Monday, December 22, 2014

How is Crake seen as a God in Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood?

The character of Crake, who is also Snowman's (Jimmy's) childhood friend Glenn, is heralded as a God-like being to the Crakers, the genetically altered species of humans that Crake bio-engineered. The reason Crake is depicted as their God is because Snowman answers various questions the Crakers have about the world. When they ask about where they come from, Snowman describes Crake, who takes on many of the same attributes as God in Christian theology, such as being all-seeing and all-powerful, being in the sky, and speaking through messengers to the people, in this case Snowman.


It is important to note that Crake himself was against religion and wanted to eliminate these systems of belief in creating his new generation of humans. However, the natural desire to know where you come from comes from the Crakers, who ask Snowman questions repeatedly. These stories about Crake being a God-like figure are a depiction that Snowman creates, and Crake is in fact just a human. He is, however, their creator and holds the same place and commands the same respect as a God figure.


The depiction of Crake as a God-like figure is extremely ironic on the part of Snowman, since Snowman knows Crake's aversion to religion and his desire to engineer it out of the Crakers. Crake himself said that "God is a cluster of neurons," indicating that he believes more in science than religion.  Crake was also resistant to the way institutions such as churches utilized religions for their own gain, as exemplified with the quote "Nature is to zoos as God is to churches." Therefore, the depiction of Crake as a God-like figure by Snowman, and the Crakers' firm belief in this truth, is an ironic retort to Glenn by Jimmy.

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