A Study On The Mythological Archetypes Of Oryx And Crake

As a finalist of the Man Booker Prize, Governor General’s Award and Orange Prize for Fiction, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake had been an immediate success after it had been published in 2003. Since the background, characters as well as the finale share a common likeness with the tale Noah’s Ark in The Bible:Genesis, the theoretical perspective of this paper mainly employs the archetypal criticism projected by world-renowned Canadian scholar Northrop Frye, thus to engage an intent observation of the archetypes embedded in the context and combine the prototypes of the tale Noah’s Ark as well as other western cultural knowledge to analyze the underlying allegorical meaning of this novel.In literary history myth provides writers with continuous stories to adapt, the wisdom and genuine knowledge myth carries encourage and inspire people to long for a better life. Gradually the rewrite of myth became a trend of literature with the progress of history. The Bible is one of the sources of western culture and its influence permeates with western literature. This paper mainly explores the archetypes of background, characters as well as motifs in the novel, the depravity of humanity, the fallen of social values the plague of virus that sweeps across the world in Oryx and Crake correspond with the degeneration of mankind, the corruption of morality and the tempestuous flood of Noah’s Ark in Genesis of the Old Testament; Meanwhile, as Jimmy, the protagonist of the novel shares many merits and attributes with Noah, not only both of them are just and righteous man, but also they two successfully survive from the catastrophe and finally lead other survivors to start a new life; On the other hand, the recurring themes and motifs expressed by Oryx and Crake, for instance, the themes of survival, rebirth and redemption. All of these can be found in the tale of Noah’s Ark. The Canadian identity is characterized by the symbol of survival due to geographical reasons, according to Carl Jung’s collective unconscious theory, this kind of psychological features will last from generation to generation and literary works are a reflection of it. Each archetypes of the novel is delicately designed by Atwood, hence to provoke readers to deeply think about what social norms and values we should follow and not to transgress the border between good and evil.