Emiko gets dinner from a street vendor and thinks about her situation. She's been sleeping with Anderson (Sigh. Of course) and has been examining her feelings about the free New Person enclave. She feels revulsion at first because she was raised to think of her kind as unnatural, 2nd class beings but the thought of being with others similar to her excites her as well. Interestingly she wonders who she would be able to have sex with there (the many armed workers? the created killers?) and whether she could stand sleeping with anything like that. I don't know if this is because she's programmed to feel she has to have sex with someone or because the Bac-man is kind of backwards in his thinking (or so we can learn that engineered workers have 10 arms. Of course these reasons could all exist together). I just find it odd that for someone who's sex life has consisted almost entirely of forced encounters, some quite brutal, this would be one of the main concerns she would have about her new life.
White Shirts (ministry men) come along to get food and assault the reader with exposition about Jaidee (he finally paid off his men with the stolen money) and she freezes so they won't see her jerky movements. She has no import license and will be "mulched" if caught.
"...they bump against her with a self-confident maleness, though one white shirt's hand is touching her neck, as though accidentally pressed there..."
"The man who has his hand on Emiko's neck speaks [to the food vendor], caressing her idly." p.156
The Future! This just screams privilege. Male privilege or job privilege? Hard to say as the behavior of the white shirts is kind of nebulous. Other than Jaidee (who steals, commits arson, and beats up factory owners)we haven't seen them do anything. I think this scene is here to create tension. The White Shirts could discover Emiko at any moment! One of them is even touching her! Oh no! Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion! But it's interesting that Paolo decided to write this scene in such a skeezy way. Considering what I've read so far I'm not surprised.
Also, the use of the Thai word "Pla" instead of just writing fish. It's fucking tilapia, man. Stop it. I understand that using foreign words where there is an English equivalent creates an artificial distance between the subject and the reader (based on language rather culture). It accentuates the otherness of the land and people we're reading about, setting them in a space separate from our experience. This is constant reminder of the difference between the people being portrayed and the target audience. However, it also puts the language difference on the same level as the actual cultural differences. It is more effective (and subtle) to leave simple words alone and let the actual culture stand out. The "Wai" and "Khrab" have no real equivalent in English as far as I can tell and serve more of a reminder that attitudes and mind-sets are often culture-bound. Pla just means fish. Fish is fish. I can relate to fish. I like being able to at least somewhat relate to characters in the books I'm reading. It's hard to understand why the author is trying to make tilapia (something I often have for Thursday dinner) exotic.
Emiko goes to work and asks Raleigh about going North to the Windup village. He's not interested in talking about it but she presses him. She no longer wants to act like a servant or a dog. He tells her she needs to earn more to pay the bribes she'll need to make her way there. We get this lovely exchange. Enjoy!
"Even though he is old, Raleigh is still gaijin, born and fed before the Contraction. He stands tall...His bony hand fumbles at her breast, seizes a nipple and twists...His pale blue water eyes watch her like a snake's." (I think it's funny that all the Western foreigners are whites with blue eyes.) "...People in Japan might value a windup. Here, you're just trash." p.159
Chapter 16
Goody, back to Hock Seng. He sits at his desk, forging a ledger, "reconciling the money he skimmed from the purchase of a temporary spindle" as he contemplates how to get into that danged safe. It's always locked and closed! Imagine that. That devil Lake doesn't trust him! I wonder why.The Dung Lord will become impatient! Maybe you should have gone to him after you had an actual plan. He's considering having Anderson murdered when the girl Mai comes to tell him there's a problem.
Two worker are ill. Hock Seng is afraid it might be the algae tanks that caused the sickness and that the foreign devil will use it as an excuse to close the factory. He bribes a rickshaw driver to take them to a hospital while thinking that it might just be easier to kill both them and Mai.
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