The Dichotomy of Superhero Figures in Tropic of Orange

There are two characters in Tropic of Orange who could rightly be defined as superheroes, or at least perceiving themselves as such: Arcangel and Bobby. Arcangel, of course, represents the more traditional idea of a superhero: he’s immortal, for the most part, he’s impervious to pain, and he’s willing and even eager to go above and beyond in service of other people without seeking recognition for it. More interesting as a superhero figure, then, is Bobby, who works tirelessly in pursuit of being the perfect father and husband. He recognizes his weaknesses, such as his smoking addiction, and tries to eradicate them entirely. Furthermore, like Arcangel, he has a disconnect with the rest of the world, both his own world as a character and the world of the novel itself. He is disconnected with his own world through his separation from his family and his failure to understand why, and he is disconnected from the novel’s world because he is not as intertwined with the central linking narrative as the rest of the characters, only becoming involved when his family needs saving. The fact that these two superhero figures meet in the novel’s last section, however, proves their importance to the book as a whole. Although the scale is vastly different, Bobby and Arcangel have the most epic stories in the book, and the only stories which have any sense of closure, as Bobby is reunited with his family and Arcangel finally dies. While their personal connection is brief and distant (they exchange Sol but not words), the parallels between their stories make them one of the more interesting character pairings in the novel.