the humanities theme

Question 1

the arts

Answer 1

have become devalued in the face of the rise of science, consumerism and entertainment culture

Question 2

history

Answer 2

fodder for video games

Martha Graham - one of the last colleges to focus on humanities. It is run down and the focus of jokes in the sciences

“a lot of what went on at Martha Graham was like studying book binding or latin: pleasant to contemplate in its way, but no longer central to anything”

Question 3

language and writing

Answer 3

is primarily a tool for corporations to advertise and market their goods, and as a result language becomes superficial and flat, unable to evoke deeper human feelings or ideas

Question 4

Jimmy

Answer 4

is a “word person” - makes him inferior in his society

after the plague he is one of the last humans, but the novel also implies that he is one of the last true humans even before the humans die

Question 5

Jimmy’s thinking

Answer 5

his humanistic or “general thinking” as Crake calls it, is what saves him, figurately and literally

Question 6

unchecked pursuit of scientific progress

Answer 6

has a dehumanising effect, shown by Jimmy’s feelings of isolation and his desperation to hold on to obsolete and outdated words

Question 7

Crake and his breeding of the Crakers

Answer 7

despite trying to breed out “cultural” and “humanistic” thinking, they have an interest in myth, religion, history and art

this suggests that they are not only a source of happiness but also integral to human survival

“watch out for art, Crake used to say. As soon as they start doing art, we’re in trouble”

Question 8

homo sapiens

Answer 8

“Homo Sapiens Sapiens was once so ingenious with language, and not only with language”