Oryx and Crake

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Snowman’s Epilogue”

In this activity, students imagine what might happen after the end of the book and write an epilogue about Snowman’s encounter with the human survivors of the apocalypse.

Oryx and Crake ends with Snowman setting off to find the other human survivors of the apocalypse. Write an epilogue that describes his encounter with the other humans.

• Consider what the Crakers told Snowman about the three people they saw while he was away. What inferences can you draw from these clues?
• Decide whether to write about Snowman’s first encounter with the others as it happens or looking back on the event from a future time.
• Write an epilogue that follows logically from the events of the novel and reflects what you know about Snowman’s character.

Teaching Suggestion: You might challenge students to maintain the author’s tone and style as they write their epilogue.

Differentiation Suggestion: English language learners might benefit from working with a partner to brainstorm ideas for their epilogue. They might also present their epilogue in graphic-novel format, depicting the main events in pictures and writing brief captions and dialogue to develop the action.