Alston Badger

Abstract: Margaret Atwoods’ novel Oryx and Crake has numerous mythical and religious allusions. The goal of my paper will be to explore the relationship between religion and science. Atheist and eugenist Crake condemns religion, yet puts himself in the role of a god. He believes the answer to humanity’s strife is located in its genome. My paper will argue that Crake has deified the gene – created a god out of hard science.

Sources:

Canavan, G. (2012). “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.” Literature             Interpretation Theory, 23(2), 139-159. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com /            doi/abs/10.1080/10436928.2012.676914

Domingo, A.. (2008). “Demodystopias”: Prospects of Demographic Hell. Population and             Development Review, 34(4), 725–745. Retrieved from             http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/25434737

Heise, U. K.. (2009). The Android and the Animal. PMLA, 124(2), 503–510. Retrieved from             http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/25614291

Hiser, K. K. (2010). Pedagogy of the Apocalypse [Review of Oryx and Crake; The Road; Earth             Abides; The World Without Us]. Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy, 21(1), 154–162. Retrieved from             http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/10.5325/trajincschped.21.1.0154

Laflen, A.. (2009). “There’s a Shock in This Seeing”: The Problem of the Image in “The             Handmaid’s Tale” and “Oryx and Crake”.Amerikastudien / American Studies, 54(1), 99–120. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.clemson.edu/stable/41158414

Moore, L. (2003). “Bioperversity”. The New Yorker. Retrieved from             http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/05/19/bioperversity