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ABSTRACT
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
P a g e | 765
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
of Canada and ecological catastrophe owing to Atwood’s terms, “real life was getting creepily
the expansion of science and technology. In too close to my inventions.” (Atwood Writing
2003 her novel Oryx and Crake was Oryx and Crake, 10) Similar to her previous
published. It portrays a doomsday of human dystopian work of fiction, The Handmaid's
beings where the entire mankind was Tale (1985), Oryx and Crake portrays an
destroyed due to the misuse of genetic upcoming culture that exaggerates several of
engineering. the troublesome trends that are by now
widespread in the contemporary world. As a
Oryx and Crake, is a dystopian fiction, matter of fact, she pays ardent consideration to
echoing the theme of The Handmaid’s Tale. the proceedings, trends, and concerns of the
(1985) It is typically an environment literature, early twenty-first century. As she wrote this
describing how the future world losses its book, Atwood drew from recent affairs
ecology, how disasters happen, and how headlines regarding issues like ecological
human beings come to the devastation. The disaster, genetic engineering, and bioterrorism.
novel deals with the contemporary issues like A great component of the novel's appeal lies in
worldwide warming, genetic engineering, its creative, although terrifying, depiction of
declining resources, scarce species, this imaginary planet, together with the novel
sexploitation and a wearing down of kindness. topography of the nation in which diverse
This paper attempt to apply an ecocritical eastern cities have been washed away – New
approach to Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and New York supplanting New York City. The
Crake. It aims to study the ecological fortress-like but lavish Compounds where the
consciousness reflected in Oryx and Crake affluent commercial elites and brilliant
from the perspective of ecocriticism. scientists reside are austere distinction to the
Ecological crisis can be categorized into three Pleeblands where populace struggles for ever-
layers- environmental crisis (population dwindling provisions of foodstuff and
explosion, natural disasters, epidemic diseases, additional supplies and manage as best they
wrenched animals, human extinction), social can with air pollutants and recurrent outbreaks
crisis (gender crisis, loss of language), and of illness.
spiritual crisis (loss of culture and loss of
belief). The causes of the crisis reflected in the The setting of Oryx and Crake is the twenty-
novel are- human manipulation of nature, first century. It deals typically ecological
egoism and malfunctions of belief. Margaret questions like worldwide warming,
Atwood’s Oryx and Crake alerts man about contamination, over-population, societal
the environmental disaster. By exhibiting the inequalities in relation to the surroundings, the
horrible scenes that might happen in the modification and exhaustion of natural wealth,
future, Atwood arouses the ecological and bio-engineering in a planet ruled by
consciousness in the readers, leading them to technocrats and subjugated by capitalistic
think about the way to avoid the destruction interests. This work of fiction comes as an
path in the fiction. Investigation on the admonition against the directions modern
environmental awareness in Oryx and Crake is culture is taking and the choices it is making in
of immense importance to literature and relation to ecology. In this view, writing is
culture. It warns people to reflect on the path employed as an instrument to caution the
man has pursued. It leaves the question of how readers against probably deadly deviations.
to reconstruct the green civilization. Nevertheless, Atwood’s unease with
environmental preoccupations is not precisely
Atwood has commented on the discomfort she novel. Nearly all of her writing questions
experienced owing to the meeting of her man’s relation to his surroundings and
imagination and the actual humankind. In
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
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International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
P a g e | 767
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
guano he'll know where to find it. (Atwood innovative; one can observe this progression in
109) any deserted building where ubiquitous plants
have been abandoned to upset biotic
Buildings that once meant commerce and the communities. Eventually, species struggle and
towering superiority of the human species now adjustment will resolve to what degree
mean fertilizer for Jimmy, indicating that his indigenous and alien species thrive, and in
perspective has now broadened to Oryx and Crake such moments are formed
considerations of not only bird species but also with likelihood as well as terror. The
gardening. He later notices when "uncontrolled experiment" of this setting
might well contain "unintended consequences"
A long scrawl of birds unwinds from the
that allow life to prosper in the interstitial
empty towers - gulls, egrets, herons, heading
off to fish along the shore ... a salt marsh is zones left by an almost vanished mankind. At
forming on a one-time landfill dotted with zero hour, Jimmy holds out expectation that
this space has the possibility to arrive at a
semi-flooded townhouses. That's where all the
stable state with high level of variety for
birds are going: minnow city… (Atwood 174).
native species. Zero, subsequently, is not a
In these passages, the novel "pursues the nonexistence devoid of worth, but somewhat a
theme of nature's very slow but very certain fundamental spot in biological time.
power to self-renew" (Hengen 77) by returning
abandoned rooftops, landfills, and townhouses Snowman tells the tale of an earlier period, his
to a transformed but very real "web of natural existence as Jimmy in what seems to be the
connections." In "the former park", Jimmy late twenty-first century. This was an era when
mankind's ecological egotism had led to
observes, "the botany is thrusting itself
emission holes in the environment, melting of
through every crack" and that it "won't be long
before all visible traces of human habitation the polar ice caps, flooding of coastal cities,
will be gone." (Atwood 259-260) This famine, and desertification of the continents.
The enormous bulk of the populace lives in the
permutation, like the urban influx of bird life,
pleeblands, where metropolitan slump, sin,
indicates a resilience and increased adaptive
capacity of plant and animal species. and sickness make existence despicable.
(Weisman 33) In one shattered corporate Jimmy's connections with native variety also
utopia, the RejoovenEsense compound, Jimmy consist of a significant instant with a
notes: caterpillar "letting itself down on a thread."
Already the weeds are thick along the curbs. (Atwood 46) The caterpillar is "luscious,
The street is circular; in the island in the unreal green, like a gumdrop, and covered
with tiny bright hairs…" it pauses,
middle, a clutch of shrubs, unpruned and
"…smelling him, picking up on his chemical
scraggly, flares with red and purple flowers.
Some exotic splice: in a few years they will be aura" (Atwood 46). After noting that there
overwhelmed. Or else they will spread, make "will be another such moment of time, another
inroads, choke out the native plants. Who can such conjunction" (Atwood 46) Jimmy says to
the caterpillar, "We have hard work to do, and
tell which? The whole world is now one vast
loads to lift." (Atwood 46) Although Jimmy
uncontrolled experiment - the way it always
was, Crake would have said - and the doctrine second-guesses himself after his caterpillar-
of unintended consequences is in full spate. induced "inexplicable surge of tenderness and
joy" (Atwood 46), the image however seems
(Atwood 267)
exact. The caterpillar not only thrives at the
Clearly, this reflection on biota and non- end of time, but it also will "work" with
indigenous species is in no way speculative or Jimmy to go on to promote a more sustainable
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
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International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
and assorted bioregion. Like Jimmy, the supply for decades in marginal geopolitical
caterpillar is in a phase between larva and areas, hence the famines and droughts; but
moth or butterfly. The developmental very soon, demand is going to exceed supply
conversion of the caterpillar represents not for everyone." (Atwood 347) Crake prompts
only Jimmy's conversion, but the delicate readers to consider questions that not only
variability of native species observed in have a bang on the future but also worry
nature. numerous inhabitants these days.
Crake, conversely, has discarded in total the Planned in Crake's high-security arena
separation between twofold constructions for compound Paradice, these "environmentally
instance native/exotic, friendly hominids" (Bouson 141) are depicted
indigenous/nonindigenous, and actual/false. not as hideous but as possessing suprahuman
Crake's "scientifically advanced world no prettiness: "At first [Jimmy] couldn't believe
longer relies upon such oppositional logic. them, they were so beautiful. Black, yellow,
Within his environment, the lines that separate white, brown, all available skin colors. Each
the natural from the artificial are no longer individual was exquisite." (Atwood 355)
necessary or visible." (Davis 89) Bouson Crake employs genetic engineering
proclaims, "Filled with scientific hubris, technologies to devise posthuman creatures
Crake, who does not believe in God or Nature, with not merely artistic appeal but also
also does not believe in the value of human resistance to climate change, insects, warfare,
life." (Bouson 146) For good or ill, the novel’s and hunger. The Crakers represent genetically
modified humanity is clearly generated by what Atwood's millennial "green" readers
Crake’s intricate perception of the natural might wish to behaviorally, and therefore
milieu and its dangers. He explains the fraction of Atwood's novel's environmental
absurdity of human carrying capability to hopefulness might be established in the ability
Jimmy, asking him to of civilization to hold an culture of ecological
stewardship. They have been planned to check
look at it realistically. You can't couple a overpopulation and revere all species of life.
minimum access to food with an expanding Jimmy thinks subsequent to stepping on a
population indefinitely. Homo sapiens doesn't banana slug that "If he were a Craker he'd
seem able to cut himself off at the supply end. have to apologize to it - I'm sorry I stepped on
He's one of the few species that doesn't limit you, Child of Oryx, please forgive my
reproduction in the face of dwindling clumsiness." (Atwood 390-391)
resources. (Atwood138-139)
The Crakers can primarily be noticed as
Crake describes the obvious effects of the representing a figure of original purity. They
BlyssPluss Pill in reproductive expressions, are absolutely ecologically friendly. They are
illuminating that it will "eliminate the external vegan grass eaters who, similar to a number of
causes of death" such as "Overpopulation, animal species, can even re-ingest their own
leading - as we've seen in spades - to feces so as not to bang greatly on the
environmental degradation and poor nutrition." atmosphere. Snowman, nevertheless, is merely
(Atwood 345) In both passages, Crake's a man, and cannot stay alive on grass.
sobering evaluation of the overpopulation Therefore, the foremost thing he does is
ambiguity explains with terrifying lucidity inform the Crakers to bring him a fish each
what will ensue to accessible resources, dirt week, a ritualized action that will guarantee
free air, and water if human statistics go on his own continued existence. A critical reading
rising at the present pace. "Demand for of Snowman would be that he has subverted
resources," Crake reminds us, "has exceeded the Crakers’ ecologically friendliness and
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
P a g e | 769
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
provided them with stories and explanations Thus, Crake has used the tools of genetic
and behavior (killing fish) which will engineering to breed the craziness out of man,
ultimately lead them to become less Crake-like creating a species of human beings that will be
and more like pre-apocalypse man. His incapable to dirt the earth. The Crakers have
association with the Crakers is a type of been thoroughly and permanently reformed.
symbiosis in which each side profits. He is They also help the readers to bear in mind that
reliant on the Crakers for his own continued as a species, human beings are not exempt
existence as they supply the fish, which keeps from adaptations and mutations that happen
him living. The Crakers rely on him for through processes of development, regardless
answers to their questions and for their safety. of the diverse advances. The stylistic liveliness
Logically, Snowman is bartering narratives for of expressions such as "ChickieNobs Bucket
fish, language for provisions. However, it O' Nubbins" (Atwood 7) and "Organ-Oink
occurs at the cost of intimidating the Farms" (Atwood 25) intimidate to make
atmosphere; the Crakers have taken their depictions of commercial slaughterhouses and
initial unsure footstep away from chaste laboratories nearly shine. Turner explains that
vegetarianism, and consequently concord with
their atmosphere. As this work of fiction when a man ceases to be the master and
obviously suggests, man’s contemporary becomes the equal or fellow of man, he also
civilization, left unrestricted, might bring ceases to be master and becomes the equal or
absolute catastrophe for the atmosphere. fellow of nonhuman beings. It is culture that
fabricates structural distinctions; it is culture
Crakers have been tamed and are extremely too that eradicates these distinctions in
better adapted to the new world than liminality … (Dramas 252-253)
Snowman. They comprise ‘‘a UV-resistant
skin, a built-in insect repellent, an Atwood's Oryx and Crake discloses not only
unprecedented ability to digest unrefined plant "The End," but in addition, a fictional and
material. ’’ (Atwood 358) Moreover, Crake artistic longing for a novel start – an
has cautiously wiped-out those genetic environmental society rising out of a planet
qualities of older humankind that have led it where intellectual distinctions and boundaries
down the pathway to ecocide: have generated
What had been altered was nothing less than more plagues, more famines, more floods,
the ancient primate brain. Gone were its more insect or microbe or small-mammal
destructive features, the features responsible outbreaks, more droughts, more chickenshit
for the world’s current illnesses. . . . Since they boy-soldier wars in distant countries. (Atwood
were neither hunters nor agriculturalists 298)
hungry for land, there was no territoriality. . . . An ecocritical approach to the bionetwork in
Their sexuality was not a constant torment to Oryx and Crake powerfully indicates that
them . . . : they came into heat at regular Jimmy's environmental worry will consistently
intervals, as did most mammals other than conclude in a novel constancy of bioregional
man. . . . They were perfectly adjusted to their society. Jimmy's dilemma at the conclusion of
habitat, so they would never have to create the book reminds man of his own predicament
houses or tools or weapons, or, for that matter, at this junction in ecological history, at a time
clothing. They would have no need to invent "when everything, as it were, trembles in the
any harmful symbolisms, such as kingdoms, balance." (Turner, Ritual 44).
icons, gods, or money. (Atwood 358)
Atwood’s Oryx and Crake has incited an
absolute deluge of reviews and articles filled
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
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International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
P a g e | 771
International Journal of Research (IJR) Vol-1, Issue-10 November 2014 ISSN 2348-6848
Noon is the worst, with its glare and humidity. The belief that “everything is connected to
At about eleven o’clock Snowman retreats everything else” underlies Atwood’s work of
back into the forest, out of sight of the sea fiction. Through the vibrant descriptions of the
altogether, because the evil rays bounce off the humankind in her inscription, there shines a
water and get at him even if he’s protected farsighted sparkle, a definite indication of her
from the sky, and then he reddens and blisters. vigorous hopefulness. Her powerful
(Atwood 41) expectation and authoritative words expressing
her fervor for this globe speak well of her
The consequences of global warming are work of fiction for ingenious ecocritical
shortly going to bring upon man such parallel researches.
horrors of heat, which several parts of the
globe are by now experiencing. The Conclusion
frightening tale of Oryx and Crake and the
distressing science fiction world it creates are In sum, through an ecocritical approach, this
not unfamiliar to the current age group. paper analyses the environmental disaster due
to man’s deeds under his selfishness,
Technology has also produced a gap between explaining Atwood's concern regarding the
the rich and the poor as can be clearly noticed natural world. It also illustrates disharmonious
in this book. The privileged reside in the associations between human beings, the
profoundly protected clean compounds that outcome of unhindered technology and
look like the ancient nineteenth century aspiration. It appeals the mankind to reform
company towns, whereas the underprivileged and improve the way of being. Atwood wishes
reside in messy and polluted pleeblands. to uphold not merely the equilibrium between
man and the natural world, but also the
The depressing image Atwood competently equilibrium of human associations and the
portrays in Oryx and Crake cautions man equilibrium of man and himself. She hopes
about the probable disastrous end of human
that man should have tough awareness of the
race in the near future if it is not ready to put
pleasant-sounding growth of these three
right its conduct. She makes an ardent appeal
aspects. Just when the entire bionetwork is in
to the humanity to get vigor from the visionary
an objective situation, can human beings exist
forewarning the book projects, i.e. to have a
securely and gladly, with complete
rigid code of conduct and discard fake joy and
individualism.
unethical pleasures science would propose and
to prevent technology from robbing the natural References
world and civilization.
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New
York: Anchor, 2004. Print.
Atwood in telling the stories of her Bouson, Brooks. "It's Game Over Forever”:
protagonists combines societal remarks with Atwood's Satiric Vision of a Bioengineered
her technical observations and sets them
against the bigger worldwide changes she Posthuman Future in Oryx and Crake'' Journal
describes: of Commonwealth Literature 39.3 (2004: 143)
Print.
She also uses her narrative as a platform to
voice her concerns about a trend in Davis, H. Louise. "Natural Resistance:
contemporary culture that she finds troubling: Margaret Atwood as Ecofeminist or
the mainstreaming of violence pornography Apocalyptic
into the mass culture. (Bouson 143)
MARGARET ATWOOD’S ORYX AND CRAKE: AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH Ambika Bhalla, Dr. Jap
Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
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Preet Kaur Bhangu & Dr. Manmohan Singh
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