Wow, the word that in my opinion best sums up my reaction to this last segment of Oryx and Crake. One thing that really resonated with me while reading about Crake’s enterprises is how much he reminded me of a Bond villain,specifically that of the Bond villain in the film Moonraker, in the sense that in Crake’s mind his mission is a extremely noble one and that he is ultimately in the right. I would assume that most people who read Oryx and Crake associate Crake as the antagonist in the story, but to Crake he feels that the extreme measures he takes to correct the human condition are necessary in order to make the world a better place. Crake’s perspective is best summed up in the following quote:
“The BlyssPluss Pill would also act as a sure-fire one-time-does-it-all birth-control pill, for male and female alike, thus automatically lowering the population level…Such a pill, he said, would confer large-scale benefits, not only on individual users – although it had to appeal to these or it would be a failure in the marketplace – but on society as a whole; and not only on society, but on the planet.”(471)
Excerpt From: Margaret Atwood. “Oryx and Crake.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/f5Qiz.l
In the context of the “BlyssPluss Pill” Crake rationalizes his covering up of the fourth effect of the pill, the fourth effect being that of a “one-time-does-it-all birth-control pill, for male and female alike,” because although people will be upset by the fact that they can no longer reproduce and have kids, thus the pill would effectively “lower the population level”. By lowering the population Crake attests that this will allow for “large-scale benefits,” such as the benefit of using less resources, therefore sustaining and protecting them for future generations to come. The cruel twist to this result though is that when Crake references future generations he is referring to his creations, the Crakers. In his mind they’re perfect in the sense that they have been genetically engineered to not have any of the negative attributes associated with the human condition. The villain in Moonraker justifies killing off all of Earths population in order to repopulate it with genetically perfect humans. Crake is practically the same as he justifies tne genocide of the entire human population as necessary due to the “large-scale benefits… not only on society, but on the planet”(471). Thus, Crake concludes that humans are destroying the Earth and in order to prevent its destruction humans must be done away with. Ultimately, just like the concept in Moonraker, Crakers—genetically perfects individuals— would repopulate the Earth. I think that the anti-hero parallel between the villain in Moonraker and Crake is uncanny. In both cases, some ideas they have and opinion on things are hard not to agree with. For instance, protecting the planet is a very noble and righteous belief and stance, but some people take these noble objectives the extreme, eco-terrorists for example, thats actions do more harm than good.
Therefore, my question to the class is do you see Crake as a villain for destroying human civilization or as a hero because his actions ultimately protected the Earth from further anthropological harm?
My follow up question is do you think that extreme measures must be taken in order to solve extreme problems or conflicts such as the ones that the society in Oryx and Crake are consumed by?
I definitely see Crake as a villain. His actions do not protect the Earth from further harm, they destroy the only being that could save it, which are people. Crake littered the world with the remains of humanity, leaving little to no hope for any reconstruction of the natural elements of Earth, because the pigoons and the Crakers are not going to fix it.
I’m not sure extreme measures have to be taken on by the government or big companies in order to fix the world in Oryx and Crake. I think the only way to solve the issue would be for everyone to dedicate themselves to empathy, focusing on breaking down corruption in smaller ways. The change has to be widespread, not just extreme, in order for the society as a whole to move in a positive direction.
I also see Crake as a villain, but an unconscious villain. Crake has been surrounded by both cruel and uncaring circumstances his whole life – his father’s death and his mother’s lack of emotion. His solution for the extremely troubled world in Oryx & Crake is annihilation and repopulation with genetically modified organisms, but he doesn’t see the irony within this remedy. The Crakers are basic beings, beautiful and efficient yes, but basic. They need some form of deity to worship and lead them (Oryx, Crake and Snowman), and without they wouldn’t do well. Furthermore, they wouldn’t be able to recreate any form of complex society comparable to what humans had made. In essence, Crake is a narcissist – he models the new world after his own way of seeing life, vacant and pragmatic.
I wish I could answer your second question. I believe that violence of any sort is unnecessary for impactful change, however I highly doubt that what is being done now is enough. Corporations green-label everything in order to seem more eco-friendly but don’t actually do much other than spend the money on ad campaigns, people are less skeptic of what they hear on the news and we wage wars in foreign countries that since we can’t see, we don’t understand their ramifications. The most impacted are the poorest, so in a country like the U.S. there is even less pressure to act, but sooner than later the impact will be felt even here at home. I just hope that it won’t be too late at that point to come back from our perch atop the tipping point.
I agree with the others, though I admit I am late to the party. Crake needs to be the villain, not only because we destroyed all (or at least most of) humanity, but because as a reader I liked Jimmy too much for Crake not to be the bad guy. Not that Jimmy is without fault, the way he objectifies and takes advantage of women is quite alarming, but he is a product of his environment, nothing more nor less. In addition I agree more specifically with Francesco in that while I do find Crake’s actions appalling, I also believe his heart to be in the right place. Growing up Crake suffered extensively, stuck with parents who felt like they were stuck with him, his mom, let’s remember, barely even remembered his name. All Crake really wanted to do was make the world a better place. If he could have simply ridded the globe of all sexual longing and desire, done away with old age and reduced humanity’s ecological destruction any other way I’m sure he would have. His brilliant mind, however, knew it could do these things, just in a devastatingly horrific way.