That lack of knowledge and clear absence of omnipotence is one of the strongest reasons I trust Snowman as a narrator. But even when counting Oryx, Snowman easily matches her in empathy, and lacks any amount of complicity in Crake’s eventual destructive plans, a distinction that sets him apart from Oryx – even if we never know just how much Oryx knew about the impending end of the world. Furthermore, he is by leaps and bounds the most empathetic character in the text, aside from perhaps Oryx, in her all-too-brief moments present in the text. Snowman carries a distinct sense of self-depreciation that removes the fear of embellishment he looks down upon himself and seems aware of his own failings and willing to admit them. His narration lacks ornate prose and wordy descriptions the novel’s opening lines are plain and to-the-point. But more importantly, the novel and its narration present Snowman to us as trustworthy. For one, if we can’t trust Snowman, Oryx & Crake is left without a narrator. Only upon reconsideration did I wonder about the relative truth of the text, and even now, I’m reluctant to label Snowman as unreliable.

This begs the question: can we, the readers, trust Snowman’s narrative? Can we take him at his word? Is he a reliable narrator as a literary device, despite the fact that he’s demonstrated himself to be an unreliable narrator within the context of the story?įor my part, I didn’t find any reason to distrust Snowman’s version of events while reading the novel. Crake died to ascend to godhood in the ruins of the world. He claims it’s out of defiance, but what matters is the end result. The quote above describes how Snowman’s storytelling has distorted the truth in-universe – despite his own muddled opinion of Crake, he allows for the man’s deification. He is a prophet among the Crakers, the only one who can communicate with their revered deities Oryx and Crake, the only one who has seen them and can tell their stories.

Snowman’s role as a storyteller is not limited to the novel’s narrative, however. He is the one who imparts the story across its intersecting timelines: from his childhood, when his name was Jimmy and Crake was merely his classmate and best friend then ahead into the post-apocalyptic future, a world destroyed by Crake himself and, in more limited bursts, Snowman’s relationship with Oryx, almost in a world and timeframe of their own, floating adrift from the main events of the story. “The Crake they’re praising is his fabrication.” – Oryx & Crake, part 5, “Fish”ĭespite being told in a third-person perspective, Oryx & Crake nonetheless takes on Snowman as its narrator.

Margaret atwood trilogy crake and oryx