Oryx and Crake - Major Themes

Major Themes

Society

The world in which the characters live is separated into corporate compounds and pleeblands. The compounds are communities where people work, live, and do everything essential to life. No one is allowed to leave without special permission from the corporations. The corporations featured in the novel are either science- or media-based, and they seemingly work together on new ideas and marketing strategies. No government authority is ever mentioned. The compounds are fueled by powerless public consumers and run by the corporations who create all the products and monitor and control the activities of the residents. Pleeblands are the low security and often dangerous territories where ordinary, unprivileged people reside. Prostitution, drug use and thievery are common practices in these areas.

Time

The story switches between present day narration and flashbacks of the main character from significant points in his life. The present time moves very slow and has a sense of immediacy about; it moves in a linear fashion. The flashbacks skip around in a more discontinuous manner. In a flashback, for example, Jimmy will be at home as a young child and then, soon after, at college. The idea behind this is to have the background story catchup to the present time with the climax building suspense as the reader continues to wonder how Jimmy got to be in the position he is in. The reader is left to speculate whether this ”time” is only happening in Jimmy’s mind or if it is a reference to the entirety of space and time.

Science and Technology

The world in the book is filled with genetically engineered humans and animals. These people and animals were created by different corporations with good intentions. They use some animals merely as reservoirs for human transplant, some for protection, some for food and so on. The medicine of this world is so advanced that corporations secretly distorted the content of some pills to give consumers an illness, just so they would continue to need medical attention.

Education

In the novel, Crake attends the Watson-Crick Institute, an esteemed school of science, while Jimmy goes to the Martha Graham Academy, an arts college. The science school only accepts the brightest and most gifted students in the compound to attend. Those who do not excel in the sciences and are more into ”words” go to the arts school. The value of the two types of schooling is very unbalanced. Students at schools of science are seen as the future leaders in this advanced age of technology, and those studying areas of art are looked down upon and not valued.

Jimmy's Parents & Jimmy's Childhood

Both Jimmy's mother and father had significant effects on his childhood, however the primary focus was often on the fact that Jimmy's mother's behaviors had seriously negative effects on Jimmy's perception of himself and of his relationship to his mother. In the novel, we can also find references (although less frequent and more subtle) to the ways that Jimmy's father negatively impacted his childhood. In several flashbacks we see that Jimmy's father seemed to unintentionally disregard him. He always forgets Jimmy's birthday and always has an excuse as to why he forgot such an "important" and "special" day. In order to make up for forgetting Jimmy's birthday, he always comes home the next day with an expensive or special present for Jimmy, as if to apologize for not being the father that Jimmy needs. The relationship between Jimmy's mother and father is also detrimental to Jimmy's well-being. He notices the way they speak to each other—his mother's disinterest or criticism of everything his father does and his father's anger towards his mother bothers him. He has an unhappy growing up. He does not blatantly show this to anyone, but it is seen through some of his actions such as acting out scenes about his parents in the lunchroom. It shows how lonely he is when he talks about his truest friend being Killer, the pet rakunk that his dad gave him for his birthday. His parents, though they do care for him, do so in an awkward, apologetic, offhand way which deeply affects Jimmy as he grows up.