A) One quote that I feel captures a central theme of the novel is an exchange between Crake and Jimmy as Crake is giving him a tour of the immensely luxurious RejoovenEsense Compound. Jimmy asks, “What pays for all this?” and Crake replies, “Grief in the face of inevitable death. The wish to stop time. The human condition” (Atwood 292). Crake is referring to the anti-aging technologies that the RejoovenEsense Company offers, and how it takes advantage of humans’ anxiety over mortality. I believe the vast power given to these companies in the novel (and in real life), as well as the emphasis of science over the arts is rooted in humankinds’ pursuit of youth. People frantically fund all that will make them live longer, or at least pay to externally resemble someone of a younger age. …show more content…
The ruins of the pleeblands, the scarcity of resources, and the widespread environmental damage evident in the novel are all a result of human desire to make more. More stuff, more power, more people. If I cannot live forever, perhaps what I leave behind will, humans think. In the world of Oryx and Crake, Jimmy’s utilization of his linguistic talent being limited to self-help books and advertising, the economy of New New York being powered by beauty and fertility treatments, and the rampant overpopulation are all evidence of the value that people place on extending the self. This quote spoke to me in its raw truthfulness. The human condition is a painful side effect of our advanced cognition. With our hallmark brainpower, comes the cognitive capability to understand death, not escape it. As with all of the other organisms, we have a drive to avoid death, but what tortures us uniquely is the knowledge of its permanence and