Читать книгу: «Exploring dystopia»
Lea Aures
Exploring dystopia
An analysis of Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
Titel
Table of contents
1.Introduction
2. Summary
3. Biography
4. Genre
5. Stylistic devices
6. Implementation of characteristic themes
7. Margaret Atwood's admonition to future generations
8. Conclusion
Bibliography
Impressum neobooks
Table of contents
1.Introduction
2. Summary
3. Biography
4. Genre
5. Stylistic devices
5.1. Narrative technique
5.1.1. Narrative perspective
5.1.2. Narrative timeline
5.1.3. Additional narrative thread
5.2. The choice of names
5.2.1. Names of the main characters
5.2.2. Names of brands and companies
6. Implementation of characteristic themes
6.1. Language
6.2. Religion
6.3. Power
7. Margaret Atwood's admonition to future generations
7.1. Environment
7.2. Genetic engineering
8. Conclusion
Bibliography
1.Introduction
“[The bonds that] hold nature together may be at risk of unraveling” (internet source 6).The United Nations report 2019 warns of a mass extinction. One million species might vanish from our earth within the next years. Thoughtless human action has caused this development that will surely have “serious consequences for human beings as well as the rest of life on Earth” (internet source 6). (cf. internet source 6)
Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake, published in 2003, predicted the situation we currently find ourselves in. Atwood is not a scientist working with statistics and probabilities. She is an author creating fictional situations. She could have chosen a more comfortable topic. So what was her intention in writing Oryx and Crake? That is the question this paper is meant to answer. Based on this question the following aspects are going to be discussed: How did Margaret Atwood's life influence her writing? Which formal elements did she use in Oryx and Crake to transfer her message? What are characteristic themes of Atwood's novels and how are they implemented in Oryx and Crake? In what way can Oryx and Crake be seen as an admonition to future generations?
2. Summary
Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake tells about the so-called “zero hour”. Humanity was eliminated by a man-made disease. The protagonist Snowman – formerly Jimmy1 – is the last surviving human as far as he knows. He involuntarily became guardian of the Crakers, genetically engineered beings who are meant to replace the human race. The mad but brilliant scientist Crake, designer of the pandemic as well as of the Crakers, used to be his best friend. He died right at the beginning of the pandemic together with Oryx, with whom they were both in love. Left without the two people he loved the most, Snowman does his best to survive in the post-apocalyptic world. Through flashbacks of his life before the pandemic he gradually unravels the causes of the disaster.
3. Biography
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939 as the second of three children. Her father, Carl Edmund Atwood, was a zoologist and her mother, Margaret Dorothy Killiam, used to work as a nutritionist. From the age of sixteen Margaret Atwood studied at University of Toronto and later at Harvard. In the 1980s she spent some time in Germany, England and France. Today she lives in Toronto. (cf. Quimbaya 2011: 1-2)
Atwood has published works of several literary genres including science fiction, speculative fiction, historical fiction and realistic fiction. Many of her books including Oryx and Crake treat science as an important topic. She affirms that this is related to her father being a scientist and interesting her in this field. Other issues her books often deal with are the power of language, the necessity of storytelling, religion, feminism, power and truth. Her novel Oryx and Crake was published in 2003. (cf. Quimbaya 2011: 1-2)
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