Paolo Bacigalupi's "Yellow Card Man": Man becomes beast
Except for the last 10%, this is a very realistic refugee story - but of a loser. I would have rather preferred a winner's story - someone who can bounce back from extreme loss.
And the end is against every refugee story I've heard from Partition; my grandparents lived through the horror, & I grew up in a largely refugee neighborhood. My childhood stories said your own side tended to stick together, & help each other out; violence among your own side was unthinkable during & immediately after the event! And while there were losers as depicted in this story, a lot of families bounced back - some more quickly then others. They would have made a better story.
There is almost no sf content here - in spite of constant hints of bio-engineered foods, food-killers, engineered animals, & of "methane lamps". They are all part of the background - you won't even notice a change if they were dropped.
Full text of the story is available online.
Story summary.
Tranh is an old man in Bangkok, Thailand. He used to be the man behind Three Prosperities Trading Company, a good sized multinational trading house in Malaya (I guess author means Malaysia). He is of Chinese descent, but several generations have lived in Malaya.
During the Incident (some kind of purge by right wing extremists), thousands of families of Chinese origin are killed or pushed across the borders into Thailand; Tranh lost his entire family, as well as all his property. He is now all alone in the world, & a broken man.
"Yellow card" is some kind of a registration card handed out by Thai authorities to refugees. People of Chinese origin appear to be only reluctantly accepted by Thai authorities.
Story is of inhuman living conditions of refugees, & Tranh's attempt to build some kind of a life again. He ends up being a muderer - to steal a few bahts from Ma Ping, a fellow man of Chinese descent & his own ex-employee who was fired for fraud but is now doing well by joining hands with a Thai strongman.
Fact sheet.
"Yellow Card Man", short story, review
Rating: B
First published: Asimov's, December 2006.
Nominated for Hugo Awards 2007 in novelette category
Related: All Hugo Award stories.
1 comments:
Your point that immigrants tend to stick together is valid, but I'd like to note a couple things.
First, you are far more likely to hear the proud stories of immigrants who worked their way up legitimately through common values such a loyalty and hard work. You're far less likely to hear the equally plausible stories that might be similar to this one, of a lone individual who worked his way back up through shameful behavior--simply because they have fewer people (family) to pass the story on to, and because it's a shameful story they would not be eager to share anyway.
Second, it should be emphasized that the protagonist kills Ma Ping not strictly for a little cash--there is a mix of all too human resentment, and more important and pragmatically he intends to steal Ma Ping's job in the morning.
This is actually what makes the story so strong--the conditions are brutal and dismal, but the protagonist who was about to give up on life refinds his will to live. But at what price? It makes you cringe and makes you think.
As for the minimal inclusion of sci fi elements, I think it's quite tasteful. The central issues are basic human issues, and the story makes use of science fiction for its particular ability to let the author create the precise conditions that allow the story to be told and the issues to be examined.
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