Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is a fiction book that makes you think, What if you are the last person on earth? We are introduced to Jimmy who is also refereed to as Snowman. Snowman appears to be a man of nature living in the wild, he felt like he had a connection with the wilderness and animals.

Though this book is fiction, we can still compare events that happened in the book with events today. This book is very similar to “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet “by Bill McKibben in addressing problems the world is having with global warming. Humans are part of a ecosystem and with people polluting and all chemicals that we toss into the ocean, global warming its at a rise. The Earth will not be safe anymore, not for and us and our grandchildren. The message is the same; take action now before it is too late to do anything. Margaret Atwood just took a different approach making things interesting with her characters. It was easier to read because it used problems that we face today all over the world such as prostitution. Oryx, as a child who is Jimmy’s ex girlfriend dealt issues that girls in the United States don’t have to deal with. Oryx were sold for money by her own parents in pursuit for a better life for her. It saddened me to find out that she was sold to her rich uncle but after he was murdered, she became a porn actress. This is all in pursuit of a better life. I think about the question, how many people are forced to degrade their bodies for money? And what would happen if men don’t seek you as a good prostitute anymore? What is the next option? I could not imagine being sold and having to be shipped from one place to another without notice.

The book scared me to find out that Jimmy was the last one on the face on this Earth after a deadly virus that spread and wiped out society. It is ironic that Jimmy was a asset in taking out the human race. The only other living things that are left in the planet are a couple of animals who are artificially genetically altered. Makes me think about all the chemicals that are being thrown out into the ocean. In the book the companies experimented with DNAs manipulation. Here in America we don’t genetically make new species, It is unethical to the environment and to the animals themselves. We make babies in a tube for same gender and it still raises the question is it right? These companies basically controlled the world in supplying what people thought was essential. Trusting the company that was giving out the pill that was suppose to be helping out people when it was doing the complete opposite. The pill was spreading viruses around and people weren’t aware. It makes me think about the government and how they control the vaccines. Many people die from experimenting for our better well being, can you imagine the flu vaccine completely reversing and killing people instead?