The End of a Journey ... Or the Beginning?

From page 280 onwards to the end of the book, WOW there is a lot of crazy stuff happening. The plot is so juicy and contains so much vital information. It is also extremely rich in literary devices and criticisms!



From a Feminist Point of View
GET YOUR FEMINIST GLASSES ON RIGHT NOW AND DON'T YOU DARE TAKE THEM OFF. I could not even get 3 pages into this section without SOMETHING going on involving feminist criticism... Why does Jimmy just decide to like married women now?? Who is this woman, what is her name, how about we give her a name and a backstory instead of saying "She was a fine woman with real tits and problems of her own" (p 285) and not treat her like an object?? I spy with my little eye MALE GAZE.

He doesn't even remotely care about this woman, but asks her to leave her husband only for him. Why is he so demanding of someone that he doesn't care about? Why did Atwood do this? I think she did this to really develop the character that Jimmy was becoming. To show us that, no Jimmy isn't perfect and he can really be disrespectful. This adds so much depth to Jimmy's character and who he's become, because I recall very early in the novel he cared greatly about his mother (chapter 2 subsection "Lunch") and Wakulla Price (p 55), but as he becomes older he doesn't care about women as much as he previously did.

Where Have I Seen This Before?
On page 290, The Great Gatsby just popped up in my head, "It figured, Jimmy thought: in the olden days, bootleggers had seldom been drunks" (p 290). This allowed me to compare and contrast not only these two very different novels, but also very different points in time. Jay Gatsby was similar to a bootlegger in the late 1910s and early 1920s, which is how he earned his money. The fact that something that was happening 100 years ago in present-day time is being referenced in a novel set in the future is really surprising. Could it be that Atwood was trying to allow readers to contrast the huge differences between the past and what could be the future?

A Little Alliteration Association

"Unlike the latter species, the bonobo had not been partially monogamous with polygamous and polyandrous tendencies. Instead it had been indiscriminately promiscuous, had not pair bonded" (p 293). Why did she write this? The bonobo species weren't monogamous.. instead they were polygamous and polyandrous... they had more than one lover and they didn't form any close relationships with their sexual partners. This directly correlates to Jimmy on page 285 when he has multiple relationships with married women and doesn't end up having any long-term relationships with any of them. Alliteration, but also compare and contrast between the bonobo species and the "new" Jimmy.... well done Atwood. 

Foreshadowing Hidden in the Shadows

At multiple points in the novel Crake was very suspicious, especially when he says, " "It's an airlock," said Crake "As in spaceships. [...] In case this place ever has to be sealed off," said Crake. "Hostile bioforms, toxin attacks, fanatics. The usual." " (p 298). All of the description words Crake used, the reader could then use later to describe what HE was doing. I got a very eerie feeling when I read this... and later I found out why. Those words were deliberately used to be exact descriptions of what Crake was planning.. "hostile bioforms" "toxin attacks". The way Atwood exploits foreshadowing in ways that are difficult to notice really add depth to the story, because it seems as though every word a character has said can be very significant later on in the novel. 

Simile for the Camera!

When Alex the parrot comes to Snowman in a dream, it was green then began turning red "as if it's a parrot-shaped light bulb filling up with blood" (p 336) and then suddenly vanished. What did this mean? Why was this significant? Why did Atwood include this in the story? Was it because Snowman was in the presence of the dead bodies of both Crake and Oryx, which was messing with his brain? Was this some guilt about killing Crake that was shown through a bad dream? Was Snowman associated the blood on his hands from killing his best friend, with something from his childhood? Does this relate back to his mother and how she died ON TV without him saying anything about it?

When Snowman first had to take care of the Craker Children he thought that "these people were like blank pages" (p 349), meaning that to him, they were some sort of fresh start. Snowman was able to change his name, and completely alter the outlook on life that the Craker Children would have. But it seems like he isn't necessarily only comparing the Craker Children to a blank page... he's comparing his life to a blank page. No more humans (that he knows about) to deal with, no more working for Crake, no more Crake, no more Oryx, no more old life. This double comparison adds a lot of complexity to the plot since Jimmy saw this as a new opportunity for himself rather than for the Children.

Hardcore Metaphor
When the JUVE virus broke out in Fiji, Jimmy was reminded of the time when Crake said "Change can be accommodated by any system depending on its rate. [...] Touch your head to a wall, nothing happens, but if the same head hits the same wall at ninety miles an hour, it's red paint." (p 341). The metaphor of blood being red paint really shows how little Crake cares about death. He doesn't seem to have much compassion at all and that is especially shown through the use of this metaphor. Atwood used this specific metaphor to demonstrate the type of character Crake really is, and this dark side to him foreshadows what will happen in the future.

This novel was really well-written, however I wish that the ending was not so abrupt and actually gave more information. Other than that, this was a fantastic book with many deep aspects that go beyond the plot.