Insanity In Oryx And Crake By Margaret Atwood

“The ones who are insane enough to think that they can rule the world are always the ones who do.”- Stefan Molyneux. Insanity is an inherently foreign but ancient concept, it can be defined as when the mental processes of a person functions out of the social norm. An example of a person with such a mental state is Crake from Margaret Atwood’s book, “Oryx and Crake”. Crake is a mature and brilliant but unhinged person, who is responsible for the destruction of mankind, who believes that the root of all problems in the world is man himself. This could define Crake as a psychopath, with an askewed moral compass, as he knows what his actions are wrong but he continues with them. In the tale, the main character, Jimmy/Snowman, recounts his past

Ultimately, the warning flags of Crake’s plan were remarkably evident in his childhood and Jimmy should have noticed. To begin with, Crake and Jimmy engaged in various activities that teens their age would seem to enjoy, namely: smoking skunkweed and playing video games. The smoking of skunkweed itself is not an explicitly horrific hobby but the kind of games Crake are fond of are rather questionable and his playstyle seems excessive; Crake takes pleasure in playing violent video games that often led to the extinction of mankind and his playstyle is one where he would play until he has a perfect plan of attack, relishing each attempt until he has a flawless strategy. This should raise a few concerns with Jimmy on the topic of Crake’s psychosis; these types of games would have given an exposition to Crake as what to expect and what route to take in his plan to remove mankind from the world, while simulating the plans he may come up with to give him an accurate success rate. In the end, worldwide extinction through biochemical means seemed to be best not only because of the success rate but also

Crake has many traits in common with a psychopath; this is evidenced by : his view on life, his lack of friends and the Crakers. The first and most obvious example is his little regard for human life, and by extension his apathy towards others. This is showcased when he takes joy in watching others die or tortured on the internet. The second example is his lack of friends or close contacts; the only notable people in his life are Jimmy and Oryx. This could only be due to the fact that psychopaths only keep people that prove useful or help them further their goals: Crake used his own mother and father figure,Uncle Pete, to test his virus. He only develops a relationship with Oryx and Jimmy out of circumstance rather than necessity. The last most prominent example is his invention of the Crakers. He has a God complex in this case as he feels he knows the problem or he feels that he exists in a simulation of the world. His invention of the Crakers is the product of his God complex, This is like the great flood chronicled in the bible, Crake is like God while Jimmy and the Crakers are Noah and his family; they are Crake’s chosen people. In this sense, Crake feels that he has given salvation to the Earth by allowing the living beings to start