Abuse Of Power In Oryx And Crake

Essay

Dystopian novels have had a major contribution to western civilization becoming more skeptical of the government. These novels have introduced the distrust between governments and citizens. This is shown in both the novels Animal Farm by George Orwell and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. These novels illustrate the reason for this distrust through the use of power, rebellion and the influence of language on society. The novel oryx and crake by Margaret Atwood depicts how Crake’s selfish actions lead to the mass destruction of a society. This is parallel to George Orwell’s Animal farm which shows how Napoleon's greed leads to the fall of the animal society.

In the novel Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, One of the key characters in the novel, Crake is infatuated by the idea of power. Crake is a Handsome, smart and strong guy. He knows what he wants and knows exactly how to get what he desires. He understands the power of propaganda and segregation of classes amongst society. He uses this to his advantage. When selling his “magical pills” that he knows are not safe, he uses different forms of propaganda and jimmy to promote his product. He knew of the danger of this medication, but was so obsessed with his “success” that he fulfilled his selfish desires.

These pigs introduce the 7 commandments on the wall of the barn. All animals were to follow these rules, as no one was above the law these rules were not to be changed. However as time progressed Napoleon did not like these commandments and wanted to do as he pleased. He felt that they went against his desires. As a result Napoleon used the attack dogs and other forms of propaganda to draw the comrades attention away from napoleon changing the 7 commandments into something so completely different than what was initially