Symbols
Blood and Roses
Crake and Jimmy once engaged in a game known as Blood and Roses while they were in high school. The game juxtaposes humanity’s greatest transgressions (“blood”) against its most notable achievements (“roses”). Jimmy recalls how playing on the side of “roses” was challenging as human offenses or “blood” events far outnumbered the achievements. While merely a relic from Jimmy’s past, Blood and Roses serves as a metaphor for his present circumstances.
Jimmy finds himself potentially the sole survivor of a catastrophic global pandemic engineered by Crake, which is clearly one of humanity’s most egregious offenses. Despite the devastating impact of the plague, Jimmy perseveres, striving to recall the few remnants of human civilization that still evoke pride. Essentially, Jimmy is engaged in a real-life game of Blood and Roses, recognizing the difficulty of championing the “roses” side and acknowledging its enduring significance. Thus, Blood and Roses captures Jimmy’s existential struggle to reconcile humanity’s darkest moments with its loftiest achievements amidst the backdrop of post-apocalyptic desolation.
The Color Green
The color green has a notable role throughout Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. Within the compounds, lavish artificial foliage adorns the surroundings, while the post-pandemic world resembles a lush tropical rainforest, where lush vines reclaim human structures. Particularly striking are the bright green eyes of the Crakers, a result of their consumption of huge amounts of chlorophyll. Despite green traditionally symbolizing natural and eco-friendly elements, in the novel, it often signifies the intrusion of human intervention upon natural processes.
Much of the surviving plant life after the pandemic stems from experimental genetic manipulation and splicing, highlighting the encroachment of scientific meddling upon natural ecosystems. The Crakers’ emerald eyes exemplify Crake’s godlike manipulation of human embryos to enable them to digest vegetation akin to rabbits. However, green also connotes naiveté and innocence predating scientific advancements. For instance, Oryx wears green contacts to avoid unsettling the Crakers with her brown eyes. Thus, the Crakers are metaphorically green in both their eye color and their lack of exposure to the world, similar to how novices in any field are termed “green.”
In the novel, green serves as a convergence of conflicting themes and tensions. It embodies the juxtaposition of hyper-intelligence and childlike innocence, arrogance and humility, complexity and simplicity. Consequently, green becomes a symbol of the varied conflicts driving the narrative forward.
Inside and Outside
The novel keeps exploring the dichotomy between the concepts of “inside” and “outside” and the persistent efforts to maintain their segregation. This is evident in the strict adherence to sanitation practices, which aim to preserve cleanliness within the confines of the “inside” while keeping contamination at bay from the “outside.” People staying inside the compounds dedicate themselves to safeguarding against viral intrusion into human cells, with Jimmy’s mother metaphorically describing her work as fortifying the “doors” of cell walls to prevent infiltration. Moreover, the compounds themselves are physically demarcated as “inside,” enclosed by domes, gates, and doors, serving as the exclusive domain of wealthy families affiliated with major research corporations. Jimmy’s father considers their compound a castle, remarking, “Castles were for keeping you and your buddies nice and safe inside, and for keeping everybody else outside.”
Jimmy, having spent his entire life within the privileged confines of the “inside” as a “compound brat” and later as an employee within Crake’s airlocked Paradice, embodies the ideals associated with this environment—cleanliness, health, familiarity, wealth, and comfort. However, the “inside” can also be interpreted as symbolic of insularity and a lack of awareness of the world beyond its confines. This dichotomy represents not only physical boundaries but also socioeconomic disparities and cognitive limitations. While the “inside” offers security and affluence, it simultaneously fosters a sense of detachment from external realities. This thematic exploration underscores the complexities of privilege, isolation, and ignorance within the novel.
