Tropic of Orange and the West

After finishing Tropic of Orange and sifting through the craziness of it all, I think I'm starting to see an image of the West begin to form. In the previous books we read such as The Surrounded and The Professor's House, the West was written about as a place that was undergoing change. In both of the previous narratives that I mentioned the West is transforming from an original and authentic native culture to a caucasian dominated, civilized landscape. Tropic of Orange is much more recent than both of those books and in turn has a more modern feel. I like to think of Tropic of Orange as a continuation of the West that we have previously seen. It began with native people, then it was taken over by white Europeans and European Americans, and now it has in a sense come full circle as Los Angeles is seen as a mixing pot of race, ethnicity, and culture. While there are many fictional parts in Tropic of Orange this fact seems very realistic and appropriate.