In the novel Oryx and Crake, killers, people who stole, rapist and political criminal have to choose between getting killed or playing a game of paintball that could be fatal. The only way you can get out alive is by survive the time of your sentence.
In Oryx and Crake, people were betting on the paintball game. The only problem is that the criminals who put their lives in danger do not receive any of the profits generated by the paintball games while Corpse Corpscollects money through these criminals. This reminds of the Collegial Basketball League NCAA(National Collegiate Athletic Association), a league in which the large American universities inquire millions of dollars through their sponsor and sports bets. While the big American universities generate millions of dollars through their basketball program, the player who risk their future career in the NBA(National Basketball Association) do not receive any money. For example Duke university has a sponsor contract with Nike which means that every player from Duke university has to have a Nike shoe to publicize Nike. One of Duke university, Zion Williamson suffered an injury to his right knee due to the Nike shoe he was wearing.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWtObstsKdE)
NCAA basketball league and paintball are similar in the sense that in both of these game, the players are putting their life and futures in danger and aren’t receiving anything in return. Whereas, the universities or CorpSeCorpsare getting money out of it. Do you agree with me ? Do you think people from the paintball should receive money after their time? Do you think NCAA should pay their athletes even if they are students? Knowing that these universities earn millions of dollars with their basketball program, do you think these layer deserve to get pay ?
In Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, Atwood addresses a lot of global and social issues. For instance, she wrote about education, health, gene-splitting, business and democracy.
However, one issue that takes up a lot of space are personal relationships. Are these just here to make the story more interesting and dramatic? I think not. I think that all the dysfunctional relationships that we saw in the book are really at the core of the unfolding of all these dystopian disasters.
What does Jimmy master that Crake doesn’t? It’s pleasing a crowd and maintaining (when he wants) personal relationships. Jimmy has social skills that he doesn’t use for the best (granted), but has developed an acute sense of how others think.
Crake on the other hand, seems to be at least partially motivated to create the Crakers to “end romantic pain”. Could this be his attempt at dealing with romantic shortcomings himself? Being a student at Watson Crick and having “workers” serve his sexual needs allows him to be sexually satisfied without developing the social skills that normal people develop in order to satisfy those needs. Could Crake’s plan of destroying humanity come from a repressed feeling of inadequacy and denial of his lack of social tact?
What happens when someone doesn’t have good personal relationships? Like Crake, that person might seek to fulfill a sense of importance and love by throwing themselves into a mission, a cause in an extreme way. And what happens when an isolated individual fully commits to a cause, an end without regard for the means? Extremism.
That’s why George Orwell said that “Sex is a political act”. When you have someone you love more than an abstract concept, you remove power from that abstract concept. Whether it’s The State, or Science, or Immortality, an abstract concept should never come before loving the people around us. What could’ve been of Crake if he had someone to love, someone to talk some sense and compassion into him? I think that Atwood argues that it is better to have dysfunctional relationships than none at all. What do you think? Could’ve sane and healthy relationships saved Crake and the world?
You’ve guessed it! Animal-free milk will soon hit the shelves this year in grocery stores. If you are all about saving the world from potential incoming disaster, well you might just start thinking about buying Perfect Day’s milk! Their product is made throughout a process called cellular culture. A micro flora is replicated with time and energy and is then used to create dairy proteins. Same taste for a different process!
This earth friendly product will produce a smaller footprint by reducing land space usage, green house gas emission and energy consumption. That is all possible by putting aside cows for milk production. A lot of food is required to feed cows, but far less to grow cells that produce milk. But wait, there’s more! For all of you that are lactose intolerant, worry no more, you will now be able to enjoy back the taste of dairy products like ice cream or cheese!
Now, you might ask: “Is there any inconvenience with laboratory made milk?” Think about our Canadian farmers. If everyone started buying animal-free milk because it is better for our dear Earth and our health as previously seen, could it result in lost of jobs? Could this result with only one company running the whole milk business just like with Happicuppa?
In the first book of the novel we get introduced to this company who runs the entire business of beans. Small businesses are forced to be shut down in front of this larger rival company. Their product sells more which lead them to take even more expansion. At first sight, Happicuppa doesn’t seem to have much of a negative impact on our planet. Problem occur when Jimmy starts hearing of the destruction of many forests for the plantation of more beans. Atwood wants to tell us that leaders do not always do things for the greater good but will take bad decisions for money.
Now, maybe it is too soon to even think Perfect Day will ever take control over the whole business. Maybe too few people will want a drink of animal-free milk, but if everyone does get interested there will be consequences. So, are you ready consumers?
Some of you might have heard of the massive college admissions scandal in the US that’s come to light in the past few weeks. A number of wealthy parents of college applicants have been charged by the federal government for “bribery, phony test scores, and made-up résumés”. Even Aunt Becky* (aka actress Lori Loughlin, aka lots of $$$) went to the extent of getting her daughters PHOTOSHOPPED on a rowing team in order to get them into USC (University of Southern California).
*(sorry if you didn’t watch the show Full House and don’t understand the reference)
Now, in all seriousness, this whole scandal REALLY ticked me off because when rich parents pay their kids way into college, they are 100% robbing another applicant’s spot, one who has actually worked hard for what they deserve and didn’t just use mommy and daddy’s money. This whole scandal sparked the intense discussion about inequality in college admissions and the advantage wealth brings forward. Whether it be through large sums of money donations, or even boosting transcripts, several wealthy students are subject to unfair benefits. However, it’s important to also take in consideration all of these colleges, admission officers, coaches, etc., that are turning a blind eye and actually accepting this money. They are clearly to blame as well.
Atwood’s novels Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood both subtly show how wealth, power and connections can help a student get into the college of their choice, even if they don’t have any academic merit. Jimmy, being a “mid-range student” (Atwood 173), somehow managed to still get into Martha Graham Academy. And when I say somehow, I mean with a little help from the fact his dad knows the college’s president personally.
“Jimmy was knocked down at last to the Martha Graham Academy; and even that only after a long spell of lacklustre bidding. Not to mention some arm-twisting -Jimmy suspected- on the part of his dad, who’d known the Martha Graham president (…)”
(Atwood 174)
Let’s not forget about how Ren (or should I say Brenda?) got into… once again… Martha Graham as well! Any expectations of her let alone getting into college were pretty low. Yet, at last Mama Lucerne to the rescue! With her fresh new status as the on-again wife of a HelthWyzer Compound scientist, Lucerne was able to help her daughter secure a spot in the Martha Graham Academy.
“My marks were poor, I didn’t think I’d get in anywhere for college (…) But Lucerne pulled some strings, I heard her talking about it to one of her golf-club friends (…) ”
Any of these situations sound familiar with how in our current society, mediocre rich kids are getting admitted into elite colleges? It really does infuriate me how the education system can favor wealth over actual merit. Shouldn’t all students be on a fair-playing field when it comes to getting into college? Shouldn’t it be your actual grades that determine your acceptance into universities and not your parent’s bank accountor social status?
Works cited:
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. Vintage Canada, 2003.
Atwood, Margaret. The Year of the Flood. Vintage Canada, 2009.
I don’t know what it feels like to be starving, scared and surrounded by a circle of biological fluids. I do however, understand Jimmy and Crake’s obsession with reality TV. Whether it’s Keeping up With the Kardashians or The Bachelor, you too probably have a guilty pleasure reality TV show. Sure, the programs Jimmy and Crake watch display violent acts that we would consider disturbing and immoral. But the general approach they have to these shows is identical to ours: we know it can’t all be real, yet we can’t look away.
Most of the shows that Jimmy and Crake watch in their free time are reality shows, meaning that the action taking place is not scripted, or so they are lead to believe. Most of these shows display a level of raw violence that I personally find disturbing. The live executions streamed from Asia on hedsoff.com and the thieves punished by hand amputation on alibooboo.com are only some examples of the cruel entertainment Jimmy and Crake watch to relax after a hard day at school. Why don’t they find these shows shocking? Perhaps because they lack the genuineness that defines reality TV. Crake believes that “these bloodfests were probably taking place on a back lot somewhere in California, with a bunch of extras rounded up off the streets.” Real or staged, I certainly wouldn’t want to watch. Would you?
Of course not! You have morals! Yet you gladly watch Kim Kardashian weep because she lost her 75 000$ earring during her luxurious vacation in Bora Bora (TRAGIC, right!! Do not worry though, Kylie allegedly found it so we can all go back to focusing on issues of lesser importance such as climate change!!). Meanwhile, Jimmy watches Anna K wax her bikini line and tweeze her eyebrows. While you watch a Trisha Paytas’ video titled “EPIC MUKBANG WITH SHANE DAWSON! (10,000+ CALORIES) | ALL MY FAVORITE FOODS EATING SHOW”, Jimmy and Crake watch the Queek Geek Show, where people compete to see who can eat the most live animal meat in a set amount of time. Are we and Jimmy really that different?
Here’s the video, in case you are not one of the current 5.3 million views
A study by Penn State researchers has found that “the most appealing aspect of reality television is its power to make audience members feel like part of the action.” Knowing that events take place in the same world you live in makes them more exciting because you can relate to them in concrete ways. Maybe you have been to Bora Bora yourself or you too have eaten copious amounts of chicken nuggets then felt like you couldn’t move for three hours straight. Even the smallest possibility of reality in a narrative work of fiction spikes our interest, which is why “based on a true story” is often included in books and movies.
Though it may not be fully real, there is some realness to reality television, which is why these shows entertain broad audiences. Not knowing what is real and what is fake is exciting for the viewer. If the Kardashians family drama was proven to be staged, would we still care enough to watch their show?
As we know so far, the God’s
Gardeners are a group of individuals who believe that following the path of God
is the only way of life. The Gardeners have been set up to be an altruistic
group of people who are trying to prepare humanity for the Waterless Flood. They
follow a vegetarian lifestyle to help save the animals, they help those who are
in need of help, they protect one another. What good people, right? WRONG!
Is it even possible for people to be
this good? I might just be going crazy, but something fishy is going on with
the Gardeners. They almost seem too innocent to be true.
This is what shows up in my mind whenever I think about the Gardeners
For those
of you questioning my sanity, here me out.
After having read Oryx and Crake, we know that the famous
apocalypse where we meet Toby is the aftermath of Crake’s BlyssPuss pill,
created with the intention of wiping out a large chunk of humanity. We have
come to know that this apocalypse is also called the Waterless Flood.
Right from the moment we meet Adam
One, we hear talk of this Waterless Flood designed to rid the world of God’s
mistakes. But if this so call flood happened due to a pill, how was Adam One able
to predict it happening? Something here just doesn’t add up for me.
From the
start, I didn’t like the Gardeners. It is humanely impossible for a large group
of people to be so perfect. Everyone has flaws. In the wise words of Hannah
Montana: “Nobody’s perfect, you live and you learn it”. Meaning the Gardeners
too.
Seeing all the hidden secrecy going
on with the Adams and Eves behind the other Gardeners back confirmed my theory
that something is not right. Then Glenn (Crake) shows up at the market asking
to talk to Pilar?! Tell me you didn’t also find that strange?
Is
there something evil going behind closed doors? Or was all of this just some
giant coincidence?
Having spent the weekend in Ottawa, Ontario, better known as Margaret Atwood’s place of birth, I’ve had the opportunity to drink in all that this city has to offer. And let me tell you, there is no shortage of culture in these streets. From the University of Ottawa to the Royal Canadian Mint, from Parliament to the Rideau Canal, from the Ottawa Art Gallery to Eddy’s Diner on Bank Street, a rich, dynamic community is always at your doorstep.
The city of Ottawa on a map
At this point, you may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with speculative fiction and the collapse of modern art and technology?”
Well, friends, let me tell you all about how my world view got flip-turned upside down by one passage in Atwood’s “The Year of the Flood” and one art gallery I wandered into while upset at my boyfriend this weekend.
“Then I had to get past the Wall,” she said
“What wall?”
“Don’t you watch the news? The Wall they’re building to keep the Tex refugees out”
(Atwood 85)
Reading this sent a shiver down my spine. Having published this novel in 2009, Atwood certainly wouldn’t have known the reality of her words a decade later. It was at this point that I realized one thing as clear as day: Margaret Atwood truly is a modern-day oracle.
I sought other occurrences of Atwood’s psychic powers throughout the novel, and fell upon her debate between art and technology. Fueled by a previous blog entry, I knew I had to address this issue. It was clear to me that Atwood was predicting a future where art is obsolete and technology runs the world.
Here, folks, is where the art gallery comes into the frame (art joke).
Walking into the Ottawa Art Gallery, I was immediately entranced by the various projects on display. It showcased every aspect of Ottawa’s culture. I couldn’t help but notice two exhibits in particular.
Juan Geuer’s Luminous Precision struck a cord with me. Essentially, this artist combines art with technology to create splendidly interactive and educational art. Who’d have guessed that two concepts so different in design could serve the same purpose? That the Words people and the Numbers people could come together to create something truly remarkable? That Martha Graham and Watson-Crick could work on an equal playing field?
Michèle Provost’s Everything Must Go/Liquidation Totale provides a grim view of the future of art and it’s loss of meaning and importance. Is this what Atwood meant to convey through Martha Graham? Or through the message Amanda sends in her unique form of art?
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is proof of Atwood’s superhuman capabilities, oracle-like tendencies, and the possible collapse of modern art and technology. Did she know all along, or is human tendency so predictable?
I never seem to get a moment of rest. Somehow, I always find myself doing something. I either have an endless list of things to get done or I’m just on my phone mindlessly scrolling through Instagram. At some point, it just starts to feel like my brain is running in this damn hamster wheel and it all gets so irritating. This world that we have built for ourselves is one of great comfort but sometimes, it can also be soul-draining.
In The Year of The Flood, the main protagonist group of the novel, the Gardeners, can be essentially characterized as “connected with nature”. Everything they to do seems to be in harmony with nature while the outside world, which resembles much like our modern society, does have an ounce of life in it. Also, the Gardeners are the only characters in the entire novel that appear to have some sense of morality in their actions. The more we read, the more this contrast becomes clear to us. Margaret Atwood is clearly pointing out that there’s something wrong with our modern lifestyle as opposed to the lifestyle of these Gardeners.
This is a beautiful moment that I shared with my friends this summer in a beautiful forest in Japan. Photo taken by my friend Anthony.
I don’t know about you but for me, many of the most serene moments I’ve ever had in my life were spent in nature. It’s hard to explain with words, but if you have ever experienced this feeling, you know that nature just has this unique quality that makes you feel at home. It sucks you in and keeps you right there. It empties your mind and fills your soul.
With the way our world works, it seems like everyone’s lives are in fast motion and it shouldn’t be like this. It can quickly become too much for any of us to handle. In these moments, I feel like nature is the perfect antidote for all of this. These days, we are too disconnected from nature, and it’s not good for any of us! So let’s go! Get out there!
Who would have thought that the Japanese novel Battle Royalecould spawn a whole legacy of dystopian works? It has created a new dystopian genre called “battle royale” (go figure) where multiple combatants are thrown in an area to fight each other so that one victor may emerge.
We’ve all seen this craze of battle royales from movies to video games. Hell, it’s like they’re having a battle royale between themselves!
But now let’s just apply this in theory… and in practice. Could you imagine if we did have a battle royale-based justice system? Think about it. Could we bear to see killers and rapists and thieves rise to fame? Could we tolerate seeing criminals accumulating so much strength to the point of being feared even from authorities?
Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood explores this with “Painball”, a space where criminals of all kinds are sent to choose between “being spraygunned to death or doing time in the Painball Arena”. Those who choose Painball are usually the toughest criminals, thrown in a twisted and lethal version of regular paintball: “a hit in the eyes would blind you, and if you got the paint on your skin you’d start to corrode”. They are separated into the Red and Gold teams and people can see the fight with hidden cameras.
Fighting to redeem –or in The Year of the Flood, intensify– criminal behaviour isn’t a new idea. Now I can’t be the only one who thought this was screaming Hunger Games. It’s such a cliché nowadays but it’s true. Although I feel like the Hunger Games talks about scapegoating an action rather than gratifying it, the idea is the same: you are thrown in an area and must fight for your survival. No trial, no due process, just live.
And as you would imagine, horrible things are done to the kills like body mutilation, head cutting, tearing hanging, you name it. Not to mention what’s done when they’re hungry…
“After a while […] you wouldn’t just cross the line, you’d forget there ever were any lines. You’d do whatever it takes” (99).
“I never watched the Painball Arena website myself. It was too disgusting” (131).
The Painballers who make it out alive are then released and treated as victors in places like Scales and Tails. And a lot of them would lash out again, only to go back to Painball and become more violent. How convenient… We see this especially with Blanco, who’s constantly sent and released while becoming even more violent, frightening Toby everywhere she goes.
“Even the CorpSeCorps professionals were scared of the long-term Painballers” (98).
Prison violence in Brazil feels a lot like the violence Painballers do, both in and out of Painball…
Scary dystopian stuff, right? Well, it’s not all fiction either. It’s no secret that prison violence is a problem not just in the US, but in Canada and the UK as well. Not to mention Brazil, one of the more extreme examples. Sometimes the guards don’t even bother and just leave the prisoners to themselves. And we all know about hand-made weapons, yard riots, gangs and prison hierarchies. Sounds a bit familiar yet? Now imagine this on the scale that The Year of the Flood lays out with the Painballers. I’d rather get shot, thank you very much!
The Painballers are not judged according to the rule of law because there isn’t any, for starters. Rather, they get to decide their fate and they can thanks to their physical strength.
Most female and political criminals don’t choose Painball because they know they wouldn’t “stand a chance”, so they go for the spraygun. So when it comes to Painballers, might makes right. This perversion of law promotes suffering of the weak and pleasure of the strong over rehabilitation as the perpetrators get trapped in a vicious cycle.
Painball also seems to me to be a cruel and twisted and demented and sadistic version of the death penalty. We may disagree on the State carrying out executions, but to have criminals left to themselves, only to brutalize and mutilate each other, doesn’t solve anything. If your intention is to get rid of violence by executing the perpetrators and you don’t want to share the Earth with them, why send them to fight when the victors will come out more violent and cause more mayhem, only to be sent back and come out even more violent and cause even more mayhem? Seems to defeat the whole concept of capital punishment, don’t you think?
In a society where violence is rewarded, might makes right. And when the tough get tougher in that society, plight creates fright. So, do we really want to be in Toby’s shoes and constantly be oppressed by the fear of battle royale champions? Only the future will tell us how far we’re willing to go.
The novel, Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood, explores the beliefs of what perfection and immortality should be. Imagine, a world where you could go to any store and buy products in order to prevent any imperfections on your body and face (wrinkles, pimples, scars, stretch marks) Keep in mind that these products would actually work. What would the world look like? A bunch of perfect human beings right? But here’s the question, what is perfect? What is the true meaning of beauty? Let’s find out…
As we all know, Crake is trying to create immorality through the BlyssPluss pill. This pill is designed to “protect the user against all known sexually transmitted diseases, provide unlimited supply of libido and sexual prowess, and prolong youth” (Atwood 294). According to him, in order to be perfect you must not have any imperfections. This leads to his second invention: the Crakers, these individuals portray the ideal human, “they were so beautiful. Black, yellow, white, brown, all available skin colours. Each individual was exquisite” (Atwood 302).
Throughout the novel, there are many industries promoting perfection and immortality. For example, Anooyoo the place you could rely on for obtaining radiant, younger, looking skin. OrganInc farms where they create the perfect organ tissues in order to guarantee healthy organs. Let’s not forget about the shops located in the Pleeblands for example, the Street of Dreams. Whatever you desire is yours “people come here from all over the world- they shop around. Gender, sexual orientation, height, colour of skin, and eyes, -it’s all on order, it can all be done or redone” (Atwood 289). Basically, creating a person into a robot, is this really the true meaning of beauty?
Our generation today is constantly in fear of not fulfilling the stereotypes given to men and women especially adolescents. The image of the ideal female is that she must be thin and have long hair. Men must be muscular and tall. That is perfect. That is the only way someone will take interest in you, isn’t it? If you have pimples you aren’t normal, everyone knows if you have acne you have to buy Proactive to get rid of it. Ladies, cover those stretch marks, they’re not cute. Glasses are so ugly, when are people going to understand the concept of buying contacts! We are constantly getting judged, made fun of because of our imperfections, we are told we must get rid of them by either: taking medications, creams and soaps, or getting surgeries to change the way we look.
Everyday something is being created in order to prevent hair loss, dry skin, diseases, infections, or anything else you can possibly think of that’s “bad” for the human body. This stuff may work temporarily but will it really work for the long run? There is bound to be defects just like in the Blysspluss pill, the Crakers, and the Pigoons. Therefore, what’s the point in striving for perfection? It is like trying to stay alive forever which is clearly impossible.
Lets’ not be a Craker, let’s not think like Crake. Let’s be ourselves and accept our insecurties and imperfections, because the truth is: everyone has them. And that my friends, is the true meaning of beauty. So now, tell me, what do you define beauty as?
Pigoons And Paradice 
