I've always thought that irony is a comical and interesting thing. Margaret Atwood does an amazing job of representing irony in Oryx and Crake. She uses irony to show how the government and power want everything to go perfect and the way they want it, but everything ends in chaos anyway. I just really find it funny how ironic some people are in real life and that's why I enjoy talking about this topic so I'm gonna start by introducing the characters.
Our good pal Glenn, more commonly known as Crake, has to be the perfect definition of irony in this novel. There were a lot of examples that Crake demonstrates to show irony. For starters, he always said how he doesn't believe in religion or the arts or anything related to that. However, Crake has an obsession with controlling everything and wanting everything to go his way. Ever since he was young he was obsessed with science. Anything that related to science and straight facts was a pleasure for him to indulge. A good example of this was all of the board games and video games that he played. He always wanted to be the very best at everything he did. He wanted to conquer and rule above all else. Don't you think that sounds a little odd? Crake doesn't believe in religion or God or any god... none of that. But at the same time, he wants to control everything and play God himself? I mean he even created his own people. His own people. He is literally taking a form of deity. Snowman (Jimmy) even makes Crake a god to the Crakers because he knows Crake doesn't believe in that stuff. Basically, his entire persona is just ironic because of everything he believes and everything he does.
Another topic that strongly represents irony is just the government and the corporations in general. I'm gonna use Jimmy's father to represent the corporations and businesses because he perfectly represents all of the traits that they hold. So Jimmy's father works for this company that genetically engineers animals. It's pretty messed up but basically some examples of these genetically engineered animals are the pigoons, rakunks, and wolvogs (basically just a combination of two different animals). So the irony in this is the pigoons were originally made for organ donating, rakunks were created to be nice family pets, and wolvogs were made to protect the citizens. As the novel progresses, pigoons turn to threats with human-like intelligence, rakunks become dependent survivors and don't need humans, and wolvogs become hunters rather than protectors. So where I'm getting at is they were originally made for human aid but then turn into more vicious and powerful animals than humans... Jimmy's father genetically engineered these animals to basically make things easier and better, but of course everything turns south. Not only that but Jimmy's father is basically one of the main causes for Jimmy to start living alone in a world.
And of course the entire end of the novel just shows how the entire plot is ironic. This society that everyone lives in is very much like a dystopia. It's like a place where everyone wants certain things to go their way, and it does, but then turns out awful. All of the things that the higher power did, all the genetic engineering, the executions for treason, and many other things that added up caused this chaos. Obviously, Crake is the main person for creating the virus that kills off all of humanity but Crake would have never been capable of doing these things if the corporations weren't so powerful and actually cared about humanity. The businesses that were higher wanted to control everyone and everything that happened, basically playing like the puppetmaster of society. Crake eventually joins the highest business and gains mad respect from his coworkers. Later in the book, we learn that Crake basically killed everyone but his main goal was to control everyone. HUGE irony is involved in this. He wanted to be able to make everything go his way but now he has nothing to control. And not only does he have nothing to control but he basically commits suicide so he has no control at all. He goes from wanting all the power and everything to go his way but Crake is dead. Maybe he wanted to die because he lost everything he wanted but in the end it's still extremely ironic how everything turned out.
I think irony used is incredible and very well thought out. Margaret Atwood definitely did a fantastic job with showing irony. And it can directly relate to the real world too. There are plenty of people in life who are completely hypocritical of there beliefs. Religion, science, and moral beliefs are all ironically represented in this. In the real world too, there are plenty of times where people want things to go perfectly their way and it does, but the end their unhappy with the outcome. In Oryx and Crake some people may be happy but it's not the outcome they wanted.
What purpose do you guys think irony serves in this novel? I'm interested to see what other people think.
Ian Ransonet
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