Pages 10 to 44 Thoughts

            “He feels the need to hear a human voice – a fully human voice, like his own. Sometimes he laughs like a hyena or roars like a lion” (pg 10). This quote enforces the idea that he may very well be losing his mind, but it mainly interests me because he feels the need to emphasize that he needs to hear “a fully human voice”. This would seem to refer to the Children of Crake, but it isn’t expanded upon. If that is what he is talking about, then it could be concluded that despite the fact that he really wants social interaction, he is not able to really connect with the Children. This could be because they are a lot less educated, or maybe from a difference is cultural views. Either way it is clear that there is a definite disconnect between them.

            The first half of this book seems to focus a lot on his mother and the relationship he had with her. She seems to have become very unhappy, and possibly even depressed, during an early point in the Snowman’s life. This had a profound effect on him as he didn’t understand why this was happening and was lead to the assumption that it was his fault. During this time all he wanted was “to make her laugh – to make her happy, as he seemed to remember her being once. He would tell her funny things that had happened at school, or things he tried to make funny, or things he simply invented” (pg 31). This is a sad case of emotional neglect where the victim, Snowman, thinks that they are what is causing their parent to do this. Without seeing a sociologist this could defiantly be something that affects Snowman for the rest of his life.

            While reading this book, I am often trying to figure out how long ago the unspecified disaster had occurred. So far the book has not given a date or amount of time, but the occasional quote about it I find seem to suggest that I will not be told, because no one knows. “At that time he’d had a knife, but he lost it a week later, or was it two weeks? He must keep better track of such things as weeks” (pg 37).