Published in 1997, Tropic of Orange is the third novel of a renowned, highly acclaimed modern American writer Karen Tei Yamashita. The book embodies the reflection of modern society comprising Yamashita’s original views on technological progress and ethical and moral degradation of the society, highlighting controversial issues of ethnicity, multiculturalism, globalization, problems of homeless and mentally ill, the grave influence of popular culture and social conflicts in Los Angeles. Coupled with the stylistic influence of Magical Realism and Hyperreality, the novel is a profound work that deals with the most crucial problems of today’s society.
Moreover, the story not only provides an interesting, entertaining, and absorbing plot but is intended to send an explicit message that could be easily read between the lines. Tropic of Orange uses the stylistic peculiarities of Magical Realism to enhance the author’s message of the destructive influence of progress and globalization over immigration, racial and social issues, a multi-lingual and multi-ethnic society.
As it has already been mentioned, Tropic of Orange comprises various techniques inherent in Magical Realism, a literary genre characterized by a clash of two conflicting opposites. Thus, the novel may be examined from two levels: the first one dealing with seven ordinary people’s stories that take place in real LA and on Mexican borders. The second level of the novel directly pertains to the notion of Magical Realism, dealing with the surrealistic world of the tropic of cancer with an orange in the center that heading northwards drags the borders of the tropic with it. As a result, geography and space cease to follow conventional laws of physics or common sense and are subject to the artificial magical reality.
The extension of borders of the tropic, the contraposition between the life in LA and the life in Mexico, the change of events is a typical technique of Magical Realism, namely, hybridity that implies extensive use of the images of borders and change. Moreover, according to the laws of this genre, magical elements are perceived as the elements of reality and don’t stand apart from it, mixed with the realistic events they serve the purpose to enhance the author’s initial message to the reader.
Thus, orange can hold borders of the tropic and be carried by an old man who extends the borders till the borderline. Archangel is immortal and when he does such extraordinary things as pulling the bus on his own through the border, it doesn’t surprise anyone. In this case, the real border and the unreal superpowers blend, which is typical of Magical Realism. In addition, Yamashita manages to keep the narration alive and not conventional though following her style. The author intricately intertwines two cultures, American and Mexican, raising the problems of ethnicity and multiculturalism.
Another episode, when poisoned oranges kill innocent people and hold them in awe, causing a massive accident on the road leaving people stuck in their cars only proves this novel to be surrealistic. The absence of clear opinions about the authenticity and credibility of events allows the existence of magical realism in the text. Thus, the characters take everything for granted and questions nothing because otherwise, it would destroy the fragile world of magic.
Moreover, nonlinear time, the shifts in geographical borders serve to support the idea of the destructive tendency of current progress and globalization that should be improved to maintain intercontinental relations, to facilitate the process of implementing human rights: “…progress and other things in which they foolishly believed…” (Yamashita 56).
What’s more, Yamashita keeps an ironic distance from the surrealistic world in the text though having no doubts about the credibility of this world. In addition, the motif of apocalypse, irony, and paradox that the novel abounds in are typical features of the genre in question.
All things considered, the novel is an example of the implementation of the principles of Magical Realism that focuses on such issues as multiculturalism, ethnicity, social deprivation, migration, globalization and the problems connected with them.
Works Cited
Yamashita, Karen Tei. Tropic of Orange. US: Coffee House Press, 1997.