonstrates are typical in Utopian Literature but Atwood adds her own take on how these conventions play into her work. The novel Oryx and Crake includes: a “hero” in Snowman/Jimmy, a love interest in Oryx, and a “guide” figure through Crake. These three conventions prove to be the most important taken from Utopian Literature to move the plot further and allow the audience to find out why Snowman is living in ruins with these strange people. Crake functions as a guide through a “hypothetical” utopia when Jimmy visits him at Watson-Crick and later, at the Paradice dome where Crake is creating the Crakers. Oryx is a guide/love interest for Snowman as well but she is there to make sure that Jimmy takes care of the Crakers, that is why she is present to ensure their survival. Through Oryx, Crake ensures his legacy will live on by manipulating Jimmy into thinking she loves him when all she is trying to do is save Crake’s vision of utopia. These three conventions of Utopian Literature are equally important in our other novels and seem to be the formula that makes these novels entertaining and informative.

As we studied Atwood’s novel in our course, it was relevant in many ways to help students understand how utopian literature branches out into other genres. Oryx and Crake is the perfect combination of all the novels we read in the class and still maintains its place in Utopian Literature because of its “bendiness” of the genre. One of those genres that Utopian Literature branches out from is Science Fiction. In “Science Fiction: The Literature Ideas,” authors Gilks, Fleming, and Allen described science fiction as a genre as not “just concerned with science, but with its consequences. It asked “what if?” What if a world existed in which this or that were true?” (2). Based on this definition, Atwood does an amazing job at integrating utopian conventions, dystopian elements, science fiction, romance, and millennial events while keeping the genre snobs at bay. Her work is remarkable and no matter what “genre” this novel ends up in at the bookstore or on Amazon.com, her prose, plot, and psychology of characters is what sets her work apart from other Utopian Literature. In Oryx and Crake, there is no physical journey anywhere until the end of the novel; the journey exists through revisiting Snowman’s past memories as he is thinking about them. This device does not become stagnant and wordy like in More’s Utopia; the readers actually feel movement through Jimmy’s vivid memories of recalling the past that led to the “waterless flood.” Another useful way to examine Oryx and Crake would be to compare it to some other Utopian texts we read in our seminar and determine how each one defines the genre of Utopian Literature.

          Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s Herland (1915) and Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia (1975) are definitive Utopian novels. What I mean by definitive is these novels contain many of the conventions of Utopian Literature. These novels provide numerous examples of talkiness and long-winded nature of utopia, but they are still great novels to read. However, when the men visiting Herland were sitting through rigorous history lessons about the country, learning about the meaning of motherhood, and the importance or the children, the prose becomes too talky and long-winded. The text began to become more tract than novel. In Ecotopia, Weston is treated to long Socratic dialogues while visiting the factories about the origin of Ecotopia much like the men visiting Herland. This is one of the consequences of Utopian Literature. They are fun to talk about and learn about but when discovering the answers behind the origin of the civilization, the reader feels more educated than entertained. However in Oryx and Crake, Atwood invents a land where an "ustopia exists" and we learn about this disaster through one man’s perspective, like in Ecotopia. Through a series of memories, the reader examines along with Snowman how he participated and possibly, ignored an impending Apocalypse that his best friend, Crake was planning all along. This realization comes with a price and leaves Snowman adrift on a dystopia that could have been prevented if Jimmy had not been seduced by his lack of awareness. This novel portrays Jimmy as a naïve, superficial, hormone-driven male who does not see the impending doom right in front of his eyes. These traits were created by the world within the Compounds of spoiled, over-privileged children like Jimmy who only allow themselves to see the world through rose-colored glasses. The beauty of Jimmy’s character is that Atwood is writing a cultural criticism of superficiality, of our need for constant entertainment, and consumerism that we (alongside Jimmy) ignore the impending danger that comes with this type of thinking. Atwood does not shove this ideology down your throat in an obvious manner; it simply comes while reliving Jimmy’s tragic childhood and adulthood that we see the error of our ways along with poor Jimmy. Weston is seen as a “broken” man who is searching for something better when he visits Ecotopia and soon discovers their way of life is what he was searching for all along. Weston is converted to a believer, like Van and Jeff in Herland. When I was reading Herland, I never got the impression that alpha-male Terry would change his ways and live happily ever after in utopia with the women of Herland. But I did see a change in Snowman when he was recalling his memories but it was already too late for him. His journey took him to the bad side of utopia, leaving him stranded only with his thoughts and the innocent Crakers. Weston eventually leaves America for Ecotopia after discovering the ease of living in a communal, free-loving society. All of these examples provide readers an array of personalities who see life differently but still experience the allure of utopia or the horror of dystopia.

          Another interesting comparison between the novels exists within the actual people themselves. For example, the women of Herland and the Crakers do have a lot in common. When I was reading Herland, I thought that I would never want to live with a colony of thousands of other women because women tend to be harder on one another and competitive with each other. This idea struck me when I read the book then found that Gilman’s women were painted in such a positive light. The book was written in 1915 at a time when women were the embodiment of purity, innocence, and motherhood but I saw it another way. I saw it as an “imaginary” view of women from society’s pre-conceived notions about femininity and the truth about women’s true nature. I do not know if it could qualify as satire but I read the novel as an imaginary land where all women get along and are happy which could not be further from the truth. The women are strong yet feminine in their innocence, their appearance is uniform and boring but this allows the men to see the differences by looking beyond their looks and getting to know their real personalities (except for Terry).

In Oryx and Crake, the Crakers are created to look uniform and aesthetically beautiful much like women would have in 1915. Their nature is calm, innocent, and cooperative, much like women would have been perceived in Herland. The two groups of utopians are mirroring society’s views of the “perfect” person. However the women of Herland exist without males and have been quite successful without them. The Crakers were created to not have any human inhabitants after the “waterless flood” wiped them all away. This void would have allowed the Crakers to coexist peacefully without any human interaction that would infect their way of thinking. In Herland, I believe the women may have viewed the absence of men in the same respect as destroying their peaceful land with the essence of machismo that would eventually ruin their paradise.

          There are more positives than negatives when reading and learning about Utopian Literature and branch out to many disciplines and other genres of Literature. In my opinion, Utopian Literature is created “to mirror and confirm social norms that oppose them” (Obj. 3a.). While teaching and learning about Utopian Literature, this genre is valuable because it opens up the floor for conversations that range from sociology, psychology, science, and religion. Critics have argued that Speculative Fiction suffers from a genre-identity crisis but I do not believe this is the case. SF melds Utopian/Dystopian Literature with many other genres and proves valuable within a Literature course as well as many other disciplines. Oryx and Crake is a valuable in this seminar because it provides an example of how Utopian Literature branches out to create new genres while entertaining and educating its readers.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor Books, 2003. Print.

---. “The Road to Ustopia.” The Guardian. 14 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 June 2013. (accessed from Dr. White’s LITR 5439 website).

Callenbach, Ernest. Ecotopia. New York: Bantam Books, 1975. Print.

Gilman, Charlotte P. Herland. New York: Dover, 1998. Print.

Horace. “Horace on Literature: ‘To Entertain & Inform.’” Web. 10 June 2013. (accessed from Dr. White’s LITR 5439 website).