Darker Than Dark

"He'd meant well, or at least he hadn't meant ill (284).
Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (2003)



Points for Reflection

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (2003), pp. 265-374

  1. so many things have changed in the wake of JUVE.  Is Snowman able to recognize any inherently good things that have not changed?
  2. is Snowman’s negative self-assessment as “goon, buffoon, poltroon” justified?
  3. has Jimmy grown more emotionally expressive in the days since Crake’s orchestrated, apocalyptic event, or has he lost touch with his feelings more completely than ever?
  4. what topic do Jimmy’s dreams repeatedly orbit?
  5. is Jimmy correct that “[e]very habit he’s ever had is still there in his body, lying dormant like flowers in the desert”?  What of his old sexual addictions?  Have they changed?
  6. Oryx notes that Jimmy always thinks the worst of people (316). Why might this be?
  7. are Jimmy and Crake friends?
  8. what proves so mesmerizing about Oryx once Jimmy meets her in person, once she has become more than the two-dimensional image who lives in his fantasies?
  9. does Oryx share herself thoroughly with Jimmy?
  10. does the novel explain why Oryx catches Crake’s heart when no other woman had before?
  11. who do you think more correct in their diverging reflections about Crake’s character, Jimmy or Oryx?
  12. what vestiges of traditional human civilization have been retained in the pleeblands but lost/rejected in the compounds?
  13. what does the RejoovenEsense compound boast which is absent from other compounds?
  14. do Crake’s various conclusions about the origins of human violence seem valid?
  15. to whom is Jimmy speaking in the novel’s close?
  16. what are we to make of the painting on the wall of Crake’s office, given his attitude towards the arts?
  17. do Crake’s actions match the messages written on his fridge magnets?
  18. why does the BlyssPluss pill promise to do, and why does this make it so easy to distribute around the world?
  19. Jimmy wonders why Crake involved him in his secret scheme to remake the world (283).  Can we provide a possible answer?
  20. Jimmy tries to make sense of Crake’s grand plan by parsing his probable motivation, in the process considering numerous possibilities (343).  Which seems most plausible?
  21. do the advantages genetically programmed into the Crakers outweigh what Crake has removed?
  22. does Jimmy make any profound mistakes in his earliest interactions with the Crakers?
  23. why and when does Crake smile?
  24. Jimmy often whispers big words silently to calm himself.  What kinds of words appear to have this soothing effect?
  25. to whom is Jimmy speaking in the novel’s close?


abstract image of sun in distant, its rays penetrating a bluish landscape in the foreground
The Tree of Crows (1822)
Caspar David Friedrich

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu