Extra credit presentation given by one of my students, Ansel Rosenberg, at the beginning of lecture 17 for students in English 165EW, "Life After the End of the World," winter 2013 at UC Santa Barbara. Posted here with Ansel's permission. Course website: http://patrickbrianmooney.nfshost.com/~patrick/ta/w13/

1. Reality and
Dreams in Oryx
and Crake
{ By: Ansel Rosenberg

2. What is Reality?

3.  “reality is the state of things as they
actually exist, rather than as they may
appear or might be imagined”.

4.  Through the thoughts and actions of
Crake, Atwood challenges the reader’s
typical, unexamined assumption of what
is “real” and what is not.
 ““Do you think they’re really being
executed?” he [Jimmy] said. “A lot of
them look like simulations.”
 “You never know,” said Crake.
 “you never know what?”
 “What is reality?”” (83).

5.  “”Why?” said Crake. “Anyway, this is a
real set.”
 “No it’s not.”
 “Okay, granted, but neither is plastic
men.”
 “What?”
 “The real set is in your head.” (77)

6.  “You mean, did they occur in nature or were they created
by the hand of man? In other words, are they real or fake?”
 “Mm,” said Jimmy. He didn’t want to get into the what is
real thing with Crake.
 “You know when people get their hair dyed or their teeth
done? Or women who get their tits enlarged?”
 Yeah?”
 “After it happens, that’s what they look like in real time.
The process is no longer important.” (200)
 “I thought you didn’t believe in God,” said Jimmy.
 “I don’t believe in Nature either,” said Crake. “Or not with
a capital N” (206)

7. What is a Dream?

8.  “A dream is a succession of images,
ideas, emotions and sensations that
occur involuntarily in the mind during
certain stages of sleep”.

9.  “We are not here to play, to dream, to
drift. We are here to practice Life Skills”
(42)

10.  “Every moment he’s lived in the past few
months was dreamed first by Crake. No
wonder Crake screamed so much.” (218)

11. The End