Argumentative Essay On An Analysis Of Oryx And Crake

Oryx and Crake is a futuristic dystopia which highlights the role of science in changing the world and fashioning it to be better and a more suitable habitat for humans. The story starts with Snowman, the protagonist who was telling the story of how he became to be the last man to survive a catastrophe that wiped out the rest of the population. He was living on a barren seaside with the humanoids Crakens, an invention of his friend Crake, and other animals which were products of bioengineering. The story revolves around the science of bioengineering, which Snowman’s father was actively involved in when he was still alive, and later on his friend Craken. Later on the story reveals that the catastrophe that he escaped was actually intentionally caused by Craken, whom he killed by shooting.
It was evident that Atwood wanted to show the dangers of genetic engineering, a practice that the modern world has been doing. In the novel, she introduced different cross species which were created in the Compound, a place where scientists involved in the bioengineering of animals lived. Jimmy’s father was a genographer for OrganInc Farms. The hybrid animals created in the Compound by businessmen who support them were all for the improvement of human life. For instance, there were the pigoons, or the transgenic pigs which had human stem cells and were bred in order to grow replacement organs for humans. By having several human organs, doctors can harvest from them several times in during cases of transplantation. There were also the wolvogs which were a cross between a wolf and a dog which were created for security purposes. They appeared to be domestic dogs, deceptively tamed but were also vicious. All these products of transgenic experimentation were primarily for business purposes, a means for businessmen to earn in this capitalist world. However, Crake’s invention of the Crakers was for an entirely different purpose. He wanted to create a utopian world, wherein everything is in order and life is peaceful. The Crakers had the same skin color to take away the problem of racism, they did not have any knowledge of money, taking away the issue of class, they were to die on their own when they reach 30 which takes away the problem of overpopulation, and they were uninterested in sex and acts of aggressiveness which takes away the issue of war. Between the two kinds of creation, the transgenic experimentation prove to be a better solution towards improving human lives. Although both of them were meant to bring money, the Crakers were a threat to the existence of humans. Science is meant to improve lives, and the scientists in the compound stayed true to this. Although they might be motivated by the monetary compensation, their work did not deviate to their sworn task. However, as the story showed, even the results of their experiments proved to show dangerous and unexpected results after they came out of the Compound.
Despite the positive and negative effects of the creation of the pigoons and the Crakers, the author presented the negative effects of bioengineering altogether. In an attempt to improve lives, humans ended up dying with only their replicas, the Crakers left to replace them. However, they were clueless about so many things that humans knew in order to keep the world going. Despite the healing qualities they had, and their string resistance to diseases, they were still mutants who will survive in the real world but would make it seem like a replica as well.
Snowman had many of them as his companions, but he was not able to talk to them and tell them about his concerns because they did not understand so many things in the world. This proved that despite their traits that were considered weaknesses of humans, they were still replicas and were still flawed. This highlights the truth that no matter the kind of perfection that humans want to achieve for this world, it simpy is not possible. Everything, even science which can be easily manipulated, as expressed by Jimmy when he described splicing, has its limits. There would always be problems no matter how much humans try to eliminate it.
Althought the idea of a perfect world sounds tempting, the author showed that it should not be tampered with. Everything was created as they were for a reason, with both positive and negative attributes that established balance. No products of science could replace human race or the animals that have been exsiting for a long time. Remodeling the world would only destroy the balance and would result to catastrophe. The idea of curing the world by destroying it first is only man’s idea of being god-like. Creating diseases in order to sell the cure has been an issue that has been circulating all around the globe. It is a manipulative practice that would only bring disaster, and Atwood showed her dislike of the idea in the story. People’s desire of ageing, of getting sick, was what at the crux of the catastrophe that wiped out humanity. Had people not bought BlyssPluss, they wouldn’t have been contaminated by the disease that it carried. There is an established order in this world, and it should not be tampered with just because some people wanted to earn more in the guise of wanting to make a better world. A better world is with the people themselves, not science or any other creations. The Crakers were more advanced versions of humans, but even with so many of them, Snowman was still desolate and depressed with his situation. The world will be better if people themselves make it.