Death of Anti-multiculturalism

Karen Tei Yamashita's "Tropic of Orange" includes narration that follows seven vastly different characters. Two significantly different characters are Emi and Bobby. Emi is a Japanese- American, upper class television reporter. She tends to be obnoxious towards her boyfriend, Gabriel, with her anti-multiculturalism. It is even debated upon whether or not she even has a racial/cultural identity. The narrator of her segments even states "it was questionable if she even had an identity" (19). On the other end of the identity spectrum, Bobby is "Chinese from Singapore with a Vietnam name speaking like a Mexican living in Koreatown. That's it" (15). His cultural alignments throughout the novel are confusing in that he aligns with all of them. It is interesting then, in the end of the novel, Emi's character dies and Bobby's is the one responsible for holding the two sides of "invisible bungy cords" symbolic of two sides of cultural difference, or even the global north and the global south. The question this leads to is why the character representative of anti-multiculturalism is eliminated and the character representative of multiculturalism lets go of the ties to his multiple cultures.

If taken as a commentary on the United States' reaction to the influx of multiple cultures, from the south specifically, then why does Yamashita chose to let go of ties and kill off anti-multiculturalism? It seems to be that she is saying in order to successfully deal with the influx and immersion of different cultures into the culture of the United States, tight binds must be broken and resistance should be expelled. When Bobby releases the two cords tying him to multicultural definitions, he is able to bring his arms in and embrace his family. "That's it"(268).