Botting, Fred. “‘Dead Peasants’: Ethics of Extinction in Oryx and Crake.” Gothic Studies, vol. 27, no. 2, 2025, pp. 142–57.

Botting argues that Oryx and Crake allows us to confront moral ethics after the end of the word of humans, what he calls an “ethics of extinction.” He says Atwood’s novel shows a world where humans have already destroyed themselves and much of the natural world, and the story begins from after that destruction. This discussion is important to my research on Oryx and Crake because it shows how Crake’s plan of a Utopia is created through human loss. This depicts a disconnect between idealized futures and the real ecological harm caused by human actions. 

Canavan, Gerry. “Hope, But Not for Us: Ecological Science Fiction and the End of the World in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.” LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 23, no. 2, 2012, pp. 138–59.

Canavan argues that contemporary cli-fiction serves as a space for imagining the end of capitalism, since we can no longer imagine political change within it. In the article, Canavan discusses Jameson’s idea that it’s “easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” Canavan shows how Oryx and Crake use the post-apocalyptic world to show how neoliberalism contributes to ecological devastation. This is useful in my research because it shows that the “ideal futures” people imagine are usually shaped by capitalism, a world with more technology and more luxury. But Canavan’s point shows that this capitalist logic is what causes the dystopia in Oryx and Crake. The book’s pre-apocalyptic world shows how endless growth and profit lead to environmental collapse. However, the future shows the world after those ideas finally destroy everything. 

Kabak, Murat. “Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake as a Critique of Technological Utopianism.” English Studies at NBU, vol. 7, no. 1, 2021, pp. 37–50.

Kabak argues that Oryx and Crake exposes the dangers of technological utopianism, the idea that science and technology can fix human problems and environmental issues by creating a “perfect” world. ThroughOryx and Crake, he uses the juxtaposition of both utopian and dystopian worlds to show how easily idealistic ideas can turn into damaging consequences. Crake’s plan to eliminate human flaws and reset history is framed as a utopia, but it results in erasure of what makes humans human. This article is useful for my research because it supports my argument that Atwood uses the past and future to reveal how humans attempt to improve the world, but this “improvement” often leads to dystopian effects.

Mohr, Dunja M. “Eco-Dystopia and Biotechnology: Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood(2009), and MaddAddam (2013).” Dystopia, Science Fiction, Post-Apocalypse: Classics, New Tendencies and Model Interpretations, 2015, pp. 283–302.

Mohr’s article shows how biotechnological dystopias, like Oryx and Crake, use literature to show environmental consequences of science and technology. The article interweaves literary and scientific imagination. This shows how these technologies depict both utopias and dystopias. Mohr shows that in Oryx and Crake, Crake’s genetic creations imagine a flawless future. These were created to solve ecological problems but instead they created environmental destruction. This article is useful for my research because it places Oryx and Crake within literature that shows the consequences of technological idealism. It supports my argument of how Atwood uses the future to show the effects of human actions on the environment and the disconnect between imagined ideal futures and real ecological consequences. 

Tasnim, Zakiyah. “Storytelling as Environmental Discourse in Oryx and Crake: Climate Change and the Hope for Survival.” Canadian Journal of Language and Literature Studies 5.5 (2025): 1-14.

Tasnim argues that speculative fiction transforms environmental crises into experiences that stick with its readers. Using Oryx and Crake, the article shows how this genre functions to bring awareness to ecological collapse showing how stories create a sense of resilience in the face of disaster. Tasnim discusses that Atwood’s combination of utopia and dystopia shows the tension between human ideas of ideal futures and the environmental consequences of technological power. This article is good to use for research on how Atwood uses temporal frameworks in Oryx and Crake because it discusses the connection between past experiences and speculative futures in creating awareness of ecological distribution. 

Research Question: How does Atwood use the past and future to show the effects of human actions on the environment in Oryx and Crake, and what does this show about the disconnect between imagined ideal futures and actual ecological consequences?

Botting, Fred. “‘Dead Peasants’: Ethics of Extinction in Oryx and Crake.” Gothic Studies, vol. 27, no. 2, 2025, pp. 142–57.

Canavan, Gerry. “Hope, But Not for Us: Ecological Science Fiction and the End of the World in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.” LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 23, no. 2, 2012, pp. 138–59.

Kabak, Murat. “Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake as a Critique of Technological Utopianism.” English Studies at NBU, vol. 7, no. 1, 2021, pp. 37–50.

Mohr, Dunja M. “Eco-Dystopia and Biotechnology: Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood(2009), and MaddAddam (2013).” Dystopia, Science Fiction, Post-Apocalypse: Classics, New Tendencies and Model Interpretations, 2015, pp. 283–302.

Tasnim, Zakiyah. “Storytelling as Environmental Discourse in Oryx and Crake: Climate Change and the Hope for Survival.” Canadian Journal of Language and Literature Studies 5.5 (2025): 1-14.

I mainly used google scholars for my simple bibliography because it was easier to navigate and gave me a larger option of sources to choose from. I found that JSTOR articles were outdated and did not address the specific ideas in Oryx and Crake that I wanted to discuss in my essay. I searched for key words such as dystopia/utopia, climate neglect, and climate change in Oryx and Crake. I also tried to find a critique on my research question that I could use instead of only finding articles that support my ideas, but this was hard to come by as my research question doesn’t really follow an argument that is widely debated. However, I did find many articles that support my ideas but say certain things that I would not agree with in regards to the novel. 

In Weather, Offill shows the societal decline that exists beneath the surface of ordinary life. Nothing really disastrous in the first 60 pages, but there’s an underlying theme of unease, as if everyone knows the world is breaking down but they all have learned to keep functioning anyway. Lizzie goes to work and plays with her son living a seemingly ordinary life. However, everything she does feels dystopian in a way. Like everyone is functioning in a robotic way just to get through life.

What feels so uncanny is how normalized the anxiety has become. People listen to podcasts about society’s dysfunctions like a hobby. Sylvia’s “Hell and High Water” podcast takes questions from listeners about the Rapture, dealing with depression, and carbon taxes. It shows how desperate people are to find any source of meaning in a broken world. The podcast is used as a kind of religion or therapy. It’s giving people something to hold on to while everything else around them is falling apart. It’s dystopian in a way, society is collectively looking for answers to a broken world by listening to ordinary people share their ideas on how to handle it. Someone sent Sylvia an email asking, “How will the last generation know it’s the last generation?” The question really underscores the eerie idea that we might already be the “last generation,” living through the end without realizing it. They go about their routines, distracted by having to do mundane things to live, while the core beneath them ticks like a time bomb.

The idea of Sylvia’s podcast is similar to Oryx and Crake. In Oryx and Crake, the pre-collapse society distracts itself with entertainment and technology while destruction is preparing to come. But Offill’s book feels more real, because her characters are still  doing everyday things while the world collapses around them. 

I think what makes this book more unsettling than Oryx and Crake or The Hungry Tide is that she doesn’t use a stereotypical “dystopian society” where everything has already collapsed. Instead, the characters are living through the collapse in real time, without even realizing they’re in it. 

This idea really stands out through the name of the podcast, “Hell and High Water.” The  idea usually means that, no matter what happens, society will survive whatever comes. But what’s unsettling about it is that the characters are already there. Their living in hell and the high water has already come. 

In these chapters of the book we see how language is used as a tool for survival among the characters. But, sometimes, the language fails. In the chapter Signs it says, “The words he had been searching for, the euphemisms that were the source of his panic, had been replaced by the thing itself, except that without words it could not be apprehended or understood. It was an artifact of pure intuition, so real that the thing itself could not have dreamed of existing so intensely.” Here we see how Kanai confronts an internal struggle from the lack of language. Kanai lives through language, words are his means of survival. But in the Sundarbans, there are emotions and instincts that can’t fully be understood by language. 

The Sundarbans shows this tension between language and experience. The nature in the Sundarbans is very unpredictable. As a result, Kanai’s panic shows the problem of trying to create a sense of understanding towards something unstable. Words here are a double edged sword. Words help us organize and understand reality. When Kanai uses language, he can identify things and make sense of them. However, on the flip side, these words simplify experience. Once we put a word to something, it becomes less frightening. When Kanai can’t find the words to describe the Sundarbans he confronts the fear of the unknown. The act of naming or describing something creates a distance between oneself and the full aggression of the experience.

Also, it’s interesting how the theme of language ties to Piya and Fokir’s relationship. They don’t know the same language, but they still communicate. Through this we see how the book shows that meaning is not always shown through words. Meaning can be shown in gestures and intuition. Piya and Fokir survive the Sundarbans intuitively. Fokir understands the rhythms of the river through inherited knowledge and Piya observes patterns. 

The chapters also show the complex relationship between humans and animals. One of the most interesting scenes in the chapters is when the tiger comes near the village, creating fear among the villagers. Just as the villagers main goal is to survive the Sundarbans, the tigers are the same. The tiger’s presence near the village is out of necessity. It is seeking food and a way to live in a harsh world. This highlights that all beings in the Sundarbans are subject to the same pressures of survival. This shows how humans and animals in the book are connected by a shared struggle for survival. Both the tiger and the people of the Sundarbans are trying to survive a harsh world, both are feared by the other, and both are living by a system they didn’t choose. The tiger is a reflection of the chaotic emotions that humans hide from themselves. This tension between humans, animals, and the environment of the Sundarbans demonstrates that neither humans nor animals are truly dominant. It’s the natural world itself, whose power holds dominance over life. 

The reactions of Piya, Fokir, and the villagers show differing perspectives between survival and the value of life. Piya’s response to the tiger is shown through empathy and a sense of moral responsibility for life. She sees the tiger as an individual being, deserving of life. Her instincts are to protect the tiger rather than harm it. The book shows Piya as someone who views life as individually meaningful, regardless of its utility to humans. However, while Fokir does show sympathy for the animal, he also understands the dangers it brings to the village and believes that the tiger should be killed to protect the community. This scene shows how ideas of value are often conditioned by fear and survival.

This idea connects to Ciobanu’s ideas about the value of individual life. Ciobanu argues that men and women approach questions regarding the value of life of individuals versus groups in society differently. According to Ciobanu, men are more likely to view people as part of a collective, evaluating lives in terms of the greater good. This is shown through Fokir who cares for the tiger but understands that this death is necessary for the safety of the entire village. Ciobanu believes that women, on the other hand, are more likely to consider individual differences, recognizing the worth of each individual life. They believe that no life is expendable and each individual carries intrinsic value and should be respected, even when survival is at stake. This connects to Piya’s reaction to the tiger. Her decision to protect and empathize with the tiger highlights an ethic of care that recognizes the tiger’s individuality and moral significance. 

In Oryx and Crake, Atwood uses fiction to paint an image to the readers of a dystopian society after disastrous climate effects. She uses Snowman, as one of the only people in this new world to have witnessed both its past and its eventual decline, to compare and contact these two worlds with one another. This intertwining allows readers to see how this dystopian world is not as far as it seems. 

For example, Snowman is shown to be a very depressed character, haunted by his past losses and the new world he is not forced into. Throughout the story so far, we see many instances where Snowman recounts events that took place and how his indifference towards them led towards the destruction of his world. Many times this feeling of guilt from his apathy catches up to him when he recounts his past and he is overcome with emotions of despair. 

Atwood’s dystopian narrative builds on Ghosh’s notion of Cli-Fi. In The Great Derangement, Ghosh argues that a new genre of story needs to be brought to attention. He argues that Cli-Fi is important because Climate destruction is not easily conceptualized. By creating a world that shows the future effect of human actions, we can build a closer relationship between our environmental actions and the future of our world. Atwood uses Snowman’s perspective to show the truth of human consequences. By contrasting Snowman’s memories of the old world with those of the new, Atwood creates a bridge that allows readers to see how the choices we make now have an impact in the future. 

I also think it’s funny that the Crakers are named after important historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt. Atwood gives them familiar names, this uncanny connection also links the future to the past, and makes this dystopian society closely connected to the past world. 

The reading also got me to think, if the Crakers are designed to be free of human flaws, but still have human traits like curiosity and judgement, could their natural human traits make them recreate human behaviors? Could their traits lead them to form hierarchies within the Cracker community even without any idea of past history?