Jimmy (Snowman) Character Analysis in Oryx and Crake

Jimmy is the novel’s protagonist, who was the best friend of Crake and deeply in love with Oryx before they were both killed at the start of the plague. After they are dead and Jimmy is left in charge of the welfare of the Crakers, he opts to call himself Snowman, as a way of severing himself from the past. Jimmy is not a gifted scientist, but is talented with words (he thinks of himself as a “words person,” not a “numbers person”). He is also, in Crake’s opinion, a sex addict, and conducts affairs with numerous women throughout his youth. For all of his romantic engagements, Jimmy is a lonely character, whose parents are distant (his mother leaves when he is young and his father is uninterested in him). Crake is his only true friend, and Oryx his only true love. Jimmy is plagued by various addictions throughout his youth—he craves sex, cigarettes, and alcohol constantly. After the plague, Snowman is alone, and losing his mind. He hears voices from the past in his head, and is tormented by them. Nevertheless, he perseveres, and does his best to take care of the Crakers while keeping himself alive. He is a gifted survivalist, and a person of great interest to the Crakers. He also puts his love of words to good use: creating a kind of mythology for the Crakers, who revere him for his knowledge of their creator (Crake) and his memories of the time before they existed. Though he despises what Crake has done, he does care for the Crakers and worries diligently about their welfare.

Jimmy (Snowman) Quotes in Oryx and Crake

The Oryx and Crake quotes below are all either spoken by Jimmy (Snowman) or refer to Jimmy (Snowman). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Scientific Progress & Its Costs Theme Icon

It causes a jolt of terror to run through him, this absence of official time. Nobody nowhere knows what time it is.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 3

Explanation and Analysis:

There are a lot of blank spaces in his stub of a brain, where memory used to be.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 4

Explanation and Analysis:

“Leave Daddy alone,” said his mother. “Daddy is thinking. That’s what they pay him for. He doesn’t have time for you.

Related Characters: Sharon (speaker), Jimmy (Snowman), Jimmy’s father

Page Number and Citation: 20

Explanation and Analysis:

He thought of pigoons as creatures much like himself. Neither he nor they had a lot of say in what was going on.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 24

Explanation and Analysis:

From nowhere, a word appears: Mesozoic. He can see the word, he can hear the word, but he can’t reach the word…this is happening too much lately, this dissolution of meaning.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 39

Explanation and Analysis:

Strange to think of the endless labor, the digging, the hammering, the carving, the lifting, the drilling, day by day, year by year, century by century; and now the endless crumbling that must be going on everywhere. Sandcastles in the wind.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 45

Explanation and Analysis:

“Homo Sapiens Sapiens was once so ingenious with language, and not only with language. Ingenious in every direction at once.”

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 99

Explanation and Analysis:

On some non-conscious level, Snowman must serve as a reminder to these people, and not a pleasant one: he’s what they may have been once.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman), The Crakers

Page Number and Citation: 106

Explanation and Analysis:

How could I have missed it? Snowman thinks. What he was telling me? How could I have been so stupid?...
There had been something willed about it, though, his ignorance…he’d grown up in walled spaces, and then he’d become one. He had shut things out.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman), Crake

Related Symbols: Inside, Outside

Page Number and Citation: 184

Explanation and Analysis:

So 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, though every once in a while the college president would subject them to some yawner about the vital arts and their irresistible reserved seat in the big red-velvet amphitheater of the beating human heart.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Related Symbols: Inside

Page Number and Citation: 187

Explanation and Analysis:

The striped-pyjamas guy upstairs must have been a word person, then: a RejoovenEsense speechwriter, an ideological plumber, a spin doctor, a hairsplitter for hire. Poor bugger, thinks Snowman.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 233

Explanation and Analysis:

Maybe the guards tried to get out of RejoovenEsense just like everyone else. Maybe they, too, hoped they could outrun contagion.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman) (speaker)

Related Symbols: Inside, Outside

Page Number and Citation: 270

Explanation and Analysis:

From time to time he looks over his shoulder. The smoke is still there, just one column of it. It hasn’t spread. It keeps on rising.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 280

Explanation and Analysis:

“People come here from all over the world—they shop around. Gender, sexual orientation, height, colour of skin and eyes—it’s all on order, it can all be done or redone.”

Related Characters: Crake (speaker), Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 289

Explanation and Analysis:

“If you take ‘mortality’ as being, not death, but the foreknowledge of it and the fear of it, then ‘immortality’ is the absence of such fear. Babies are immortal. Edit out the fear and you’ll be…”
“Sounds like Applied Rhetoric 101.”

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman) (speaker), Crake (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 303

Explanation and Analysis:

Here are Crake and Oryx, what’s left of them. They’ve been vulturized, they’re scattered here and there, small and large bones mingled into disarray…He’s grinning with all the teeth in his head. As for Oryx, she’s face down, she’s turned her head away from him as if in mourning. The ribbon in her hair is as pink as ever.

Related Characters: Jimmy (Snowman), Crake, Oryx

Page Number and Citation: 335

Explanation and Analysis:

“We made a picture of you, to help us send out our voices to you.”
Watch out for art, Crake used to say. As soon as they start doing art, we’re in trouble.

Related Characters: Crake (speaker), The Crakers (speaker), Jimmy (Snowman)

Page Number and Citation: 361

Explanation and Analysis:

Jimmy (Snowman) Character Timeline in Oryx and Crake

The timeline below shows where the character Jimmy (Snowman) appears in Oryx and Crake. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

The State of Human Relationships Theme Icon

Mango. Snowman wakes up before sunrise. He is in a tree. He looks out through the thick... (full context)

History, Language & the Humanities Theme Icon

Flotsam. A group of “the children” walk across the white beach toward Snowman. They are picking up flotsam and putting it in an old burlap sack. They notice... (full context)

Corporate Power & Commodification Theme Icon

The children open up their sack so they can show the objects inside to Snowman. They hold up various objects: a hubcap, a piano key, an empty “BlyssPluss” container and... (full context)

The children lose interest in the contents of their bag and linger around chanting Snowman’s name. Snowman thinks about how the children have never seen snow. He recalls that Crake... (full context)

Snowman knows the children want to hear stories about the past. He bitterly notes how beautiful... (full context)

Voice. Left alone, Snowman hears a variety of voices in his head. One is woman, who compliments Snowman’s physique... (full context)

Snowman worries about his rapidly declining health, both physical and mental. He imagines that soon his... (full context)

Bonfire. Snowman used to be called Jimmy. Jimmy’s earliest memory is of a bonfire. He remembers wearing... (full context)

The smell of the burning hair reminds Jimmy of when he’d burned his own hair, as an experiment. His father had found it... (full context)

At the bonfire Jimmy feels anxious for the animals, because the fire could be hurting them. His dad explains... (full context)

The next day Jimmy asks his parents why the animals were burned up and they tell him the animals... (full context)

OrganInc Farms. Jimmy’s father works at a company called OrganInc Farms, where he is one of the foremost... (full context)

As he remembers this, Snowman remarks to himself that he is not “old enough” to handle his current situation—that no... (full context)

Jimmy often eats lunch at OrganInc with his dad and his dad’s coworker Ramona. Ramona asks... (full context)

Jimmy lives in the OrganInc “compound,” an insular and secure community built for company employees and... (full context)

Lunch. Jimmy’s mother used to work for OrganInc farms, where she’d worked on making the pigoons immune... (full context)

Every so often Jimmy’s mother makes an unusual effort to be a “real” mother to him. Sometimes when Jimmy... (full context)

As Jimmy grows older he takes to acting out to get his mother’s attention. He likes to... (full context)

Nooners. Noon is the worst time of day for Snowman, because the sun and heat are so intense. He must retreat away from the glare... (full context)

We are told how Snowman learned to adapt to his environment: first he’d built a lean-to on the ground, but... (full context)

Snowman rests on an old bedframe he’d found early on, trying to cool off. The word... (full context)

The voice of an old schoolteacher, Ms. Sally Stratton, is in Snowman’s head. She is asking him first to play a game with her, and then her... (full context)

Snowman lets his mind wander back to his and Crake’s afterschool distractions. He remembers computer games... (full context)

Snowman watches a caterpillar drop down on a silky thread in front of his face—it inspires... (full context)

Snowman realizes he should be spending his time not looking for distraction but looking for food... (full context)

...is a massive thunderstorm. Today the storm is strong, but there is no hail so Snowman doesn’t need to find cover. As the storm winds down he takes some empty beer... (full context)

The thought of beer sends Snowman into a kind of tailspin of longing. He desperately thinks, “let me out!” but realizes... (full context)

Rakunk. Snowman sees a Rakunk in the weeds and calls to it. He wonders if a pet... (full context)

On Jimmy’s tenth birthday his father gives him a pet rakunk. Jimmy wants to name it Bandit,... (full context)

Shortly after Killer arrives, Jimmy’s father finds a better job at NooSkins, a subsidiary of HelthWyzer, and the family moves... (full context)

Jimmy attends HelthWyzer Public School. Jimmy is old enough that he no longer has to eat... (full context)

Jimmy’s father begins spending more time at work, but rarely talks about his work to Jimmy... (full context)

Jimmy hears the whole fight via a series of small microphones he has set up through... (full context)

Hammer. The following years are a blur. Jimmy begins to think about girls more and more, and though he is not unpopular at... (full context)

One day Jimmy comes home from school and there is a note from his mother on the table.... (full context)

The CorpSeCorps men begin questioning Jimmy frequently about his mother. Jimmy doesn’t understand many of their questions, and doesn’t have much... (full context)

When Jimmy’s dad returns he goes to counseling, and eventually begins to seem happier. Ramona moves in,... (full context)

Ramona tries her best to be there for Jimmy, and Jimmy appreciates the attention, though he is still sad and misses Killer dearly. He... (full context)

The section ends with Snowman reminding himself “I am not my childhood.” He tells himself he must hold onto words,... (full context)

Crake. Shortly before Jimmy’s mother leaves, Crake arrives at HelthWyzer High. Jimmy’s mother likes Crake, more than the rest... (full context)

When Crake first arrives at HelthWyzer, Jimmy is apprehensive of him. He is threatened by Crake’s coolness and detects self-importance in him.... (full context)

Brainfrizz. Wakulla Price leaves HelthWyzer high, leaving Jimmy without a lab partner. Crake is assigned to be his partner and Jimmy realizes Crake... (full context)

...briefly explains about the various historical events catalogued by the game (so, for example, if Jimmy didn’t know what Madame Bovary was, he could read a short blub about it before... (full context)

...called MaddAddam. The game tests players’ knowledge of extinct species. Certain players are grandmasters, and Jimmy suspects Crake is trying to achieve grandmaster status. Crake adopts his name from the game:... (full context)

When Crake and Jimmy aren’t playing games they are surfing the internet. Some sites feature live streaming videos of... (full context)

...a “lily pad labyrinth” that prevents his searches from being detected. This enables Crake and Jimmy to watch especially disturbing or disgusting violent snuff films or pornography. Often Jimmy and Crake... (full context)

HottTotts. Jimmy and Crake always watch these channels when its late afternoon, and no one but Crake’s... (full context)

When Jimmy shows this picture to Oryx years later, when she’s in his bed, she tells him... (full context)

Toast. Snowman has told the Crakers the story of their origin. He has told them that the... (full context)

The first star of the night appears in the sky, and Snowman begins singing “Star Light Star Bright” to himself. Craker children hear him and ask him... (full context)

Fish. Snowman looks at the night sky and names all of the colors, remarking to himself that... (full context)

Snowman hears the voices of the Crakers coming toward him. They are bringing him his weekly... (full context)

When Snowman is finished the Crakers gather around him and ask to hear about the deeds of... (full context)

After Snowman finishes this story, one of the Craker women asks him a new question: How was... (full context)

Bottle. Snowman is too disturbed and lonely to fall asleep. He goes to his cement storage unit... (full context)

Oryx. Snowman wakes up in the middle of the night suddenly. He feels Oryx near him. He... (full context)

Jimmy pieces together Oryx’s story, but he imagines the story is different according to every person... (full context)

...that Uncle En’s throat was cut and he was thrown in the river. Oryx tells Jimmy she cried when she heard this news, which angers Jimmy. Oryx gently tells him he... (full context)

This is unwelcome news to Jimmy, who calls Jack pathetic. Oryx wonders why Jimmy dislikes Jack, and notes that she and... (full context)

...sing English songs. Jack encourages this, requesting that she perform more of her “Pixieland Jazz.” Jimmy demands to know if Oryx was raped during her time at Pixieland, and Oryx wonders... (full context)

Sveltana. Snowman wakes up with a hangover and wishes he hadn’t drunk the scotch the night before.... (full context)

A voice in his head tells Snowman he doesn’t want to go back to RejoovenEsense. Snowman insists he’s forgotten about what happened... (full context)

Before Snowman leaves he must explain his departure to the Crakers. He does not want them to... (full context)

Purring. When Snowman arrives, the men are performing their morning ritual where they urinate along the invisible line... (full context)

The Craker called Abraham Lincoln welcomes snowman, and asks him to come across the line. Snowman notes that Abraham has become a kind of leader, and recalls Crake saying to watch... (full context)

...the ultrasound technology that was used to heal wounds and broken bones. The women tell Snowman the child was bitten by a bobkitten (another manmade genetic splice), and they were forced... (full context)

Snowman takes in the scene inside the Craker circle. Women are tending a fire. They never... (full context)

Snowman tells the Crakers he is going to go on a long journey, to see Crake.... (full context)

As Snowman leaves the Craker camp, he again feels anger towards Crake. The voice of his father... (full context)

Blue. Snowman starts his journey, shoeless and carrying as little as possible. He keeps an eye out... (full context)

Snowman notes the advantages of this sexual system: there was no more rape, no more heartbreak.... (full context)

Crake and Jimmy, in their early twenties, are talking over lunch. Crake wonders at the misery caused my... (full context)

Snowman leans against a tree and listens to the sounds of the Crakers mating. He wonders... (full context)

SoYummie. Jimmy and Crake graduate from HelthWyzer High. Crake graduates at the top of the class, and... (full context)

After the ceremony, Crake approaches Jimmy and brings up the subject of his own mother, who we learn passed away suddenly... (full context)

Happicuppa. After graduation, Jimmy goes on vacation with Crake and Uncle Pete. Instead of watching their usual TV programming,... (full context)

Sometimes Jimmy and Crake watch the coffee wars coverage with Uncle Pete, who has stock in Happicuppa... (full context)

When Crake and Jimmy are alone again, they talk about what Jimmy saw. Crake says he guessed it was... (full context)

When Snowman thinks about this event years later, he is furious with himself. He thinks, “How could... (full context)

Applied Rhetoric. Jimmy and Crake part ways to go to their separate academies. Martha Graham has fallen into... (full context)

Jimmy studies “problematics” (which would prepare him for a job writing descriptions of new products.) He... (full context)

Jimmy realizes at Martha Graham that he is interested in damaged, artistic women, because he finds... (full context)

Asperger’s U. Jimmy and Crake correspond by email. Crake tells Jimmy that people call Watson-Crick “Asperger’s U” because... (full context)

Though Jimmy could easily purchase papers instead of writing them, he applies himself at Martha Graham and... (full context)

Crake invites Jimmy to visit Watson-Crick over the holidays and Jimmy accepts. At Watson Crick, Jimmy is stopped... (full context)

...array of colors. The climate is carefully controlled and the air is clear and pleasant. Jimmy asks Crake if the large butterflies are “real” and Crake responds by saying that things... (full context)

Crake takes Jimmy on a tour of the campus, frequently introducing him to others as “Jimmy, the neurotypical.”... (full context)

Next Crake shows Jimmy the wolvog pen. It is a CorpSeCorps-funded project that has designed a dog that looks... (full context)

Hypothetical. A few days into his visit Jimmy asks Crake about the dating prospects at Watson-Crick. Crake explains that “pair-bonding” is not encouraged,... (full context)

Crake and Jimmy hang out in much the same way they used to. They play computer games, or... (full context)

On the last evening of Jimmy’s visit, Crake asks him to play Extinctathon. Jimmy agrees, and when Crake logs on Jimmy... (full context)

...attacked the animals and products created by major corporations. Then Maddaddam asks for “new initiatives.” Jimmy gets nervous and asks Crake what’s going on. Crake explains MaddAddam runs a subversive, rebellious... (full context)

During this visit, Crake often wakes Jimmy up by screaming, horribly, in the middle of the night. When Jimmy asks him about... (full context)

Hike. Snowman continues to make his way toward the Paradice dome in the RejoovenEsense compound. He regards... (full context)

Snowman eventually reaches the compounds. He passes some smaller ones, and comes to RejoovenEsense, the biggest... (full context)

...where the body of the lady of the house lays in bed in a nightie. Snowman thinks that she was probably attractive when she was alive. He takes this opportunity to... (full context)

Snowman leaves the house and is unhappy to see a group of Pigoons approaching him. He... (full context)

Vulturizing. Jimmy graduates in four years from Martha Graham university with his degree in Problematics. After graduation... (full context)

...helicopter above. She says “vulturizing” words both brings them to life and kills them. When Jimmy gets a job with AnooYoo, Amanda is sickened by his decision to work in the... (full context)

AnooYoo. Jimmy moves to the AnooYoo compound and works writing pamphlets for various cosmetic treatments. For the... (full context)

Garage. Jimmy often feels his life is inferior. He is getting fatter, and starting to go bald.... (full context)

Jimmy falls into a kind of depression. Even sex doesn’t bring him the comfort it used... (full context)

Gripless. The CorpSeCorps continue to bother Jimmy from time to time about his mother’s whereabouts. One day they come over to show... (full context)

Jimmy falls into a deep depression. He cuts off contact with his lovers completely. He begins... (full context)

Pigoons. Snowman wakes from a nightmare about his childhood home—one in which he is trying to eat... (full context)

Radio. Snowman is at a loss for what to do. He begins trying random doors along the... (full context)

Snowman finds a good deal of supplies in the watchtower. He finds water, cigarettes and beer,... (full context)

Rampart. Snowman remembers his injured foot. He inspects it and finds a shard of glass in the... (full context)

In the morning Snowman calculates that this is the third day he’s been away from the Crakers. He gathers... (full context)

Pleebcrawl. Snowman is limping because of his injured foot, and is making poor time. At the height... (full context)

One Saturday, Jimmy is lying in his bed in the AnooYoo compound. He is unmotivated and depressed. Someone... (full context)

Jimmy has only ever seen the pleeblands from the window of a bullet train and is... (full context)

BlyssPluss. When Jimmy returns to AnooYoo on Monday, several higher-ups congratulate him on his new job. His mistresses... (full context)

The RejoovenEsense compound is the most beautiful compound Jimmy has ever seen. Crake gives him a tour of the facilities and takes him out... (full context)

...would solve the problem of overpopulation, and lead to greater freedom and happiness, says Crake. Jimmy says this is sterilizing people without their consent, and Crake calls that a “crude way... (full context)

The more Jimmy thinks about it the more he thinks he could use a pill like this one,... (full context)

MaddAddam. After lunch Crake and Jimmy go to Paradice. It is located in an air-locked dome that is basically impenetrable. The... (full context)

Paradice. They stop at Crake’s office. Jimmy notices he still has the word magnets on his refrigerator, only now they form a... (full context)

Crake tells Jimmy he will now see Crake’s life work. He takes him to a watch room that... (full context)

...and they were able to digest food like a rabbit, by consuming their own excrement. Jimmy interrupts to say that these no longer sounded like features that could be sold to... (full context)

Crake in Love. As a storm rages, Snowman is in turmoil thinking of Oryx—of her laugh, her optimism, her belief in Crake. He... (full context)

A few days after Jimmy arrives in Paradice, Crake is showing him how to use the various viewing screens in... (full context)

Jimmy asks Crake where he found this woman, and Crake explains he met her through the... (full context)

Jimmy and Crake wait for Oryx to join them for lunch. Jimmy asks questions mostly as... (full context)

Jimmy spends his days longing for Oryx. He knows he can’t touch her, because Crake is... (full context)

...because she has contacts at sex clinics and whorehouses because of her history. She assures Jimmy she would never test BlyssPluss on herself, because Crake warned her not to do so.... (full context)

Jimmy asks Oryx what happened to her in the garage in San Francisco. She asks what... (full context)

Takeout. Snowman is now coming to the darkest part of his memory. “What if” questions fly through... (full context)

But Jimmy, in fact, has no gut feeling this happy evening when Oryx is at his house.... (full context)

Snowman is thinking that he should have seen the signs. Crake had asked him once if... (full context)

Jimmy is insisting to Oryx that Crake knows about their affair—he’s not sure why. Perhaps to... (full context)

Airlock. Jimmy waits for Oryx for a long time. He becomes increasingly uneasy and then feels panicked.... (full context)

...bleed profusely from every orifice. The three other staff members inside Paradice are growing nervous. Jimmy tells them to stay calm. Suddenly Crake rings the bell to enter the airlock. Jimmy... (full context)

What happens next appears to Jimmy as if it is in slow motion. He retrieves a gun from the storage rooms,... (full context)

Jimmy drinks and watches news of the spreading plague as he waits for word from Oryx,... (full context)

Jimmy is startled by this information, but agrees to let Crake in. When Crake enters, Jimmy... (full context)

Bubble. After the afternoon storm, the air is cooler, and Snowman is able to continue along the rampart. His foot is swollen and painful, and he... (full context)

Snowman finds antibiotics in the storerooms and applies them to his foot, and gives himself a... (full context)

Scribble. In the morning Snowman gives himself another shot of Crake’s superdrug. He roams around his house, feeling disconnected from... (full context)

After Jimmy has shot Crake, he locks himself in his house. A Corpsmen calls once on the... (full context)

Jimmy checks on the Crakers three times a day. They don’t seem to know that anything... (full context)

When Jimmy is not watching the Crakers he wanders around aimlessly, eating, drinking, and watching the news.... (full context)

Jimmy knows he cannot stay in the dome much longer—once the electricity goes out, the airflow... (full context)

Remnant. Jimmy finally shows himself to the Crakers. They marvel at his appearance and at the fabric... (full context)

...and Crake's bodies, crumpled and already decayed. The Crakers ask what those forms are and Snowman says it is an object of no importance. They accept this and keep moving. Outside... (full context)

Idol. Snowman packs up the old food he has found in the storage area in Paradice, and... (full context)

...to the statue. They say they thought it would help him find his way home. Snowman realizes they were chanting “Snowman,” not Amen. He also notes that they have made art,... (full context)

Sermon. After his meal, the Crakers tell Snowman that others like him have passed through the area. Snowman is shocked and asks them... (full context)

As Snowman prepares to leave in the morning, he imagines giving a sermon to the Crakers about... (full context)

Footprint. Snowman wakes up before dawn. He pees on the grasshoppers, returning to his old routine. He... (full context)

...“what do you want me to do” to the empty air. A voice says “oh Jimmy, you were so funny.” Another says “Don’t let me down.” He looks at his watch,... (full context)