Oryx And Crake Margaret Atwood Analysis
Atwood’s Criticism of Commodification Revealed Through Language
The 21st century includes several countries consisting of capitalist societies. These societies function through the exchange of money for goods and services. Workers produce these commodities for a company, but they do not benefit the worker. Karl Marx, a sociologist, created a theory based on capitalism to explain how commoditizing people and goods effects society. Margaret Atwood uses Marx’s ideas about commodities in her novel Oryx and Crake. She uses specific language and situations to portray a society centered around people as objects. Karl Marx defines a commodity as “an external object, a thing which satisfies through its qualities human needs of one kind or another” (Marx). The value of said commodity, does not come from its use value, but in its exchange value or what it can be traded for. A commodity can also have sign-exchange value, which refers to the elevated social status the commodity gives to its owner (Tyson, 62). Marx states in his book Capital Volume that, "The common substance that manifests itself in the exchange value of commodities, whenever they are exchanged, is their value. That exchange value is the only form in which the value of commodities …show more content…
The novel depicts a society centered around Marxist capitalist society. The world is essentially owned and operated by several corporations. Workers of the corporations live in compounds where the companies can control every aspect of life. The companies commodified the workers in the book. The simplest form of this occured because the workers perform for the company they work for such as OrganInc. The company profits from the workers’ production, creating an exchange value. As the company grows, its social standing grows. The workers then reach a sign-exchange value. The evidence of the worker being commodifies becomes clear when there is
The 21st century includes several countries consisting of capitalist societies. These societies function through the exchange of money for goods and services. Workers produce these commodities for a company, but they do not benefit the worker. Karl Marx, a sociologist, created a theory based on capitalism to explain how commoditizing people and goods effects society. Margaret Atwood uses Marx’s ideas about commodities in her novel Oryx and Crake. She uses specific language and situations to portray a society centered around people as objects. Karl Marx defines a commodity as “an external object, a thing which satisfies through its qualities human needs of one kind or another” (Marx). The value of said commodity, does not come from its use value, but in its exchange value or what it can be traded for. A commodity can also have sign-exchange value, which refers to the elevated social status the commodity gives to its owner (Tyson, 62). Marx states in his book Capital Volume that, "The common substance that manifests itself in the exchange value of commodities, whenever they are exchanged, is their value. That exchange value is the only form in which the value of commodities …show more content…
The novel depicts a society centered around Marxist capitalist society. The world is essentially owned and operated by several corporations. Workers of the corporations live in compounds where the companies can control every aspect of life. The companies commodified the workers in the book. The simplest form of this occured because the workers perform for the company they work for such as OrganInc. The company profits from the workers’ production, creating an exchange value. As the company grows, its social standing grows. The workers then reach a sign-exchange value. The evidence of the worker being commodifies becomes clear when there is