Oryx and Crake

Though this character’s name is Glenn, Snowman finds it impossible to think of him as anyone other than his later incarnation of Crake. His plans and viewpoint may not have been apparent early on but were always present.

Crake and Jimmy first meet when Crake transfers to Jimmy’s school, and Jimmy is instructed to show him around. Though they are different in some respects (Crake is an intellectual and is more cold and logical than Jimmy in his views and demeanor), they become friends and spend time playing computer games and watching online pornography, exploitation, and suicide videos. Tellingly, Crake admires the “flair” of those who know when their time is up. He also displays a strange reaction when his own mother dies of a synthetic virus, marvelling at the froth coming from her mouth.

Unlike Jimmy, Crake excels at science and goes on to a prestigious college. When they meet up again, Jimmy realizes that Crake has become a top player in a game that they used to play, Extinctathon, which was where Glenn first took on the codename Crake. This is now no longer a game but a portal for discussing synthetic viruses and outbreaks.

Crake poses various philosophical questions and dilemmas to Jimmy that hint at his plans. He also employs Jimmy to work on the marketing for his Paradice project, though Jimmy does not know Crake’s real aim: to destroy humanity using a virus and replace it with a genetically-engineered advanced race. In addition, Crake has selected Jimmy to oversee his creations after his and Oryx’s deaths.

In his discussions with Jimmy, Crake explains that the planet is overpopulated and humanity is reaching a crisis point due to dwindling resources. He has therefore set up his Paradice project to remedy this situation, though the method of achieving his aim is only revealed after the fact. His commitment to this plan is also evidenced by the fact that he is willing to kill Oryx, whom he had used as a tool to manipulate Jimmy.

Jimmy first saw Oryx, whose real name is unknown, when she was featured in an online child pornography video. Usually, Jimmy did not take much notice of the girls in these videos, but he was struck by a look that she gave to camera: a look that was contemptuous but entrancing.

When Crake seeks out Oryx later on and she starts working on his project as a teacher to the Crakers, Jimmy becomes infatuated with her once again. Though she is now in a relationship with Crake, she engages in an affair with Jimmy. She is vague and unresponsive when he asks about her past, but it transpires that she grew up in an impoverished village and was sold to an employer who used her as a means of luring men to hotel rooms, after which he would bribe them for money. When her employer was killed, she was sold to a pornographer and engaged in sexual acts with a cameraman in exchange for English lessons.

As a teenager, Oryx was featured in a news report, which stated that she had been kidnapped by a pharmacist and kept locked in a garage. Jimmy is furious about this, but Oryx insists that the man rescued her and treated her well. Jimmy is surprised about how little bitterness she seems to have about her past, and cannot tell if she is suppressing it. In general, Oryx appears as a cipher-like character who does not give much away.

Oryx is later upset to find that the BlyssPluss pills she has been distributing contained a deadly virus. Following her death, Snowman often imagines her speaking to him.

The genetically engineered “Crakers” are aesthetically perfect and possess the physical and behavioral characteristics that Crake favored: gleaming green eyes and a placid, non-aggressive nature. The latter is based on the idea of rerouting human energies that had previously led to war and violence. They are also programmed to drop dead at 30, and this, along with their mating and digestive habits, prevents a population crisis or waste of resources. Moreover, the Crakers cannot differentiate skin color, meaning that racism is no longer an issue. In fact, discrimination or division of any kind is no longer possible.

The Crakers are innocent and childlike, and Crake believes that Jimmy is the best person to oversee them due to his empathetic nature. The Crakers quiz Jimmy with many questions, and he makes up elaborate stories that they always believe. 

Jimmy’s father works at OrganInc, and his mother had previously worked there, as well. However, she became disillusioned with the research practices there, in particular, the greediness and dwindling concern with ethics. She and her husband frequently fight, and Jimmy feels disconnected from both of them. His father’s attempts to be friendly seem forced, and his mother is often depressed. Her disillusionment reaches its apex when she walks out on the family, even taking Jimmy’s pet rakunk, which she intends to “liberate.” Despite her detached manner, which was interspersed with emotional outbursts, Jimmy felt angry at being abandoned. Later, Jimmy witnesses a video of his mother’s execution, confirming she had become a dissident. He has little further contact with his father aside from occasional e-cards.

Ramona is initially a colleague of Jimmy’s father at the OrganInc Farms, and the two later begin a romantic relationship and move in together. At one point, Ramona tells Jimmy that if she and his father do not conceive soon, they will turn to genetic engineering to create a custom-made baby. In general, she is a woman of few words, with Jimmy’s father explaining that she “didn’t want to put her neuron power into long sentences.” However, she tries to make an effort to get to know Jimmy.