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Oryx And Crake Critical Analysis

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In Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood addresses the concerns about the potential risks of implementing genetically modified organisms. She warns that dependence on such organisms could lead to unforeseen consequences on society. With the improvement of technology and rapid growth of genetic advancements, scientists are able to create genetically enhanced animals. Scientists started off with relatively small-scale genetic modifications, however, when corporations saw the success and potential revenue generating ability, the genographers were provided with funding and the experiments became a business. The increasing developments and availability of the animal byproducts lead to a change in society’s perspective of the world and a perception which is now controlled by the big corporations. Industries began to change their product line to benefit from the genetic advancements. This was evident in many industries, including the food industry replacing chicken with ChickieNobs and the medical industry using pig-grown human organs. Initially both the ‘natural’ and GMO variants of products were available, however with the control of …show more content…

Initially, he avoids all chicken, not to risk consuming the lab-grown chicken by accident. “The food in Crake’s faculty dining hall was fantastic – real shrimps instead of the CrustaeSoy they got at Martha Graham, and real chicken, Jimmy suspected, though he avoided that because he couldn’t forget the ChickieNobs he’d seen” (Atwood 208). Until now, Jimmy tried his best to stay away from the ChickieNobs, however, he has had so many that “Jimmy was so used to ChickieNobs by now” (Atwood 292). Society’s ignorance towards the concept at early stage developments is what lead to the expansion of the GMO industry and the increased control for corporations. This goes to show how powerful the influence of large businesses can be and the leading consequences they can

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