This poem discusses the theme of parental investment through the dysfunctional relationship between Jimmy and his mother as portrayed in the novel Oryx and Crake. The poem shows Jimmy feeling constantly alone due to his parents constantly fighting and showing hatred for each other. His mother was a negative influence and provided poor parental investment, often calling Jimmy names and blaming him. As a result, Jimmy grew up feeling lonely and had difficulty forming healthy relationships as an adult due to lacking a positive parental influence as a child witnessing a functional relationship. The poem is meant to demonstrate how not all parental investment benefits children and the importance of parents providing support to their children.

1. Kelly Reed
Missing Link
22 November 2015
Hunter and Gatherer Poetry
Parental investment, in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, is any
parental expenditure (time, energy, etc.) that benefits one offspring at a cost to parents’
ability to invest in other components of fitness, and is thus a form of sexual selection.
This meaty definition from dictionary.com can be taken in a positive way or in a negative
way. A child can have negative parental investment and that is what Jimmy, the main
character, had in the novel, Oryx and Crake. The poem I did discusses parental
investment as a theme. This poem discusses Jimmy and his mother’s dysfunctional
relationship. I want to show you through this poem that not all parental investment will
benefit the child in a positive way. Many parents do not understand the true concept of
parental investment and that is true for Jimmy’s mother. This poem will show you the
loneness that Jimmy’s felt as a child, with parents constantly showing their hatred for
each other.

2. Alone
All, all alone.
Alone on a wide, wide sea.
Say anything.
Get a life.
Don’t pay any attention to them,
Sweetheart.
Sometimes you are a pain in the ass,
Do you know that?
I’m sorry,
I’m sorry.
His mother said,
It was lucky he hadn’t burnt the house down.
His father had laughed then,
His mother hadn’t.
I am not my childhood.
All, all alone.
Alone on a wide, wide sea.

3. Jimmy always felt that he was alone, his mother was crazy and a terrible influence
on him and his father had a wandering eye. Jimmy’s parents’ relationship was as
dysfunctional as it gets, both parents were extremely unhappy being with each other. This
dysfunction was put on to Jimmy, throughout the book, you see Jimmy go through a
series of relationships and none of them pan out and he ends up alone. If Jimmy had
witnessed a healthy relationship as a child, maybe he could be more successful in his
relationships as an adult. Jimmy was constantly apologizing to his mother for nothing; he
just did not want to see her upset but that did not change her attitude. He never truly had a
good influence, someone he could look up to and that made his adulthood very hard for
him. Throughout the book, Jimmy was always alone and felt alone all the time, this stems
from his childhood, this constant feeling of being alone. I hope you take away from this
poem that being a parent is a hard and testing job but you need to always be there for
your child.

4. Works cited
Found poem by Kelly Reed, excerpted from Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood, pp.
10, 52, 45 & 68.