Characters

• Jimmy


  Protagonist; sees both pre and post-apocalyptic worlds; mom issues; sarcastic, conflicted, lonely
• Jimmy - Symbolism


  Jesus (obeying the commands of Crake and Oryx), Noah (saving the chosen ones for the new world), Moses (taking the people to the Promised Land), "the Body of the Trinity" (page 85- "mind and soul are separate from the body")
• Snowman


  Protagonist of the future; reveals the future and what happened, everything he does relates to Jimmy (never truly moves on); narrator; bitter, detached, lonely
• Oryx


  Lesser protagonist; Jimmy's obsession (also Snowman's), Crake's lover, cause a rift between Jimmy and Crake, foil to Jimmy and Crake; dependent, beautiful, kind, optimistic
• Snowman - Symbolism


  Prophet, Moses, "The body of the trinity," Noah (warning by God)
• Oryx - Symbolism


  Mother Nature, angel (comparing to her "feathery wings" (Hike 238); Nature's resilience, Jesus, Eve
• Crake


  Builds the Crakers, causes the apocalypse; smart, practical, narcissistic, scientific, logical, intimidating
• Crake - Symbolism


  God complex, plague (Four Horsemen), "Judgment Day." Old Testament God
• Bernice


  Jimmy's roommate at Marsha Graham, burns his underwear; her death proves that Jimmy still doesn't hate anyone; hot headed, passionate, stringy hair and smelly shirts
• Bernice - Symbolism


  direct contrast of Jimmy (differing personalities); satire of people who fall extremely far to the left on the political side
• Dolores


  Made Jimmy's life better and worse, satire towards how families are falling apart (the mother figure is a paid worker); motherly, not genuine
• Dolores - Symbolism


  Materialistic culture, surrogate mother
• Killer


  emotional support for Jimmy (someone he could talk to); mix between a raccoon and a skunk
• Killer - Symbolism


  Innocence, conformity, freedom (when Jimmy's mother takes her)
• Sharon


  Jimmy eternally conflicted with not knowing about his mother's death, ruins Jimmy's future relationships; causes abandonment issues; chronically depressed, mentally ill
• Sharon - Symbolism


  war (fights all the genetic mutations/splicing), Moses' mother
• Uncle Pete


  False father figure to Crake; perverted, controlling, oblivious
• MaddAdam


  Help create the pathogen that causes the apocalypse; anarchist group, pro-genetic engineering
• MaddAdam - Symbolism


  Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
• Ramona


  a numbers person (too much energy for long, elaborate sentences), young and beautiful, tries to take on the role of Jimmy's mother, seems innocent/naïve, but works in a high-tech, unethical company; failed attempt at mother figure
• Amanda


  Jimmy's college girlfriend, shares her apartment with two other guys, conceptual artist, condescending, holds herself in high regards, comes from a white trash family, reinvents herself, anti-CorpSeCorps; makes Jimmy realize that he doesn't know what love is
• Amanda - Symbolism


  A symbol of what Jimmy's mother could have been (not necessarily in the same artistic way, but in the same mindset)
• The Crakers


  The reason Crake chose to keep Jimmy/Snowman alive; perfect, innocent, gullible, beautiful, inquisitive, all races, can't read, "floor models" (302), no territoriality, green luminescent eyes, "perfectly adjusted to their habitat" (305)
• The Crakers - Symbolism


  Represent "art of the possible" (Page 305), which is the future of genetic science, they can be seen as a warning to control scientific "progress" so that it does not take the humanity out of human
• Uncle En


  "man with the watch" (123), greedy, selfish, experienced, smiled a lot in the village; starts Oryx's life in human-trafficking business
• Jimmy's Father


  "foremost architect of the pigoon project" (Organic Farms 22); aloof, selfish, disillusioned, uncaring, emotionally unavailable, "always giving him tools trying to make him more practical" (Nooners 37); caused commitment issues in Jimmy because of the lack of attention/affection in his childhood, lack of presence affected emotional stability of Jimmy, proponent of genetic engineering; explains why Jimmy helped Crake
• Abraham Lincoln


  leader of the Crakers, but ironic because Crake wanted a classless society and having a leader changed that
• Glenn


  uber smart, more vulnerable than adult Crake, symbolizes adolescence, aloof, refused to share human connection until Oryx
• Jack


  filmed pornography, meat-eater, had morals, taught Oryx how to read, symbolizes diamond in the rough