Neo/colonialism
In ways similar to Autonomous, the world of the novel is run by corporations, and there’s a vast Unregulated Zone that appears to house factories. A shoe company, Pallas, has a unique (but metaphoric) workforce that live near the factories. If it isn’t obvious why a shoe company would be the epitome of an allusion to slave labor, here are some stories about Nike’s sweatshops circa 2000:
- Two Cheers for Sweatshops (9/24/2000)
- Nike accused of tolerating sweatshops (5/19/2001)
- And Wikipedia even has a page devoted to it
As we’ve discussed previously (see Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey”), colonialism is when hegemonic powers take political, economic, and cultural control over a foreign land and people. In Western culture, we often first think of Columbus, followed by Spanish conquistadors, opening the door for European powers to stake their claim in the Americas. By 1914, “[Europeans]…had gained control of 84 percent of the globe” (Hoffman, p. 2). More accurately, Hoffman’s footnote explains that Europeans didn’t hold 84% in 1914 but had at various times held a total of 84% of the globe (p. 2). What’s significant is that Europeans touched that much of the world, so it’s no surprise that English and French are very common languages outside of the relatively small countries of England and France (Africa alone is nearly 50% Francophone). After WWII, most nations gained their independence from their former colonizers; some independence was easily taken back, and some wasn’t. However, the old order didn’t immediately end…In English Studies we talk about postcolonial literature that comes from writers who were born (or of recent decent) in areas once colonized or, generally, writing that focuses on the people and places formerly colonized.
Neocolonialism is the term for a less direct hegemonic power umbrella. Because of globalization, major economies have influence over other nations’ economies. In fact, multinational corporations have a lot of influence over countries where their business is desperately needed to supply jobs for citizens. One somewhat gaining traction push is for so-called charter cities. This concept is where a company or country builds a city in a host country—usually a poor country. This city would be exempt from much of the tax laws of that host country but would employ citizens from that country. The optimist would look at the potential of this arrangement and say it’s a great relationship because the company moving in gets to lower costs and bring jobs to citizens of an impoverished country, and they may even educate the workers, providing them with new skills. The pessimist would say it’s a chance for a company to circumvent laws of its parent country, allowing it to pollute, evade taxes, and impose a culturally imperialistic zone in the host country (guess where I fall on this?). The Pallas factories in the Unregulated Zone remind me of charter cities.
- p. 222: The Sonias, Pallas workers/clones, spoke in Chinese, Spanish, French, and English—an obvious colonial reference
- p. 224: Evie tells Miranda, “Wherever Pallas goes, there are pods of Sonias hiding out just beyond the walls of Pallas’s cities.”
- 226: There’s an irony in shoes as a metaphor for freedom: “Shoes worn by middle-class, middle-aged suburban women scared of growing old…trying to make something they can call their own from what comes in cardboard boxes and plastic wrappers from the megastore strip mall….their shoes…the freedom they longed for.”
- “Shoes these days were like cologne, holding the mysterious promise of life eternal.”
- 227: “[Miranda] had recently heard a rumor that Pallas intentionally made its shoes out of shoddy materials so that they would wear out faster
Postcolonial Literature
Related to the above is the term postcolonial. When using a postcolonial lens to interpret literature, one considers the legacy of colonialism on the events, characters, themes, etc. of the work. Traditionally, this lens looks to identify the ways European powers exploited colonies, but any colonial (or neocolonialist or imperialist) arrangement can be analyzed through this lens. Additionally, this lens is used to (re)interpret colonial writers’ works, uncovering the silenced voices of colonized subjects–both real and fictional.
One work that is considered a major site for re-interpreting the violence a colonial outlook imposes is Shakespeare’s The Tempest from 1611. Consider what the British Empire is doing at this moment with their recently acquired superpower status after defeating the Spanish Armada (1588) and the Treaty of London in 1604, which ended the British-Spanish War (1585–1604).
Characters in The Tempest
Briefly, I want to mention three of the most important characters from the play, and I hope, at least, one stands out:
- Prospero: Usurped Duke of Milan, exiled and shipwrecked on an island in the Atlantic (most likely Bermuda).
- Miranda: Prospero’s daughter, who represents innocence on the island, and needs her father’s magic protection.
- Caliban: Only inhabitant of the island; Prospero enslaves him for attempting to rape Miranda. Of course, such a scenario is a colonial vision of so-called savages.
Knowing what the British eventually did in North America, casting Caliban, a native of the area, as a savage needing to be enslaved, so he keeps in line, reflects the colonial empire’s view of non-British and non-European peoples. Also, Prospero, who learns to use magic to make this island his new Duchy, has a paternalistic–literally, he’s her father–approach to protecting Miranda. But she tries to resist his control.
Below, where I discuss Foods and Smells, relates to this topic because members of a culture share olfactory sensitivities. When you’re confronted with a new culture, your sensitivities are jarred, and you’re forced to confront something different. Time permitting, we may look at what Micha and Justian think about their first durian fruit tasting…
The most obvious allusion to The Tempest comes from meeting Edwina, the witch of the Island of Mists and Forgetfulness. The island’s history is a dead giveaway. Originally, the French colonists named it Ville d’Espoir (City of Hope). Nearby British colonists named their city “Hope,” and readers learn, after the British took over, “the two city’s had since grown considerably, so that they now bled into one another” (p. 139).
- What might be the reason these cities, founded by different colonial powers, bleed into on another?
- What might Lai be saying about colonial powers taking over former colonies?
- Didn’t we read another story about imperialism and re-imperialism and again, and again…
- Any takers on why the name Ville Despair is significant?
- Could Lai be thinking of an actual Asian city that went through colonial change–specifically circa 1997?
Additionally, the island “became unmoored from history, [and] lost its connection with the past or the future and floated into the sky” (p. 139).
Bioengineering
What do you know about bioengineering? It’s a vast and growing (pun intended–ha!) subject, and I’d argue that nearly everything you consume has been bioengineered in some fashion. As I mentioned last class, people get very scared when they hear their food has been manipulated, but “manipulated” isn’t always detrimental. Consider the hype surrounding vaccinations. Here’s the link to William Speed Weed’s article about science claims related to modified (and not modified) food.
Salt Fish Girl’s plot has quite a bit to do with bioengineered foods (and humans). One thing that comes up in the novel is that people believe eating “unpatented foods” is unsafe. Stewart tells Aimee they shouldn’t eat durians because “[t]hey might not be safe” (p. 209). Also, Miranda “had always thought there was something cannibalistic about eating [durian fruit]” (p. 224). We know Miranda’s birth is related to a durian, and she smells an awful lot like the durian’s pungent aroma. There are other people with other smells. The Salt Fish Girl smells like…salty fish! And Evie also has “the salt fish smell emanating from her pores” (p. 151), and “the soft space behind her ear [has t]he smell of salt fish” (p. 161). Miranda also meets patients with a variety or smells: “a woman who reeked of radishes” and “a boy who smelled of oranges” (p. 102). Dr. Flowers and Dr. Seto believe the disease is because of “mass industrial genetic alteration practices” and that “microbes that lived in the earth were mutating and infecting humans” (p. 102).
- Let’s read between the lines here. What is Lai alluding to by having the disease transfer this way? What does it say about the environment? The fact that people may get the disease from contaminated soil they walk in says that the earth is turning against humans for destroying nature.
Similar to the biodegradable products (ink, paper, tents, etc.) in Autonomous, Dr. Flowers’s office has “a living carpet of the most expensive genetically engineered moss and the walls climbed with unusual brilliant flowers and succulent green vines” (pp. 253-254).
- Why do you think these two books–Salt Fish Girl and Autonomous–speculate about living organisms for products we use?
Finally, Miranda tells readers
“we are the new children of the earth, of the earth’s revenge. Once we stepped out of mud, now we step out of moist earth, out of DNA both new and old, an imprint of what has gone before, but also a variation. By our difference we mark how ancient the alphabet of our bodies. By our strangeness we write our bodies into the future.” (p. 259)
Food and Smells
Genetically modified or not, food and smells are very much a part of this novel. There might be a reference to smell on every other page (if not every single one) of this novel. Although the odors are mostly described as foul, and the other characters react negatively to Miranda’s stench, we need to think a bit more critically to figure out how to consider smells. Here’s a great passage where Nu Wa catches her first whiff of the Salt Fish Girl:
“She stank of that putrid, but nonetheless enticing smell that all good South Chinese children are weaned on, its flavour being the first to replace mother’s milk“ (p. 48).
Ever heard of pheromones? Well, that’s what’s going on here. Nu Wa likes the Salt Fish Girl and describes her in terms of comfort, that of “mother’s milk.” Nu Wa is all in, and–in our companion story line–Miranda isn’t deterred by Evie’s salt fish smell, so one interpretation is that something that makes these characters stand out—stench, aroma, effervescence—as different is appealing.
Consider the olfactory sensitivities we have in American culture. We aren’t supposed to smell “natural,” right? We use colognes, perfumes, deodorants, air fresheners, scented candles, Beano, etc. to make sure we and our immediate environments don’t smell. Outside the predominantly Caucasian, Anglo-American sanitized house, other ethnicities have strong aromas from their cooking. My uncle makes pesce stocco on holidays, and you can smell it at the front door (he cooks in the basement, by the way). Trinacria Foods in Baltimore, MD has the most pungent olive oil smell that hits you halfway down the block. I’m sure you’ve been to an ethnic restaurant (Taco Bell doesn’t count…see the link for Beano) or the home of someone of an ethnicity different from yours and been surprised by the smell. I believe Lai is using smell to allude to surface differences—in other words, superficial hang-ups. Miranda is different, so her durian scent (which, granted, is unpleasant) makes her stand out for ridicule. Only Ian Chestnut befriends her, and their relationship lasts maybe 10 pages. Ian’s mother, though, had an aroma…do you remember?
Durian Fruit from Malaysia
Not to be confused with Dragon Fruits from Harris Teeter
Dreams
Now would be an appropriate time to play “Dreams” by the Cranberries. I can’t believe Dolores O’Riordan died in January 2018. I don’t think they know exactly why either. {“I can’t find my Cranberries CD. I gotta go to the quad before somebody snags it.”}
- Is a dream a lie that don’t come true, or is it something worse.
–Bruce Springsteen “The River”
I take that line to mean a dream is a delusion we just can’t shake (obviously, this is NOT the final interpretation of the lyric…but it’s a damn good one). Nu Wa and Miranda have many bizarre dreams and, of course, there’s the “dreaming disease” in the novel that makes people seem to remember the lives of past ancestors. I have some interpretations for this:
- My ancestor’s keeper…if we’re supposed to correct the sins of the past, well, we failed! This disease makes people drown themselves as a punishment.
- Self-destructive impulses…we’re killing ourselves and the environment, and these dreamers are choosing suicide over living in this world.
- Blurring the lines of reality…dreams are one of those liminal states (this is arguable) where you’re asleep but not conscious; your unconscious takes over; dreams in novels and films represent Freud’s theory that repressed desires come through (but not exactly—they require interpretation)
Although this could be its own section, I’m going to lump the Business Suit and Swimming Suit into this discussion. Weird…Miranda’s father, Stewart, operates a virtual reality suit that’s reminiscent of The Gimp from Pulp Fiction. This suit is so “good,” Stewart gets beaten in real life. Interestingly, they call the matrix the RealWorld. Stewart usually passes out from the abuse he takes for tax collecting. Why? What urge or release does beating a tax collector provide? Why do you think Stewart is forced to resign after his daughter uses the suit to avenge those who beat her father?
The Business Suit and the Swimming suit—Ian had two to play with…in—are hi-tech masculine technologies that didn’t fit Miranda right. Remember, read between the lines: The suits’ fits represents the awkwardness of Miranda trying to enter this alien world. She isn’t of the mechanical, electronic world; she is of nature. Yes, think of all the female metaphors for nature: mother earth, mother nature, rivers birthing. Lai could be commenting that men have to create gadgets to access nature because their gender is the other, the alien. However, women are more attuned to the cycle of life. (Yes, this is debatable, but it is also a commonly discussed theme of women’s literature.)
Finally, we can’t forget the dreams that seem to be denied to, once again, housewives. Nu Wa points out that her mom “was never the type meant for motherhood….if she had had other options, she’d have been an empress or a poet or a martyr” (p. 49). After some narration on arranged marriages and that mothers “want their daughters to live respectable lives” and not happy ones (p. 51), Nu Wa decides to be a spinster, but “some of my sisters were upset with me for choosing spinsterhood for less than spiritual reasons” (p. 54). Miranda’s mom, Aimee, seems mostly happy with her choices, but we know she and Stewart fall in and out of love, and she replays her cabaret days, longing for youth, beauty, and attention.
But Salt Fish Girl, a speculative novel, ends with the overthrowing of Patriarchy, the gift the Sonias cultivated. Whileawayans had no trouble. Miranda and Evie seem to live happily ever after…
Next Class
We’ll be discussing Salt Fish Girl all week, and, because I don’t know when we’ll begin and end most topics, I’m not separating the discussion into 3-5 pages. Don’t forget that you have another novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy next week, but DON’T PANIC; it’s a very quick read. Make sure you plan for that.
Works Cited
Hoffman, Philip T. Why Did Europe Conquer the World? Princeton: Princeton UP, 2015.