Oryx and Crake moves back and forth between Snowman trying to survive in his future that has no future, and his past where his only enjoyment of life was his friendship with Crake and his love for Oryx. Jimmy is not a particularly likable character and his actions, especially his obsession with Oryx 's past, makes you want to shake some sense into him at times. Yet we all can empathize with his longing for love, whether the maternal love his mother couldn 't offer or the love for Oryx that he could never fully have to himself. It 's a testament to Margaret Atwood 's literary skills that we 're always interested in Jimmy and want him to find happiness. In lesser hands, Jimmy could be a disenfranchised protagonist, both from the story and from