One of the clearest aspects of the society pictured in Oryx and Crake is its clear structuration: people are all categorized, and separated according to norms that are neither questionable, nor even questioned.
This categorization is mainly linked to people’s skills, and their progression at work. In the novel, we stay mainly focused on one side of this society: the biologic domain, the research related to it and the employment of people in that field. People working on genetic modification and scientific improvements, people with mathematic, scientific skills seem to be considered as the top of the social ladder, according to the importance given to scientific developments. The distinction is pushed as far as a clear rejection of the people who do not fit the
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Indeed, with the promotion, the family has to move into a
“Compound”, the “OrganInc Compound” (from the name of the corporation employing Jimmy’s father), with a better house as a result, but also another school for Jimmy, with a better level.
The organization of people into a hierarchy is emphasized by this separation in terms of space, which is itself heightened by “high walls around the houses” in the “pleeblands”. This distinction and clear separation between people is a common trait of dystopian literature. In Oryx and Crake, separation and differentiation are developed to such an extent that there seems to be no way for people to overcome the boundaries fixed for them by their situation in society. This wish to create a perfect spatial organization is exactly what we can find in dystopias, and the social situation in Oryx and Crake precisely fits this definition. The spatial differentiation also means, as just explained, different living conditions, and different security, wealth or educational aspects. The