Oryx and Crake

Snowman wonders which is worse: a past he cannot regain, the bleakness of the present, or the unthinkable future. He resents the birds for not having a care in the world. He wishes he had something to read, watch, or study. He wonders where all the things that he once knew have gone. Moreover, he wonders what is happening to his mind.

Snowman faces the grim reality that he is slowly starving to death. He speculates as to when the fruit will reappear and ripen, and decides that he will ask the children when he next sees them. He then decides to make the long hike to the RejoovenEsense Compound, as he is sure that there will be some supplies there, since the prior inhabitants left suddenly.

Snowman now has a mission and he is even looking forward to it. Prior to undertaking it, however, he must let the children of Crake know: though they are irritating in some respects, Snowman feels protective of them.

The men of Crake are performing their ritual of urinating in order to mark their territory (Crake had said that the chemicals programmed into urine were effective against wolvogs and rakunks). Crake had also joked that the men would need something to do, as “Woodworking, hunting, high finance, war, and golf would no longer be options.