HUMAN/NATURE: ECOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY IN MARGARET ATWOOD'S ORYX AND CRAKE

Abstract

Margaret Atwood's 2003 speculative novel, Oryx and Crake, incorporates into a futuristic tale disparate elements taken from current ecological concerns. Her clever intermingling of utopian science with its dystopian effects makes this novel a particularly rewarding text through which to engage with current ecological philosophies, particularly those developed by Val Plumwood and other thinkers interested in how ecological thinking can suggest an ethic of respect for the Other. This paper analyses how Atwood constantly shifts our perceptions between that which appears utopian and that which seems dystopian in the novel's setting. This allows for an examination of the fragile nature of an ecological ethic of care in the kind of post-modern world Atwood envisages. Furthermore, by calling into question the utopian dreams of the scientist Crake in the novel, Atwood engages with two significant areas in the ecocritical debate – instrumentalism and the opposition of ‘human culture’ with ‘nature’. This paper, therefore, argues that Oryx and Crake challenges us to re-evaluate our understanding of how, and if, it is possible to create an ecologically ethical society without becoming instrumentalist or destroying that which makes us human.