Author: Christy Ng

Crakers for Kids

Overall, I really enjoyed creating this project.  I think that it was a lot of hard work and was stressful, but that’s what makes it so rewarding to be done.

Having the creative authority to make up storylines and tell the story of the Maddaddam trilogy in the eyes of a children’s folklore story was definitely a challenge.  There are a lot of components that we had to consider.

Do we call them the Crakers at all?
A: In some cases we did, just for introductory purposes, however we just shifted to using “we” and “us” to be inclusive.

How sophisticated should the drawings be?
A: We decided not at all, because if they’re just discovering art and delving into it, since Crake didn’t really make them to enjoy art, we figured their skills wouldn’t be amazing and they’d rely on pictures found.

Would they know what ____ is?
A: If it was anything technological from the 21st century, we assumed they did because they left over Humans and prospective Humakers could’ve taught them.  Also, being to into writing and possible literature, they may have seen it in books.  So we opted to keep things like computers and lightbulbs in.  Although, we did make sure to reference that it was “from chaos” or the pre-flood.

All questions like this.

This project really pushed us to think 1000 years ahead in the eyes of Crakers and potentially Humaker hybrids.  It was both a challenge and a highlight because I think the creative freedom we each got showed in the distinguishability between the four books.  Each book has a certain style that is uniquely ours.

I enjoyed this project because it let us showcase some artistic and creative abilities that we have while simultaneously putting ourselves in the mindset of Crakers and future Humakers.

Suggested Readings:

Baird, Adela; Laugharne, Janet; Maagerø, Eva; Tønnessen, Elise Seip
Children’s Literature in Education, v47 n1 p1-17 Mar 2016http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10583-015-9244-4

Purpose: The reason I’m suggesting this piece is because it focuses children’s perception to picture books.  I think this journal is relevant because it talks about children making connections between the real world and what they’re reading.

Children’s Literature as an Important Tool for Education of Sustainability and the Environment
Baratz, Lea; Hazeira, Hanna Abu
International Electronic Journal of Environmental Education, v1 n2 p31-36 Jan 2012
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1057481.pdf
Purpose: I chose this second journal because it looks at children’s literature in a new light.  This journal talks about children’s literature as a tool to inform them about other critical topics.  And think this is relevant because thats what our book would be doing, we’d be teaching that the reasons for their practices and informing them of their past.

Crake vs. Freud

The more I study psychology, and the more I study the MaddAddam trilogy, the more connections I make.  In many senses, Crake is very much like Sigmund Freud, the psychoanalyst.

Sigmund Freud was most known for three things: unconsciousness, stages of sexuality, and psychoanalysis.  A big critique against him is that his theories were only based on his traumatic childhood, especially in terms of the stages of sexuality.  He was very rigid about his theories – only he could change, edit, or improve on his own work.  This led to many disputes with other psychologists that tried to work with him like Carl Jung and Alfred Alder.  He even invented a whole new process of analysis, dream analysis, to prevent being psychoanalyzed by someone else.  On even creepier levels, he also psychoanalyzed his own daughter, who went on to going against most of her father’s theories anyway.  Not only is he rigid in practice, but he’s also rigid in methodology and belief.  He believes in science and rationality.

Similarly, Crake’s character is much like Freud is these aspects.  Crake too is rigid in belief.  Crake only believes in the rational and in science.  He went as far as the try to rid the Crakers of religion because he thought it was pointless. (And Ironic because he himself basically became their God).  Crake also had a traumatic childhood that influenced his practice and theories.

While I don’t how much love Freud was capable of giving, I am certain that despite Crake’s rigidity, he had a special connection and feeling toward Oryx and in that sense he is separate from Freud.  As smart as he was, Freud was disliked by many and opposed by many.   As rigid and critical as he was, Crake was actually admired by many, if not all, for his intellect and uniqueness.

Ren and Jimmy’s mirrored love lives.

In Oryx and Crake Jimmy has an infatuation with Oryx and a love for her that he was incapable of achieving with any other female in his life.  Even the brief sightings of her before he really knew her became significant to him.  The image of her as a young girl in the porn video became engrained in his mind.  This is very different from how Jimmy saw Ren.  In O&C Ren seems to be an afterthought.

When Jimmy realizes that Crake has formed a relationship, of whatever form of a relationship he is capable of, with Oryx we see a shift in his friendship with Crake.  Even though Crake is his best friend and that is the only friend he can truly confide in, jealousy and anger brews within Jimmy.  And this can be seen in the scene where Jimmy kills Crake.  All the negative feelings about Crake stemmed from his love for Oryx and whatever delusional relationship they seemed to have.  When Oryx tells Jimmy that what she and Crake have is not as important and not as special, we see Jimmy feel better about himself and his relationship with Oryx.  This shows an unspoken tension between Crake and Jimmy.

In The Year of the Flood we learn more about Ren’s background and how her and Jimmy’s lives crossed paths.  After leaving the Gardeners, Ren goes to high school in HelthWyzer and meets Jimmy.  Their friendship grows into a more physical connection and Ren quickly falls in love with him.  Her mind is almost consumed by Jimmy and her love for him.  She is also convinced that she loves him back and that they have this bond up until she realizes that he is incapable of commitment.

Ren’s love for Jimmy, mirrors his love for Oryx.  What started as a mere infatuation grew into a powerful and influential love.  Just like how Jimmy’s love for Oryx affected his friendship with Crake, Ren’s love for Jimmy affected her friendship with Amanda.  When she finds out that Jimmy is Amanda’s new boyfriend, she quickly becomes distant.  What was meant to be a joyous reunion, turned into a quick and abrupt goodbye.  After that, Ren feels jealousy and resentment toward Amanda who is her best friend.  However her love for Jimmy has blinded her into distancing herself from her best friend.  Similar to how Jimmy felt joy when he thought Crake’s relationship with Oryx was insignificant, Ren feels joy when she learns that Amanda and Jimmy are not longer together.  This too, shows the unspoken tension between Ren and Amanda.

This makes me wonder how the book will end and if Ren’s relationship with Amanda will end on a sour note like Crake and Jimmy’s.