So this response has nothing to do with pigoon platoons (although that bit where they trapped Snowman in the guardhouse was a bit unnerving) it just seemed catchy.

I think Crake is an extremely interesting character in the novel, even more so after the discussion we had in class about him being a mad scientist/super genius. Personally, I think he is a mad scientist, because he took the route that, in his view, promotes ‘the greater good’, with the end justifying the means. But past this, I think what he did is something that anyone is capable of doing, given the circumstances. He is extremely intelligent, and gets the best education; he has the drive to see his projects through, and develops the ego necessary to completely believe in his vision.

One of the key theme in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake is the conflict between that which is empirically provable, and that which is a construct of the human mind. This manifests in a variety of ways: numbers vs. words, emotion vs. survival, art vs. science. The protagonist, Jimmy/Snowman, is wrapped up in this conflict, because he is an advocate of the side which believes in the intangibles of human nature, but he feels like his side is losing, or has lost, depending on whether we address him before or after the catastrophe.