Oryx and Crake

One of Jimmy’s earliest memories is of a public bonfire featuring a large pile of cows, sheep, and pigs. From the discussion between Jimmy’s father and a fellow onlooker, it is evident that a rival company had gotten through security and sabotaged the project. The animals had been used for some sort of research purposes but had been infected and now had to be destroyed. Jimmy’s father and the other onlooker concluded that two—or any number—can play at that game, and we get our first sense of the competitive, ruthless aspects of the genetic engineering business.

Near the beginning of the novel, Snowman also mentions a variety of feral animals that have unusual names. As the story shifts to his childhood, we find out that these animals had originally been genetically engineered and kept under secure conditions. Pigoons had been created as a means of growing and harvesting human organs. Wolvogs, meanwhile, were being engineered in the college that Crake attended and were created for security purposes: they look like dogs but have the savagery of wolves. Bobkittens, meanwhile, were introduced as pest control; however, even before the epidemic, there were reports that there were on the loose and had mauled people and dogs.

Crake had insisted that the wolvogs would never get out, but following the mayhem that erupted after the release of the JUVE virus, they and the other animals break free. These predators consequently provide Snowman with a constant reason to be vigilant, which is most apparent when he is nearly killed by a large group of hungry pigoons. Likewise, he has to try to protect the childlike Crakers against this threat.

Less savage are the rakunks, which had been bred as an after hours hobby on the part of the OrganInc engineers and caught on as pets. These hybrid creatures were a combination of skunk and racoon, but they did not have the odor of a skunk or the bad temper of a raccoon. At one point, Snowman wonders if he could tame a rakunk so that he would have some form of companionship; indeed, his father had given him one as a pet when he was ten, which he had named it “Killer.” However, Jimmy’s mother took Killer with her when she fled, claiming that the animal would be happier in the forest.

Jimmy’s former pet serves as a crucial motif later in the novel, when Jimmy is shown video footage of his mother’s execution. While she did not address Jimmy by name, she says, “Remember Killer. I love you. Don’t let me down.” Her use of this name therefore creates a direct link with her son, which Jimmy subsequently admits to his interrogators.

When they were younger, Jimmy and Crake spent a lot of their free time playing games. This started off with games such as chess, but Crake subsequently became an avid player of Extinctathon, an “interactive biofreak masterlore game” that featured the tagline “Adam named the living animals, MaddAddam names the dead ones.” This game involved identifying extinct animals and was where Crake (formerly known as Glenn) came up with his codename. The only ones who knew the full list were Grandmasters, and Jimmy speculated that Crake would like to attain this status.

Years later, Crake proposes playing Extinctathon again, and it is apparent that he is now a Grandmaster. The game features the option to play a general game or play against another Grandmaster, and Crake chooses the latter. This brings up the message, “Find your playroom. MaddAddam will meet you there,” and Crake explains that MaddAddam is not a person but various groups. Crake then enters a secret area that features the message “Adam named the animals. MaddAddam customizes them” and allows these groups to communicate news about genetic experimentation and viruses. By this point, it is clear that it is no longer a game but a far more serious affair.

Later, when Crake is working at RejoovenEsense, Jimmy is surprised to find that the staff members have Extinctathon codenames like “POLAR BEAR” and “SWIFT FOX.” However, Crake explains that these people are the Grandmasters from Extinctathon. What Jimmy initially believed was a game has turned into hub for the top minds in the field of genetic engineering. Extinctathon thus does not only demonstrate Crake’s compulsive nature but also plays a pivotal role in enabling Crake to realize his plans.

Jimmy first sees Oryx when he and Crake are watching a video on HottTotts, a child pornography site. Most of the girls on such sites did not seem real to Jimmy, but for some reason, he found Oryx three-dimensional. Most of all, he was struck by a look she gave to the camera, which Jimmy perceived as saying, “I see you watching. I know you. I know what you want.” 

Crake printed this image and Jimmy kept it with him ever since. However, it transpires that Crake also saved it: clicking on this image transported him into the Extinctathon playroom. At the time, Jimmy felt annoyed, jealous, and eager to know why Crake had chosen this image, though he did not voice these feelings. Later, Jimmy finds that Crake has sought out and employed Oryx as a staff member at RejoovenEsense. She is older now, but Jimmy recognizes her. What is also apparent is that Crake and Oryx are in a relationship, though Oryx has no qualms about having an affair with Jimmy.

Crake never makes it clear why he sought out Oryx based on her picture, but bringing her into their lives has a dramatic impact: it is she that distributes the BlyssPluss pills and, when Crake slits her throat, prompts Jimmy to shoot Crake. It therefore seems likely that Crake knew the effect that the image had on Jimmy and used it to further his plans and manipulate his best friend. Likewise, though Oryx denies that she is the girl in the image—and initially denies her past life in general—her comments and responses imply that “student services” (who found her for Crake) made a correct match.

Snowman’s first reference to fridge magnets occurs when he thinks about his daily routine. Despite all that has happened, he still tells himself “Routines are good” before observing that his mind “is becoming one big stash of obsolete fridge magnets.” Jimmy often thinks of the kind of phrases that that he used to see on fridge magnets, but, in this case, there is more to fridge magnets than hackneyed pieces of advice.

When Jimmy visited Watson-Crick, he noticed a fridge-magnet culture: people bought them, traded them, and made them, and the phrases consisted of science quips such as “Siliconsciousness,” “Wanna Meet a Meat Machine?” and “Little spoat/gider, who made thee?” Crake had been no exception, yet, when Jimmy first sees Crake’s office at the RejoovenEsense compound, he notices that phrases are no longer scientific but more philosophical. Now, they include “Where God is, Man is not,” “I think, therefore,” and “To stay human is to break a limitation.”

Later on, Snowman realizes that “You could tell a lot about a person from their fridge magnets, not that he’d thought much about them at the time.” The expressions he saw in the office may have been vague, but they indicated Crake’s shift in interests and perceptions. It appears that Crake’s focus had moved beyond minor scientific experimentation and tweaks to the human race, with the phrases becoming more lofty and concerned with the fundamentals of humanity.

When Snowman remarks that there were clues that he should have picked up on, we can include the fridge magnets as an example. Jimmy even thinks of one of the magnets before opening the door to—and subsequently killing—Crake: “We understand more than we know.” He is now fully conscious of what had previously been hinted at via various clues, such as Crake’s comments about murder-suicide and Jimmy taking over Paradice.