Oranges Represent Drugs

It was mentioned in class when the toxic oranges were introduced, that the oranges represent death and have a play on the media and people’s values. Someone mentioned that oranges are representative of cocaine and drugs. On Thursday in the novel in particular, the oranges represent drugs in general. Oranges on this day represent the affects drugs have on people, the crowd they appeal to, how the economy is affected by their distribution and ban, and the connections they create.  The oranges that the media represents as having so many uses and is so good for you end up killing people. Yamashita seems to be putting drugs and their distribution on a more relatable level. Oranges are attainable and used by many people, and when they become deadly and banned, they become exactly like drugs. Buzzworm gives the young boy an orange because it is a healthy nutritional snack; on the streets, drugs are just as common and attainable as an orange. In addition, they are just as damaging as Yamashita’s oranges. When it is revealed through the media that the oranges have been injected with some drug or poison, it attracts people that do not know its affects, want to try to see if they can get some, and those who want to try them. Just as drugs are a presence and for some a temptation in people’s lives, these oranges became that way. Buzzworm makes the comment about the oranges’ attractiveness in that “you mighta thought it was only gangs or druggies or the mafia going after them, but it was everybody, like it was a lottery” (140). Then he uses the ever so popular drug slogan “just say no,” as if oranges were just as big of an ongoing problem.

            When oranges became banned, it had the same economic effect as illegal drugs do. People were trying to attain them and get rid of them. Distributors of oranges did not want to be caught selling them, but they also “knew the value of the merchandise and were finding ways to hide it” (139). Drugs, because they are illegal, require connections to get them and prevent being caught. The people who want oranges have to know where to get them now. The truck that delivered the affected oranges as just a form of transport, had connections with drug dealers, just as those, peddling drugs have to make connections in order to get and sell them. Yamashita makes oranges, in the novel, represent drugs to show how prevalent they are to society.