Activity: Rough Draft Assessment

Karen Tei Yamashita: Through the Arc of the Rainforest

Introduction

Fictional stories or novels written by many authors display the satirical representation

of the world we live. The facts and realities that are represented by events in the world are

turned into fictional works to communicate with audiences around the world. Yamashita, a

Japanese-American, who has lived in Los Angeles and Brazil, used the experience to come

up with the fictional literary work to address the theme of social-economic inequality,

techno-determinism, exploitation of environment, and globalization. The novel presents a

connection between environment and the micro/micro factors of the world. The literary work

is mostly used by scholars as a text in globalization, transnationalism, and

environmental-systems which are important components of the global systems. The purpose

of this paper is to evaluate how the fictional story by Karen Tei Yamashita reflects the

interconnectedness with the world.

Setting

The novel, ​through the arc of the rainforest​ is set in in Brazil. Being born from Los

Angeles, Yamashita(Kazumasa) migrated to Brazil which is a developing country. The novel

ventures in miraculous occurrences which were influenced by the social class divide in this

third world society. “ Extravagant car and mansions were noticeable having hundreds of

Lourdes, and of course businesses, hotels, elevated poverty, great politics and great future”

(Yamashita, 944-946). These presents the concept of globalization where the fictional world

has both extreme wealth and poverty. These represents the actual settings of third worlds

struggling society in Brazil.

Kazumasa moves from Japan to Sao Paolo, where his Japanese friend lived, because

of career change. This signifies the search for money or better opportunities that every

individual in the world is exposed to. While in Sao Paolo, fortunes crop up something he did

not expect. Batista, his neighbor has created written script of a prophetic message delivered

by his beloved pet, a pigeon. These messages are portrayed as good indicators of good

fortunes in the future. These depicts how human beings in the world rely on technological

information to prepare and predict future fortunes especially in business (De Loughry, 2017).

Surprisingly, one of the prophetic message is that a Japanese man will come with a ball on his

head and give fortunes to the Brazils’ people.

The texts present miraculous occurrences. Kazumasa first turns into a healer, a

fortunate man, who people flock and line up for days to receive the blessing of healing. These

depicts the advancement in medical technology which has enhanced the efficiency of

delivering quality medical services to people, and not cheaply available to third countries like

Brazil. Kazumasa gets a lot of money which is an endless fortune and tends to become a

charitable man by funding the needs of the people. “ The difference between wealth and

poverty in third world countries is elevated, the news of instant wealth in unexplored land

sends ripples to the world. Kazumasa became well known, like a nightly soap opera

character, by every tongue in Brazil.”( Yamashita, 923-925).

Kazumasa realizes the small balls have a rare commodity, Matacao, which has a

remarkable plastic. Three arms entrepreneur, J.B Tweep, after the discovery, ventures to

explore the Amazon forest in search of this rare commodity. These introduces the theme of

greed and globalization through exploration. However, the Matacao’s fortune ends after the

feather which disintegrates everything on its way does not spare the fabled plastic material of

Matacao. These provides the notion of that riches or miracles do not lead to the fulfilment of

life. “Kazuma realizes happy ending experiences do not depend on an individual’s ability to

have riches or rely on miracles for wealth (Yamashita, pg. 930-950 )

Themes

The fictitious novel by Karen Tei Yamashita presents major themes and minor

themes. The text presents the theme of globalization and environmental concern. In

globalization the text explores technology and corporate ventures as the main factors which

has challenged the of both human made system and natural system. Human activities eating

into the natural system makes the environment to degrade and it becomes hard for it to

replenish itself.

The ball which Kazumasa caries along signifies technology and hidden fortunes in the

world. The ball has a rare plastic material which is a fortune. The ball represents a collection

and representation of ideas in technology which is essential in global systems. Kazumasa can

be argued to be an American road worker who uses technology for mobility. The adventures

cause the destruction of natural environment due to excavations and discovery of fortunes. “

The ball became something of comfort. It was the sort of comfort a child derives from his

thumb or an old blanket”( Yamashita, pg. 8-15). The text uses symbolism as the literary

device to depict technology as a part of need that industrialized nations need to continue

thriving for richness and getting economic growth.

The pigeon as idealized by Batista, represents the altruistic nature of technology and

money. The pigeon is a representative of communication between people and even non-living

things. This presents the role of communication in globalization and human society. The

notion presents the importance of technology being accompanied by nature preservation

rather than using technology to hart nature. However, when becomes a factor, the relationship

between technology, environment and human beings is tainted. “One could never be sure,

then, what the message carried by the pigeon would be. It might bring wealth, some

penetrating realization, r it might simply be one of Batista’s old joke”( Yamashita, pg. 38-43)

Jonathan B. Tweet symbolizes the rich venture capitalist or countries, who would hurt

the natural system to attain the globalization needs. The actions of Tweet reflect capital

accumulation that exists in the world. The Matacao’s magical fortunes, makes Tweet to go to

any length to acquire this rare commodity which is found in Matacao’s field in Amazon.

These is a practice of economic imperialism which many individuals in the world do without

caring the implications of the business activities to nature and the society. The limitation of

self leads to the nature to be ignored because of industrialization. “GGG’s marketing strategy

was pure. You recall before J.B. arrived, GGG had no product on which to test its strategy.

GGG developed a strategy that created miracle product. But J.B was not still satisfied”

(Yamashita, pg. 120-125).

Conclusion

The novel, Through the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita, presents the

globalization interconnectedness of the world. The novel shows how valued natural resources

in the world causes imbalances in the global systems. The technology advances allow the

corporate to explore the resources without considering the negative implications on nature.

Although, technology integration advances how human beings do things including problem

solving, other global systems including climatic change should be considered. Miracles and

greed will leave people hungry and poor but responsibility and concern about the global

system will enhance human survival rates in the world.

Reference

De Loughry, T. (2017). Petromodernity, petro-finance and plastic in Karen Tei Yamashita’s

Through the Arc of the Rainforest. ​Journal of Postcolonial Writing​, ​53​(3), 329-341.

Yamashita, K. (1991). ​Through the arc of the rain forest​. London: Scribners.