In Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, the protagonist’s original first name is Jimmy. After the catastrophe, he is known as Snowman, short for “Abominable Snowman,” but Jimmy is the name he had before the world collapsed.
Jimmy grows up in a society dominated by powerful biotechnology corporations and protected compounds. He is less scientifically gifted than his childhood friend Glenn, who later adopts the name Crake, but Jimmy develops strengths in language, storytelling, and interpretation. His memories of childhood, his mother, Crake, and Oryx shape the novel’s account of how civilization reached its disastrous end.
Snowman is therefore not a separate character from Jimmy. It is his post-apocalyptic identity, used after the human population has been devastated and he is left among the genetically engineered Crakers. A common mix-up is answering Crake, Oryx, or Snowman: Crake and Oryx are central figures, while Snowman is Jimmy’s later name.