In the novel Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood (which we read in my SciFi Uni class and which is amazing) the narrator looks after a new species of human. His childhood friend Crake obliterated nearly all of humanity in order for his brand new custom designed humans to live. He thinks that humanity is some sort of virus and hopelessly flawed. As a genetic engineer he designed the new humans exactly like he wanted. They are herbivores, do not need clothes, have a set and promiscious mating cycle, their pee holds off predators, they are good looking and kind, do not get sick and can heal injuries by purring. And they do not believe in any gods. Or at least that's what Crake intended.
The narrator tells the Crakers (as he calls the new humans) about the one who made them and consequently they view Crake as a sort of god and Snowman (what the narrator calls himself) as a sort of prophet who brings them stories from Crake. They are reverent and accept anything that Snowman tells them as a law, as long as he says it comes from Crake. He even pretends to be in contact with Crake through a broken wristwatch (the Crakers have no concept of thechnology) and says that Crake "came down" through a tornado. The Crakers readily believe him and rely on that belief in their daily lives. There is also another god. The goddess Oryx (who was the narrator's girlfriend in the old world and taught the Crakers about animals and plants). The Crakers call themselves "Children of Crake" and all animals "Children of Oryx". Because animals are sacred to Oryx they don't harm them, except for the fish they get for Snowman once a week and if they're in danger.
The narrator himself observes the irony of the present situation. Crake abhorred religion and religious sentiments and tried his best to erase them. And now in the new world that he is no longer part of he has become his new humanity's god.
The narrator tells the Crakers (as he calls the new humans) about the one who made them and consequently they view Crake as a sort of god and Snowman (what the narrator calls himself) as a sort of prophet who brings them stories from Crake. They are reverent and accept anything that Snowman tells them as a law, as long as he says it comes from Crake. He even pretends to be in contact with Crake through a broken wristwatch (the Crakers have no concept of thechnology) and says that Crake "came down" through a tornado. The Crakers readily believe him and rely on that belief in their daily lives. There is also another god. The goddess Oryx (who was the narrator's girlfriend in the old world and taught the Crakers about animals and plants). The Crakers call themselves "Children of Crake" and all animals "Children of Oryx". Because animals are sacred to Oryx they don't harm them, except for the fish they get for Snowman once a week and if they're in danger.
The narrator himself observes the irony of the present situation. Crake abhorred religion and religious sentiments and tried his best to erase them. And now in the new world that he is no longer part of he has become his new humanity's god.
Later on Snowman takes a longer journey and leaves the Crakers for a while. While he is gone they built a likeness of him and pray for his safe return. It seems that some form of artistic expression and spiritual belief is (at least in the novel) integral to human nature and be it a human nature so fundamentally altered like that of the Crakers.
Satori adores this novel and loves working with it
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