Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

            Binaries are prevalent throughout the novel, Tropic of Orange by Karen Yamashita. One of the most interesting binaries is set up within the character Manzanar. Yamashita uses this character to illustrate the binary of the wealthy white collar worker and the poor homeless. Manzanar’s character conveys the idea of the wealthy white collar worker who is very detached from society and on the opposite side, this character represents the shift in coming to a class consciousness when he becomes homeless and is a member if the lower class.

            Early in the novel, Yamashita lets the reader know of Manzanar’s past as a skilled surgeon. Knowing this past life aids in understanding the argument Yamashita makes about members of the wealthy, white collar class having no idea about what is really happening in society. On this topic, Yamashita writes, “… and perhaps they thought themselves disconnected from a sooty homeless man on an overpass” (35). While this “sooty man” is Manzanar, when he was a surgeon, it seems that he was just going through the motions of living. Even though he had a good family, a respectable job, and has saved lives, there was something missing. Yamashita alludes to this disconnection from the core of society as the problem. Manzanar was holding people’s lives in his very hands, yet he was not connected with them.

            Later in the novel, the reader is again given a closer look at Manzanar’s life story. This point serves as the shift in Manzanar; he makes the switch that will ultimately change his life and his thinking. Yamashita writes, “One day, he left a resident to sew up a patient, removed his mask, gloves, and gown” (56). This particular sentence serves to metaphorically illustrate the change that Manzanar has made. He physically removed the very things that have been keeping him protected against letting things in. He rids himself of the barriers to the outside world. This change symbolizes Manzanar coming to a consciousness about the world. After this, when his baton replaces his knife, he goes by “Manzanar” which is the name for the concentration camp that he was raised in. This act is also symbolic because it shows a desire to go back to his roots.

            With the close of the novel, Manzanar has made his shift from an observer in society to an actual participant. Instead of being separated by barriers of a mask and gloves, now Manzanar actually conducts with the world. He says that he is able to actually feel the vibrations of the cars on the road. There is nothing obstructing his view and he is now a part of what is happening outside in the world. With this symbolic transformation of a man who existed as an observer in the world to a person who is engaged with the world, Yamashita seems to be speaking to the classes of society. Using Manzanar as a tool to understand the strong divide between the classes helps the reader to better grasp this binary. Watching a character move from the very top of society go to the very bottom of society is a strong illustration that speaks to everyone in society who has been subjected to the class system. Yamashita opens the reader’s eyes to life on both ends of the spectrum, and to the consciousness that comes from understanding them.

Passage from Tropic of Orange, by Karen Tei Yamashita, page 197“Once again, Arcangle offered his services to pull the bus.  Slipping the steel cable through the axle and hooking his old skin through the steel talons.  And once again, the people scoffed at his efforts and gawked amazed as the bus inched slowly along the highway, harnessed to an old man’s leathery person, skin pulled taut across his boney chest and empty stomach, minute droplets of blood kissing the earth, dragging everything forward.  It was as the burden of gigantic wings, too heavy to fly.”I believe this passage represents the idea about how the past has shaped the present and how the present will shape the future.  Steel:The steel represent the era during World War I when immigrants from Mexico moved to steel producing areas like Los Angeles in search of work.  Immigrant workers were desperate for work and money.  Since immigrants were unskilled laborers they were given little pay for grueling work.  This has shaped the present and future for laborers immigrating from Mexico because US companies know that unskilled laborers can be exploited for work.Disbelief by on-lookers of Arcangle’s ability to pull the bus:  The disbelief by on-lookers of Arcangle’s ability to move the bus represents the difficulty of crossing the border into the United States.  This is because many illegal immigrants try to cross the border and if caught are sent back.  The increase of illegal immigrants crossing the border has increased the present and future need for improved security and monitoring at the border.     Holes in his chest and the blood dripping from them and kissing the earth:The holes in his chest represent a void in his life, culture, identity, science of belonging, or something else.  The blood dripping from the holes might be a prediction of the future.  It could predict life or death (http://www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/blood.html).  It could predict the outcome of the fight he soon will be in.  Is this fight the void he must fill?  Will it be the end of his life and the beginning of a new (Sol, Rafael, and bobby reuniting).  The blood also can mean purity.  Purity can be a representation of order in society.  “These purity codes provide the society with meaning, orientation, and maps of behavior and belonging” (http://www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/blood.html).