aliceinHerLand

Name, community, and individuality

In the dystopian world of “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood, characters were called by many names in accordance with each of their role in society. The characters’ effort to negate or affirm these roles suggests a complicated relationship between community and individuality. 

Names distinguish people from people. They consist of two components: the last name, shared among a group of people, representing a community, and the first name, which varies depending on each person, representing individuality. Noteworthy, none of the characters in “Oryx and Crake” had last names. This can be a sign of a lack of community sense with a focus on the family environment. This is because family, where members share their last names, is the first community that individuals have joined in their lives and plays an important role in shaping people’s mindsets. Even though it was stressed by Crake that reproduction activities by humans were not “limit[ed] in the face of dwindling resources”, it was not enough to build a family (Atwood 74). Because Jimmy, Oryx, and Glenn were abandoned by their mothers at a very young age, their lack of family love accelerated a stronger development of self-centered thinking compared to a community-centered one. Consequences are the birth of BlyssPluss and later the nonhierarchical world. The unhappy childhood made Crake believe that bringing a child into this world who would experience a childhood similar to his is unacceptable. It shows that the suffering of an individual can affect a community widely and negatively. 

Despite having no family names, the characters had many nicknames. Due to the “Descriptivists theory of proper names” introduced by Bertrand Russel and Gottlob Frege, a name works as a title given for a person, which is closely related to any descriptions and concepts associated. Accordingly, Snowman is the leader of the Crakers, and the person who led the Crakers is Snowman. As many names that Snowman had, as many roles that he had to play as a member of society. When he was “Jimmy”, he was a boy having miserable childhood. When he was “Jim-Jim”, he was the son of Sharon. Noteworthy, people are initially distinguished as individuals before they integrate into society. Stresses from society can shift the focus from community roles to individual desires. Some individuals chose to negate their names, and their labels and leave the drama stage. As an example, Sharon gave up the role of microbiologist, and later that of a mother. Oryx quit the name of a “[w]orking girl(s)” (89). In these cases, individuality outweighed community. 

Moreover, names can become an individual’s deepest secrets. As an example, Jimmy never called himself Abominable Snowman. He “kept the abominable to himself”, so the Crakers would never think of him as a furry scary creature with childhood scars (12). The story’s title also conceals the name Snowman (“Oryx and Crake”) even though he is the main character. It shows that names represent individuals’ affairs. This idea is related to fairy tales such as “Rumpelstiltskin” and “Ricdin-Ricdon”, where names revealed memories and secrets. The fact that Snowman knew about a “Glenn” personality inside Crake was the key to the ending of the story. Snowman and Crake shared a past that they knew so well when they were Jimmy and Glenn. Facing each other, they let the past go and Snowman chose to integrate into society by following “human footprint in the sand” (218). Surprisingly, this emphasises individuals can not separate themselves from the community. After all, a person who lives for the community is called a ‘hero,’ but the one who lives for himself is labeled ‘egotistical’. Human beings are just animals that adhere to life instinct: form a group (Crakers), appoint a leader (Snowman), and long to find their origin (Crake). When primitive instincts are awakened, neither surnames nor given names are important. Humans then are just animals with the name “Homo Sapiens”. 

“Oryx and Crake” has left many meanings in readers’ hearts. To conclude, names show two different duties of a person: living both as an individual and a member of society. There is no surprise that names are considered to be a quintessential invention of language. 

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. Knopf Canada, 2003. Apple Books.