Depictions of Ecological Collapse in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake

Abstract

The paper attempts to explore the image of ecological collapse in form of Margaret Atwoods’ Oryx and Crake, speculative fiction novel that interrogate the implications of unbridled scientific experimentation, corporate greed, and environmental degradation. Atwood creates a dystopian world in which ecological disaster is neither a potential danger in the far distance, nor in the near future. It is at hand. In the apocalyptic world through the view of protagonist, Snowman, the novel provides us a ruined post-apocalytic world with the ravages of climate change, genetic engineering and collapse of society. Therefore the main purpose of this paper is to analyze how Atwood portrays ecological collapse as a literal and symbolic part of the plot. Based on the premises of ecocritical theory and posthumanist ideas the paper analyses the intersections between human agency, environmental ethics and speculative imagination. The outcomes implied that the novel may serve as a cautionary tale, describing why environmental irresponsibility and ambition for the cyber-garden paradise might be our final destiny and urgent doubt about our present ecological trajectory. The findings of this study also exhibited an exploration of ecological collapse, spurred by unbridled scientific experiment, corporate greed, and environmental contamination.