Oryx and Crake

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Crake (Chapter 1)

2. Oryx (Chapter 1)

3. Jimmy (Chapter 2)

4. He is a genetic engineer. (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. Snowman lives alone in a world with dangerous weather patterns and engineered wildlife. He lives near characters called Crakers who do not seem to be human in the way that Snowman is. (Chapters 1-3)

2. Ramona is a lab assistant who works with Jimmy’s father. Jimmy’s mother is a former genetic engineer who now stays home and has depression. (Chapter 2)

3. The weather alternates between extreme heat and storms. (Chapters 1-3)

4. The presence of these creatures suggests the failure of genetic engineering because the animals now run wild. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. The letter says that Jimmy’s mother is leaving, that she will be in touch, and that she took Killer to liberate her. (Chapter 4)

2. MaddAddam (Chapter 4)

3. Rednecked Crake (Chapter 4)

4. On HottTotts, a global sex-trotting internet site (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. Snowman creates an origin story to explain life after the plague. The Children of Crake are the result of Crake’s genetic engineering, but Snowman transforms Crake into a kind of deity for the Crakers. The Children of Oryx are the animals, which Oryx, according to Snowman’s story, birthed from an egg. (Chapter 5)

2. Snowman serves as an intermediary between Crake and the Crakers. He pretends to talk to Crake through his broken watch. He gives the Crakers messages from Crake, such as that Crake says the Crakers must catch and cook one fish per week for Snowman. (Chapter 5)

3. Oryx’s mother sells her into sex trafficking, where she performs sex acts both in person and in pornographic movies. However, Oryx has no bitterness regarding this life. (Chapter 6)

4. Oryx and Jimmy are lovers. However, their relationship must be kept from Crake. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. To Paradice (Chapter 7)

2. He tells them he is going to see Crake. (Chapter 7)

3. His mother (Chapter 8)

4. He is threatened by a pigoon attack and a tornado. (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Crake describes art as an empty drainpipe, an amplifier, and a stab at getting laid. (Chapter 7)

2. At Martha Graham, Jimmy studies problematics and applied rhetoric. He later goes into marketing. (Chapter 8)

3. He says that drug companies need to manufacture disease to stay in business. (Chapter 8)

4. Crake becomes a grandmaster of EXTINCTATHON, and he says that he suspects the grandmasters want to shut down the “machinery” or the “system.” The grandmasters are also anti-compound. (Chapter 8)

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. He takes a job as an ad copywriter. (Chapter 10)

2. She is executed for treason. (Chapter 10)

3. He learns that Crake is in love with Oryx. (Chapter 12)

4. Crake slits Oryx’s throat to save her from pain. (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. They say that human society is a monster that makes the same mistakes over and over, leaving corpses and rubble in its path. (Chapter 10)

2. Snowman escapes from the gatehouse by climbing up a ladder, breaking through a ceiling vent, and traveling along the rampart. (Chapter 11)

3. While Crake is away, an uncontrolled plague destroys humanity. (Chapter 12)

4. Jimmy shoots and kills Crake, just as Crake had likely planned for Jimmy to do. (Chapter 12)

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. The cocktail is a supergermicide. (Chapter 13)

2. Jimmy leaves a letter about the origin of JUVE to those who might later wonder what happened to society. (Chapter 13)

3. He decides to relocate the Crakers to the beach, where they will have more food. (Chapter 13)

4. They believe that Crake lives in the sky like a god. (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. The Crakers have built an image of Snowman and are praying for his safe return. (Chapter 14)

2. The Crakers tell Snowman other humans have visited their home. (Chapter 14)

3. He tells them, “Crake is watching over you,” and, “Oryx loves you.” (Chapter 14)

4. Snowman goes to find the humans. (Chapter 15)