Humanity and Crakers

Humanity and Crakers

Repeatedly, it is stated in Oryx and Crake that the Crakers lack much of what makes us human. They cannot make art, they cannot have a religion, they do not have leaders. By the end of the book however, there is signs that all three of these things are present, to some extent, in their culture, showing that they are more human than it may seem. Thought the book hints point to the Crakers not following the ideas of Crake, who designed them to lack these traits.

“These new women are neither lopsided or sad: they’re placid, like animated statues. They leave him chilled.” (101) So thought Snowman of the Children of Crake, almost soulless, robotic, without culture, or fear. On the very next page after this thought, religion can be discerned from the veneration of Crake, a person who they never knew, who they praise for ending “chaos,” like the god of the bible. Snowman by his own admission, is Crakes prophet. (104)

At the end of the novel, the Crakers erect a totem, a statue of Crake, chanting Snow-man, they attempt to summon Snowman, after their encounter with other humans This is very different from the rather simplistic religion of the Crakers before Snowman left them. They made a symbolic art, they have a set ritual to summon snowman from the sky. This shows that Crake is  not only wrong about the capabilities of the Crakers, but very wrong, in this sense they are little different from humans of before.

This change is a turning point in the novel, before, despite hints that it may be otherwise, the Crakers are seen as an “other.” They are alien, reminiscent of the people of Winter, in The Left Hand of Darkness, in their egalitarianism, but very alien. Now they have religion, they have culture, Crake is proven wrong, and Snowman must make a decision.