Summary: Epigraphs & Chapter 1
Oryx and Crake
begins with a pair of epigraphs from literary sources. The first epigraph comes from Jonathan Swift’s 1726 novel
Gulliver’s Travels
. In this passage, Swift’s narrator claims that he will not astonish his reader with “strange improbable tales,” but rather relate his story “in the simplest manner and style.” The second epigraph comes from Virginia Woolf’s 1927 novel
To the Lighthouse
. This passage consists of three questions, each of which asks about how to navigate through the dangerous “ways of the world.”
The novel proper opens with a man named Snowman waking up just before dawn. He can hear the rhythms of waves, which are crashing into large piles of rusting cars and rubble that have accumulated on the beach. Snowman climbs down from the tree and walks to a hidden cache where he stores food and other supplies. Before eating his last mango, he recites a quote to himself. He doesn’t know where the words come from, but they make him think of European colonialism.
Later that morning, Snowman observes a group of naked people playing on the beach, collecting pieces of flotsam that have washed up on shore. Although Snowman refers to these people as the Children of Crake, they are, in fact, mostly adults. Snowman reflects on the differences between these “children” and himself. For example, they are resistant to UV light, whereas he must hide from the sun. Snowman wonders whether his attitude toward the Children of Crake is one of envy or nostalgia.
Snowman reflects on his name, which he based on the “Abominable Snowman.” The name brings him pleasure for the way it violates a rule that a person named Crake once made about selecting a name. Crake said that “no name could be chosen for which a physical equivalent . . . could not be demonstrated.”
Some of the Children of Crake come to Snowman and ask about his beard. Snowman replies that he’s growing feathers. Unlike him, the Children of Crake have bare faces.
Later, on the beach, Snowman speaks aloud to himself: “All, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea.” Snowman reflects on his desire to hear another human voice, and soon thereafter he hears the voice of a woman in his ear, an echo from his past. He can’t figure out which woman the voice belongs to, but he suspects it might belong to a prostitute, since she’s commenting on his “nice abs.” This isn’t the voice Snowman wants to hear. He begins to cry, and his chest feels tight. He screams at the ocean, cursing Crake and blaming him for the current state of the world: “You did this!” Snowman waits for an answer that doesn’t come. He wipes tears from his face and tells himself, “Get a life.”
Analysis: Epigraphs & Chapter 1
Each of the epigraphs to
Oryx and Crake
offers a different way to frame the narrative to come. The first epigraph comes from
Gulliver’s Travels
, a novel by Jonathan Swift that follows the character Lemuel Gulliver through his improbable journeys to four very strange lands. Despite the fantastical nature of Gulliver’s experiences, he claims that his main aim was to educate rather than simply amuse the reader. As such, he composed his travelogue in a plain style meant to indicate the truth of what he went through. Though clearly a work of fiction, Swift had Gulliver attest to the truth of his travels in order to suggest to his readers that fiction, though strictly made up, may nonetheless have true things to say about the world. Atwood’s use of this passage from
Gulliver’s Travels
suggests that though the events recounted in
Oryx and Crake
are fictional, they have something to say about where the “real” world might be headed. In other words, though Atwood has not based her novel on a true story, the events depicted in the novel could nonetheless become true in the future.
Atwood’s second epigraph comes from Virginia Woolf’s novel
To the Lighthouse
, and taken as a whole, it asks what a person should do if they lack guidance, shelter, and a basic sense of safety. As the reader will find out, the sense of chaos and lack of control conjured in this epigraph applies well to the character Snowman, who may be the sole survivor of a catastrophic event and now has nothing to guide his existence in a post-apocalyptic world. In addition to this thematic significance, the Woolf epigraph also signals something important about the narrative structure of
Oryx and Crake
. Woolf’s novel is famous for taking place in two different times, ten years apart from one another. Similarly, Atwood’s novel follows two different narratives that take place at different times. Specifically, the novel tells of Snowman’s experiences in the present time as well as Snowman’s past. The epigraph from
To the Lighthouse
thus also indicates an important relationship between past and present in
Oryx and Crake
.
The novel proper opens on a post-apocalyptic world where the sun poses a serious hazard and the ocean crashes against piles of rusting junk. Though the reader does not yet have any details about what events led to the current situation, we find numerous references to past events in the thoughts of the protagonist, Snowman. Snowman’s most emotionally intense thoughts point to a person named Crake. Crake clearly had something to do with whatever happened. Based on the differences between Snowman and the Children of Crake, the reader can infer that the Children are the products of some kind of genetic experiments, and that Crake may have been the scientist who spearheaded those experiments. Even so, it remains unclear what the Children of Crake might have to do with the current state of the world. The fragmentary nature of Snowman’s thoughts helps build suspense by presenting partial information that the narrative to come promises to complete.
In addition to his thoughts about Crake, Snowman hears voices from the past that constantly remind him of his loneliness. The voices indicate that Snowman feels preoccupied with the life he has lost and maybe even haunted by his memories of that life. Aside from the voices of others, Snowman talks to himself. Some of what Snowman says aloud comes from books he once read, though he can’t seem to remember what they were. For example, he recites: “It is the strict adherence to daily routine that tends toward the maintenance of good morale and the preservation of sanity.” These words come from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel about time travel,
Slaughterhouse-Five
. Later, when he says the words “All, all alone,” Snowman is quoting a line from the British Romantic poet Samuel Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Both Vonnegut’s novel and Coleridge’s poem concern individuals struggling to navigate desperate situations, much like Snowman, and their inclusion in the first chapter sets the stage for a tense and stark tale.
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