Margaret Atwood's “Oryx and Crake” gives us a taste of what the future may become. Our world may reduce itself to that form of chaos and extremities. The world she creates consists of self serving bio-tech companies that uses genetic engineering to manipulate animals and diseases to their whims. Whether they specialize in curing the incurable diseases, make extra organs for transplants, find the scientific way to create the fountain of youth to make their clients live forever, or simply produce meat at the minimum costs and maximum output, they disregard the turmoil their products create, sealing themselves off from the riots, diseases, and fear around them.
Snowman, supposedly the last person on Earth, watching over the “Crakers,” he constantly keeps his mind in his past fading memories of normal life, when he referred to himself by the name Jimmy. In the book, Snowman goes through the earliest memories of Jimmy's childhood to the end of humanity. Throughout his life Jimmy amounted to nothing special compared to how he grew up, both his parents held high positions as bio-tech scientists, the mother seemed to loose her sanity, but smart never-the-less. The schools he went to nurtured geniuses like Crake, who go on to bigger and better things, yet Jimmy barely makes it into a college even with the help of his father's connections. The only thing really special about Jimmy is that he survived the end of humanity, with the help of Crake, and now, as Snowman, simply watches his friend's creations, barely surviving without any help. Also he didn't try to stop the end of humanity, even though he had the resources to save everyone.
According to Snowman's memories, Crake was special ever since he showed up at Jimmy's school. His mother liked him out of all the 'friends' he brought home, his grades were among the best. Crake always had to win or figure out the game. He hated humanity, thinks every human simply has “monkey brains.” Well, with his monkey brain he brought something new to humanity, an old concept.
In fact Oryc helps Crake with this concept, even though she didn't know about it. Oryx allows Jimmy to make her out to whoever he wanted her to be, Jimmy continuously probed her with questions about her past, never sure if she just humored him and made up stories or actually told him what happened to her and who she is. Hew presence was scattered throughout the book, at first she appeared as a child among children on a pornography site, later she, or at least Crake and Jimmy convinced themselves the same person appeared in a garage with other girl's like her, owned by a man who bought them from overseas. Then Crake found her through “student services” and offered her a job. Even when she worked for Crake she traveled, never completely there. She seemed to be another illusion in the book.
When Jimmy is cast out of illusion, as Snowman his reality is plagued with worrying about the Crakers, mutant animals, finding food, and avoiding diseases; he worries about the sun due to global warming, the melting of the glaciers already raised the sea level destroying cities. Now the sun just burns Snowman's skin to a crisp. We also have to worry about global warming, linking the book with current concerns and amplifying them, making them the worst possible outcome.