Annotated passage Oryx and Crake Samar Chater
November 21st 2012
aaaaaaaaHe lands two-footed. The pain is intense, but after rolling around on the muddy ground for a time and making speared-animal noises, he hauls himself whimpering to his feet.Revision: to his foot.1, 6 Nothing seems to be broken. He looks around for a stick to use as a crutch, finds one. Good thing about sticks, they grow on trees. 2 aaaaaaaaiNow he's thirsty. aaaaaaaaThrough the verdure and upspringing weeds he goes, hoppity hoppity hop, gritting his teeth.3, 5 On the way he steps on a huge banana slug, almost falls. He hates that feeling: cold, viscous, like a peeled refrigerated muscle. Creeping snot. 4 If he were a Craker he'd have to apologize to it—I'm sorry I stepped on you, Child of Oryx, please forgive my clumsiness. V iiHe tries it out: “I'm sorry.”
Pages 398-399
Crafts of Writing
1. Use of Colon:Margaret uses the colon to add variety and diversity within her text. It helps create an energetic story that doesn’t bore the audience. If the readers were not engaged they would lose interest in the book and lose actual figurative and literal meaning of the text. They would become disoriented when reading further, and will not grasp what is going on in the novel. Variety in grammatical structure adds a little spice to the life of the reader.
3. Onomatopoeia:Atwood used an oonomatopoeia to describe the motion that Snowman has to make because of his damaged swollen foot. Instead of just telling us “Snowman used his good foot to walk through the vegetation,” she uses an auditory word which suggests the meaning that Atwood was trying to portray. This way, we can vividly imagine Snowman's strut, as well as hear it.
Reading Strategies
4. Descriptive visual:Atwood explains a grotesque feeling. One that none of us can relate to, but we can visualize it in such a way that we can share Snowman's experience. It's as if we are the ones stepping on a gigantic banana slug.
She uses strange comparisons that give much affect to our imagination. The fact that we have no clue what a peeled refrigerated muscle would look or feel like, allows us to imagine what they might be like for ourselves: giving us imagination without limits. Letting our imaginations run free helps us experience her writing differently, and therefore connecting ourselves to the book differently.
5. Connections:The hoppity word can be connected to our childhood teachings of bunny rabbits, hopping around. The childishness tied in with this word also suggests that Snowman looks very silly walking through the Pleeblands. The foolishness contrasts with the seriousness of the pain he is facing. This creates mixed emotions with the reader. We feel sympathetic, and bothersome for laughing. By using words the reader connects with, the reader can comprehend the otherwise vague description of Snowman's actions.
Resonating
2. Margaret uses humour to make us laugh as well as understand Snowman's circumstances. This phrase is often used for explaining the hard labour acquired in obtaining cash. She compares sticks to money in this joke explaining that when it comes down to surviving, you don't need to waste money buying medical accessories. Nature can supply you with what you really need. But it also can get a laugh out of you because she uses stick in the figurative sense, and it can also pertain to the literal meaning. Sticks do grow on trees, and are very easy to come by.
6. The author lets us feel closer to the book by showing that even the narrator thinks through what (s)he is saying. It shows that the narrator (with which whom we trust with the accuracy of the story), makes mistakes too. Adding a revision or edit of the text in a story is effective for the reader to feel connected to the author.
It also leads us to reread the sentence (s)he revised, drawing further understanding of Snowman's situation. The revision puts great emphasis on what was being revised. We now realize that the poor condition Snowman's foot is in, forces him to make sure that he only uses his good foot to walk. Using a revision makes the reader feel that there is something important that the author is trying to tell you