106 pages • 3 hours read
Margaret AtwoodOryx and Crake
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Snowman realizes that he does have a listener: a rakunk peering out at him from under a bush. This prompts the memory of his father giving him a rakunk as a pet, probably as a birthday present. Jimmy’s birthdays had been a cause for celebration when his mother was working and he was looked after by Dolores, the maid. When his mother was at home, she seemed unable to recall Jimmy’s date of birth and he would have to remind her. Similarly, his father would make excuses and send him an OrganInc e-card and a gift intended to increase his skills or intelligence. He reflects that his father eventually gave up trying to motivate him.
Rakunks had been created during after-hours experimentation by the OrganInc engineers, who enjoyed playing God. When his father gave him the pet, Jimmy was annoyed by his accompanying remarks. He had a “hearty way of talking,” that Jimmy felt was false: it was as though his father were auditioning for the role of “Dad” but failing. His mother, meanwhile, had a detached manner. She did not get angry or storm out; rather, she acted as though their lives had nothing to do with her.
A month or two after Jimmy received the rakunk, his father started to work at NooSkins and the family moved into the HelthWyzer Compound. Security was even tighter than at their previous compound, and Jimmy’s mother said that she felt like a prisoner. She claimed that they were being spied on, but Jimmy’s father said she was being paranoid.
Jimmy’s father was now working in the area of skin regeneration, catering to people seeking to recapture their lost youth. Another project involved growing brain matter inside pigoons, which Jimmy’s father hoped would help stroke victims. Jimmy’s mother was more cynical and believed that NooSkins was exploiting desperate people and that it was unethical to interfere with “the building blocks of life.”
Several years later, Jimmy found a letter from his mother informing him that she could no longer tolerate her lifestyle and had gone into hiding, adding that she would contact him if possible. She had taken the rakunk with her in order to “liberate” it and had also destroyed both her and Jimmy’s father’s computers so no one could know what messages she had sent or what information she had taken. Jimmy’s father was perturbed by the whole affair and knew that it reflected badly on him. Both he and Jimmy went to counseling, though Jimmy found it a waste of time.
As time passed, Jimmy’s father became more upbeat and his co-worker, Ramona, moved in. Thinking back, Snowman wonders how long the relationship had been going on. He does not believe that his father had the ability to conceal an affair from his mother, but then he wonders if maybe his mother did know and that was what drove her away
After his mother’s departure, Jimmy received some postcards from “Aunt Monica” and knew that they were from his mother. He did not believe she was really in the countries that the cards were from, as she would have known that they would be read by people in the compound. Jimmy had wished that he could have a second chance to make things right with her.
Snowman hates replaying these episodes from his childhood and wishes he had the discipline to shut them out. He thinks of mantras that help distract him, telling himself to hang onto the words that pop into his mind; especially the old and rare ones. If he forgets these words, then they will be gone forever.
A few months before Jimmy’s mother vanished, Crake appeared. He was among the few of Jimmy’s friends that his mother liked, as she was impressed by his maturity and intellect. Jimmy knew that she wished her own son could be more like Crake. However, Jimmy suspected that Crake was not quite right. At that time, Crake’s name was Glenn, but Snowman has trouble thinking of this earlier persona. He believes that the “Crake side of him” was always there.
Crake and Jimmy spent their spare time playing games. One game was Extinctathon: an “interactive biofreak masterlore game.” It was while playing this game that Crake adopted his codename, naming himself after an Australian bird called the Red-necked Crake. After they stopped playing the game, Jimmy’s codename (Thickney) faded away. The name Crake, however, remained.
In addition to these games, they would watch videos of animals being killed and live coverage of executions. One site screened assisted suicides, which made Jimmy uneasy, especially as it reminded him of his mother’s departure. By contrast, Crake admired people who had the “flair” to know when enough was enough. Another site featured a naked woman performing everyday tasks or reading old plays aloud (which was how Jimmy learned certain words), while another was a quiz that involved eating live animals in order to win hard-to-come-by foods.
Snowman wonders when the body became detached from the mind and soul. While the body had once been seen as a mere vessel, it seemed as though it had suppressed the soul on account of its “constant nagging and whining.” Snowman reflects that the body had its own forms of art, such as pornography and executions.
Jimmy and Crake first saw Oryx on a site featuring sex tourists. She was around eight years old, and, unlike the other girls on the site, seemed three-dimensional to Jimmy. She and other children looked frightened as they performed sexual acts on an unknown man, though the sound of giggling had been superimposed over their sobs. When Oryx looked directly at the viewer, Jimmy sensed that this was a look of contempt. For the first time, he felt that what they were doing was wrong. Simultaneously, he was mesmerized.
Chapter 5 Summary
Now that it is cooler, Snowman feels hungry and reflects that this gives him a sense of being alive. A rabbit hops nearby, though it emits a green glow due to “some long-ago experiment.” Snowman longs to kill and eat it but knows that rabbits belong to the Children of Oryx. He sees this as his own fault, as he had been drunk when setting out the laws. He thinks of how he is the only one left who knew Crake first hand, thus securing the trust of the Children of Crake. Spotting a star in the sky, he remembers a school teacher telling students to wish upon a star.
After he shoos away some inquisitive children, Snowman reflects on his inability to explain everyday objects or foods to them, like toast. Snowman finds comfort in remembering that humans used to be so ingenious with language—indeed, ingenious in various areas. However, despite possessing a high degree of this quality, Crake did not have a particularly high opinion of it.
Some men and women from the village start approaching, and Snowman is, as always, astonished by the women. They are of differing height and skin color but all of them are aesthetically perfect, like retouched photographs in fashion magazines. However, it is on account of this artificial perfection that Snowman does not feel any desire towards them. He has liked women who had a sense of melancholy or fragility about them, but these women are “like animated statues.”
The villagers bring Snowman some fish, and he is grateful. In exchange for the fish, the villagers want to know more about Crake. Snowman had already told the story, but they like repetition. He tells them that it began with chaos and that chaos caused people to do bad things and to kill one another. However, Oryx said that they should stop the chaos, and Crake thus poured the chaos away. The listeners marvel at this, but Snowman is making it up. He hates that the villagers idolize Crake; he knows that Crake deplored the notion of God and would be disgusted to see himself deified.
For the first month and a half, Snowman got drunk every night. He knew it was not wise or mature but he no longer cared. He looks at the last third of a bottle of Scotch, which he has been saving; knowing that it was there helped get him through his days. Now, though, he asks why he should wait, given that his life is meaningless. He adds that he has served his evolutionary purpose and saved the children of Crake, as Crake knew he would. Snowman wishes that he were someone else so that he would no longer have to endure his own thoughts. He longs for Oryx, though he never knew her real name. Sometimes he can conjure up her image, but it is always elusive. Tonight, he cannot visualize her at all.
Chapter 6 Summary
Imagining that Oryx is beside him, Snowman tells her that she was the sole love of his life. However, he has said this to many women, and he now wishes that he had not used this phrase so liberally. Snowman reflects that his (or rather Jimmy’s) vision of Oryx is different from Crake’s vision and even Oryx’s own vision of herself. Oryx’s early years were spent in a village and her father died when she was young. The women of the village subsequently set about making her look as healthy and pretty as possible so that she might be sold, though no one used the word “sold.”
The man who collected children reassured the villagers that the work would be easy and the children would not be mistreated; he insisted that he was not a liar or pimp. Jimmy was initially outraged to hear about this arrangement, but Oryx insisted that it was a village custom and that they needed the money to survive. Likewise, Crake saw it as logical, pointing out that the combination of dwindling food and increased reproduction cannot go on indefinitely.
Mothers in the village reassured their children that, once they had worked for a while, they could return. However, no child ever returned. The mothers felt bad about the whole arrangement, but told themselves that they had no choice. Oryx was sold along with her brother, and a man calling himself “Uncle En” herded the two on a long journey to their unknown destination. Oryx was aware of her monetary value but would rather have had her mother’s love. Even so, she recognized that love was not as dependable and that some individuals had neither love nor monetary value.
The children were shocked by the city at first, but Uncle En had provided them with some shabby accommodation and given them time to get used to their new environment. The children who were already there also explained things to them, telling them that Uncle En would always be watching them and know their whereabouts. This meant that no one else would harm them, but it also meant that Uncle En would know if they did not work hard enough or tried to run away, in which case they would be beaten or burned. If they tried to run away multiple times, they would be sold or even killed.
Oryx and the other newcomers were instructed on how to sell roses to passersby. Oryx—who had now been given the name SuSu—was good at this task, and both the customers and fellow children found her adorable. Her brother, by contrast, had no aptitude for such work and Uncle En said that he would have to be sold elsewhere. The other children said that he would be sold to a pimp, and he consequently ran away. Oryx did not know what happened to him after that.
One day, a man took Oryx’s hand and led her into a hotel. Oryx had not told Uncle En about this at first, but when she did, he said that she should comply with any further requests of this nature. A man had made such a request the very next day, taking Oryx to a hotel room. He had placed one of Oryx’s hands on himself and, though he did so gently, he seemed angry and in a rush. At this point, Uncle En stormed in and took money from the man before carrying Oryx away while muttering and scowling. Out on the street, he started laughing and asked Oryx if she would like to play this game again.
This game then became a regular occurrence, and Uncle En said that the men deserved what happened to them. Oryx, meanwhile, felt sorry for the men in part but liked them to realize that they were the helpless ones. The men knew that they had to pay Uncle En handsomely or they would risk going to jail.
One day, another man arrived, announcing himself as the boss and saying that Uncle En had sold the flower business and moved away. A year later, Oryx heard that Uncle En had been found in a canal with his throat cut. Oryx had cried when she heard this, though Jimmy could not understand why. Oryx told him that Uncle En he could have treated her much worse than he did.
Oryx had then been sold to a man who made movies. From listening to discussions among the men involved about production costs, Oryx grew to realize that everything has a price—and not just objects. She had been instructed to do whatever she was told, and Jimmy asked what sorts of things this entailed. She replied that the movies were all of the same kind as the one that Jimmy had seen.
When they were not working, the children sometimes watched adults making their own movies. They also took showers often, as it was important that they looked pure. In addition, Oryx started “doing movie things” with the cameraman when they were not filming in exchange for him teaching her to read. Jimmy was angered by this, and did not believe that Oryx could be so calm and accepting of her lot. He wanted to know whether anyone ever raped her, but she asked him why he wanted to talk about ugly things. Jimmy was annoyed by her refusal to answer, and insisted on knowing whether the onscreen sex was just acting. Oryx replied, “All sex is real.”
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
The sight of a rakunk, another genetically engineered animal, prompts Snowman to remember the rakunk that his father gave him as a child and that became his closest friend. Focusing on Jimmy’s home life, Chapter 4 paints a strong picture of familial disconnection. Jimmy’s mother seems detached, and Jimmy finds his father’s attempts to be friendly more like an audition than the real thing.
When Jimmy’s father got a job at a company called NooSkins, the family moved into the HelthWyzer compound. However, Jimmy’s mother felt as though they were being held captive and believed they were being spied on. The couple argued often, with Jimmy’s mother accusing the company for exploiting desperate people and charging extortionate prices. Adding her view that it is unethical to tamper with the building blocks of life, this chapter zones in on the moral quandaries associated with genetic engineering, as well as the nature of corporate culture.
A significant event occurred when Jimmy’s mother ran out on the family. She had even taken Jimmy’s pet rakunk, “Killer,” claiming that she was going to liberate it. While Jimmy’s father moved on and embarked on a relationship with a colleague, Jimmy wished to put things right with his mother. Naturally, Snowman looks back on these events as painful memories, and again turns to remembered words in an attempt to distract himself.
A boy named Glenn transferred to the same school as Jimmy and, while Jimmy thought that he was not as honorable as he seemed, they two became friends. Looking back, it is hard for Jimmy to see this boy as “Glenn,” and he believes that the “Crake side of him” was always there. Here, the reader draws a link between this boy and the powerful figure of Crake mentioned earlier in the novel. From Snowman’s earlier anger and comments, it seems that Crake was responsible for whatever dramatic event has happened. From this chapter, then, we learn that this dark aspect of his character was always there.
This chapter also draws a contrast between Jimmy and Crake, with the latter being highly intelligent, relatively uncommunicative, and exuding a sense of potential. Through this statement, the novel further piques the readers’ curiosity.
Jimmy and Crake spent their free time playing games, one of which was called Extinctathon. Crucially, “Crake” was the codename that Glenn had used when taking part in this game. They also watched online videos of executions, suicides, and animal snuff videos, and Snowman reflects on the soullessness of such forms of “entertainment.” Crake’s reaction, meanwhile, is telling: when watching assisted suicide videos, he spoke of his admiration for those who have the “flair” to know when enough is enough. As we see later, he maintained this stance into his adult life.
Jimmy and Crake first saw Oryx on a child pornography site, and Jimmy was fascinated. On the one hand, her contemptuous expression prompted a sense of shame. On the other hand, he was entranced. Crake printed off a freeze frame of his image, and Snowman remarks on having shown it to Oryx years later. From this, we anticipate that a real-life meeting will occur later in the novel.
Chapter 5 re-establishes the altered landscape in which Snowman is now living. The nearby children—who are specified as “the Children of Crake”—ask him numerous questions, but he finds it impossible to describe all the everyday objects that attract their attention. This chapter therefore emphasizes the culture clash between Snowman and these children. Moreover, it contrasts Jimmy’s love of language with Crake’s low opinion of it.
Next, we are introduced to the male and female Crakers, and Jimmy is struck by the women’s aesthetic perfection, which suggests that they were the product of design. The villagers bring Jimmy some fish in exchange for information about Crake, and we see that Jimmy is used to making up flamboyant stories. He regrets that he has caused the villagers to look up to Crake, but he recognizes that, for better or worse, he is now Crake’s prophet.
Referring to his continual drinking, Snowman furthers the impression that a devastating event has occurred. He also reflects that he has served his purpose in that he had saved the children, as Crake knew that he would. This, then, specifies that the current situation has not occurred by accident or coincidence: Crake had a clear idea of what he wanted to happen.
Chapter 6 finds Snowman imagining Oryx and proceeds to focus on her backstory. We learn that she hailed from an impoverished village before being sold and going on to work as a flower seller. Her employer also instructed her to lure men up to hotel rooms, upon which he would pounce in and ask the men for money in exchange for silence. One day, however, her employer was found murdered and she went on to work in pornography. She even engaged in sexual acts with a cameraman in exchange for reading lessons.
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