Bioengineering In The Handmaid's Tale

For example, bioengineering is a major subject in Oryx and Crake, specifically gene-splicing. Atwood takes real animals that exist today and creates non-existent animals by mixing two animals and creating new species. Although the idea is very real and this type of science does exist in bioengineering, the reality of it is that there is no such thing in our world today. A good example from the novel is a “rakunk” (a cross between a skunk and a racoon), which is an imaginary species described in Oryx and Crake. Many readers of Oryx and Crake felt that Atwood would at times overwhelms her readers with the constant back and fourth between past and present. Although this technique can result in the reader becoming confused while reading the novel, it builds curiosity that makes the reader wonder what exactly is happening therefore, pushes the reader to continue on (Cole, A. n.d.). She …show more content…
The Handmaid’s Tale was written in 1985 and takes place in 2005 (Drainie, B. 2003). Similar to Oryx and Crake, she describes a dystopian backdrop that depicts AIDS and the different types of sexually transmitted infections transferred through promiscuity and leads the reader through an oppressive system where women are divided into groups based on their abilities (Cole, A. n.d.). According to critics, both novels are similar to each other in the sense that they fall under the speculative fiction genre (Drainie, B. 2003). According to Atwood, neither of these novels can be classified as unrealistic considering they both carry scenarios that can very well become reality (Atwood, M. 2004). Atwood did an interview for Canadian living where she was asked to make comparisons and connections between some of her similarly written novels. She is asked about the strange career choices she chose in some of her novels for the characters and how she identified with these