Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” takes us on a journey to a not so distant future of ruin and despair, shrouded by a bleak reality of the end of the human race. Although a prevalent topic throughout the read is the role of sex among homo-sapiens, I’d like to focus the attention to the connection with the Anthropocene and our reality. Donna Haraway’s piece on the Anthropocene is not just a definition of the term, but an analysis of all the human contributions to the destruction of life on earth. There are many direct causes of this such as pollution from factories and indirect causes that may seem to not have long lasting effects…until they do.  She puts a big emphasis on the Anthropocene not only referring to the impact of man on the climate, but rather the environment as a whole. “I think that the stretch and recomposition of kin are allowed by the fact that all earthlings are kin in the deepest sense…All critters share a common “flesh,” laterally, semiotically, and genealogically.”; Haraway strongly believes that humans should expand their mindsets beyond mere classification of living organisms as distinct beings. Instead, we should consider ourselves, and our organic friends, as one thing; residents of the earth.

I feel as though Atwood derived much of the inspiration for the content of her book from Haraway’s philosophy. Although a work of fiction, much of the concepts and themes are one to one with our day to day such as big advertisers putting advertising on a pedestal to market deceiving products to the masses and industries disrupting the natural order of things. Much like Jimmy’s parents and his best friend Crake, they aided in combining animals and altering their genetic makeup under the ruse of positivity for the human race. However it should be noted that Crake himself reveals the importance of creating problems to profit off solutions. Some would say pharmaceutical companies manufacture drugs advertised to cure illnesses for people that cause a long list of side effects on purpose. If you cure the world, you end the business; that’s horrible for the bank. 

Even at the core, Atwood is subtle, yet direct in saying that humans have  been and will be their own downfall. Crake’s life work was intended to produce the perfect human-like entities without the flaws of humans. However, by the conclusion of the book, his project is showing signs of “failure”. To put it simply, you can take the Craker away from humans but you can’t take the human out of the Craker.

Amitav Ghosh’s “The Great Derangement” was the article that stood out the most to me. Within, he expressed his distaste for modern authors lacking the inclusion of real world changes directly related to the Anthropocene. This is not to say he was not a victim of his criticism as well, however he makes sure to include his own experience of dealing with a weather anomaly. He makes the claim that perhaps these events are often overlooked in the present day is due to their ever increasing probability of occurring. It’s like a double edged sword. People are only interested in stories that have some ground in reality…but then again, who would want to read about something they could experience themselves? It’s definitely not a black and white playing field.

Using his own experience to drive his point home that he is not just talking to talk added a depth of character to the article. It really puts into perspective how fast thing as a whole can change, and how a single event can impact you for the rest of your life. Considering it affects us all, regardless of one’s lifestyle, it’s hard to believe such a topic is not addressed in modern literature as it very well should be.