Info on pages 1 to 100

Perry 1

Isaac Perry

Mrs. Vallier

ENG 4U

Monday, Oct 18^th/’10

What I understand so far

I have gone through about 100 pages of the book without blogging, so before I reread those pages and talk about some of the things that interest me from them I will talk about what I understanding so far.

1) There has been an apocalyptic event: it seems that the terminator movies inspired Margaret as the future (according to the book) is very bleak. There are no more cars or ipods it seems, just remains of what once was. There are still rusty parts and decaying buildings around, but they are not inhabited as there may be a lot more radiation in them, pointing to a possible nuclear war.

2) Everyone is dead: other then Snowman that is. All the humans have been wiped out by the events that occurred before the begging of the story, but have not yet been detailed or talked about much if at all. Margaret seems to be trying to get the reader to figure out what has happened on their own, which I feel is a good literary device as I am fairly carious to see if my take on what has happened is correct or close to the actual event. Thinking about it now I like the word event, so I think I will continue to use that as the name for what had happened.

3) Oryx: was Snowman’s girlfriend and from how she is talked about, there is a good chance that she had survived the event for a while with him. Snowman clearly misses her a lot, so his thoughts of her after the event with him could very well be hallucinations, but I will have to keep reading to find out.

4) Crake: was Snowman’s best friend when they were kids, and possibly into adulthood including during the aftermath of the event. The way the story is being told, it is implied that crake created the Children of Crake. They are a human like species which are a lot more primitive and worship crake as a god.

5) The Children of Crake: may or may not have been created by crake. There are two expiations to their existence I can think of. The first is that crake continued his research in genetic mutation and creation into his adulthood and then used the labs at HelthWyzer (the corporation compound the both Snowman and Crake lived at with their parents) to develop these human like animals. The second is that they could be some sort of radiation mutation that has adapted to the new radioactive environment. The first expiation seems to be the most likely, as (according to Snowman) they have perfect bodies, which would seem like something that was produced.

6) Snowman: is having a tough time surviving in the harsh environment, and the lack of other human beings to talk to makes it even worse. There is very little eatable food for him left and the fact that he is clearly suffering from malnutrition makes it a lot more difficult to hunt or gather more food. In addition hallucinations are also a big factor in his life, as they seem very real to him and basically become dreams while he is still awake. Snowman, who’s original name was Jimmy, had some bad experiences with his parents when he was a kid. His mother started to lose her mind as the years went on and eventually ran away and took his pet, who was his most dear friend, with her leaving only a smashed computer behind. These problems and lack of connection with his father pushed him to have a much stronger bond with one of his only good friends, Crake.

7) The story: is told through flashbacks, while the present day Snowman goes about his day as he regularly would. It is an interesting concept, as it really gets you thinking about what it must be like to be living all alone in such a dreadful situation. It also has the effect me that constantly has me asking myself “Is anything interesting, exciting, or terrible going to happen to Snowman in present day, or is the main story told through his memories”. This is a really effective question to have the reader asking themselves as it becomes a much more interesting read when you truly have no idea what is going to happen.

This is some of the key information I have gleaned from the book so far. I will be rereading the pages I have not blogged about and will post my thoughts on them every 20 pages or so.