Identity and society in Tropic of Orange

Yamashita seems to be muddling and confusing people identities and the traits that are normally used to identify others. This is seen early on when she describes Bobby’s demographic background, “Bobby’s Chinese. Chinese from Singapore with a Vietnam name speaking like a Mexican living in Koreatown. That’s it”(15). Yamashita’s description of Bobby makes him seems really out of place and like he does not really fit in with any part of society because his identity is so confused. What was also interesting was that a few pages later we see Emi trying to pressure Gabriel into “blending in” by drinking sparkling water (Perrier) instead of tap water. Gabriel declines, but we can view Emi as a point of comparison for judging how much people identify with their society. It is also interesting that Bobby’s identity is inherently detached from American society and Gabriel chooses to be detached, which makes me wonder if maybe Yamashita is providing a commentary on American society that paints in an unfavorable light. Emi clearly wants to conform and encourages Gabriel to do the same, but he declines, showing his lack of appreciation for American society.