Tropic of Orange Post

Megan Rippey

Tropic of Orange

             As I read Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita, I was struck by the downtrodden feeling of guilt and depression that was evoked in me by the critique of our capitalist society and the notion of the global south that we discussed frequently in class.  As I consider globalization, one of the most prominent aspects of our future world is the bleeding of culture that is seemingly inevitable.  Individualized societies with unique quirks may very well cease to exist due to the standardization of goods and businesses practices.  Buzzworm best summarizes this when speaking to Emi,

“Buzzworm noted it would most likely be black, but he said ‘It’s all shades of gray, baby sister.  Shades of gray.’  Emi’s voice sank to a whisper.  ‘Abort. Retry. Ignore. Fail…’” (252).  Considering the larger thematic issues of globalization within the framework of the novel, a close reading of this can be done to dissect what shades of gray mean in a twenty-first century society. 

             Emi’s response to Buzzworm, “‘Abort. Retry. Ignore. Fail…’” brings to mind technology and the effects that the rapid development of technology has had on our society.  Without supply chain management systems, it would not be nearly as easy to facilitate outsourcing as discussed through NAFTA.  Similarly, Emi’s word choice can also be used to misconstrue the success that is often assumed of modern capitalistic technology systems.  The border history that we studied mirrors this comment nearly directly.  The United States demanded immigrants for service jobs only to then abort, then retry, ignore the issues at hand, and then ultimately fail… only to retry for hundreds of years.  Yamashita’s tone, is similarly destitute as Emi sounds nothing short of defeated when she sinks to a whisper. 

             Although Buzzworm notes that it will be black, he chooses to tell Emi that it will be gray.  His active choice to lessen the blow of the pain of the reality of the situation is also extremely evident in society today.  With the rise of globalization, we have seen many failures as well as countless hardships placed upon individuals living in developing countries; however, politicians, news sources, and global leaders choose to use euphemisms and make light of the severity of those who are not capitalizing from corporations within the production industry that evade taxes and cut costs by outsourcing jobs.