The Windup Girl

Anderson is an American from the Midwest whose work for AgriGen involves discovering the secrets behind disease-resistant crops, since the food chain means power in this environmentally-blighted society. He runs the SpringLife factory, which manufactures products that harness and generate energy. He occupies dangerous territory as he must bribe white shirts to keep his factory running since, as a representative of trade, he is a natural enemy to soldiers who are pro-environment.

Anderson’s relationship with Emiko becomes increasingly sexual, even tender, and he promises to help her, once his role in the revolution is over. He has conspired with Akkarat and the Somdet Chaopraya to take down General Pracha, but upon his return he is arrested and tortured for Emiko’s role in the murders. After being investigated, his story turns out to be true and he is released. He ends up dying from the disease engendered by the algae vats in his factory and, ironically, is killed indirectly by that which he would otherwise profit from.

Hock Seng is a Malayan Chinese refugee in Bangkok and thus a yellow card. Yellow cards are hated by the Thai, whom Hock sees as lazy and stupid, but they are also protected by the Dung Lord and garner compassion from the Child Queen. Formerly, Hock enjoyed great success as a merchant but fell on hard times once political turmoil forced him to flee to Bangkok. He has lost his family and once lived in the filthy towers populated by the yellow cards but has found work as Anderson’s secretary. It’s a difficult job, given Anderson’s moodiness and unreasonable demands, but he plans to steal the secrets of the factory to sell to the Dung Lord. In the end, as white shirts invade the factory, he and Mai abscond with the petty cash and escape over the hot-tiled roof of the factory. He struggles to remain in hiding as the white shirts take revenge after the death of Jaidee. Hong re-encounters Mai, and the two flee toward an unknown future.

Jaidee is known as the Tiger of Bangkok. He is a white shirt who strives to be more ethical than corrupt, although this attempt to be a good guy places him in both an awkward and dangerous position. His decision to have valuable smuggled goods burned as a lesson to the forces of trade lead to his wife being kidnapped and murdered. Jaidee is exiled to a monastery; before he leaves, however, he searches for his wife’s kidnapper, confronts Akkarat and Akkarat’s palace guards, and is thrown off the top of a building. He returns as a spirit who has not moved on because of unfinished earthly business. At first, he seems to haunt Kanya as an embodiment of her guilt, but eventually his spirit helps her topple trade.

Kanya is Jaidee’s right-hand woman but she also duplicitously works with Akkarat to undo General Pracha. Pracha led a raid against Kanya’s childhood village, and she now furtively seeks revenge against Pracha. Her betrayal of Jaidee haunts her literally and metaphorically, as his spirit often appears to her. He both taunts and assists her. She redeems herself in the assassination of Elizabeth Boudry, an American who works for AgriGen and has arrived to take control of the seedbank. Kanya reinstates the white shirts and they go North to escape the flooded city. She realizes that violence and betrayal are necessary in order for her to fulfill her duty.

Akkarat is the head of the Ministry of Trade and thus enemies with General Pracha. He is a powerful figure who defers to the Somdet Chaopraya, the Child Queen’s right-hand man. He plans with Anderson and Carlyle to defeat the white shirts so that business can run unchecked despite the environmental hazards that the pursuit of wealth involves. He is eventually ousted after Kanya assassinates Elizabeth Boudry.

Hiroko is the windup of Mr. Yashimoto, the head of a Japanese technology factory located in the Thai Kingdom. Blindly obedient, delicate, and swift, she disgusts Kanya, who has come to consult Mr. Yashimoto about finding Emiko. Hiroko displays human emotions as they discuss windups and their ways, and she asks Kanya why she hates windups so much. Despite Kanya’s crude dismissal of Hiroko, Hiroko helps Kanya defeat Akkarat.

Raleigh is an American who runs the Ploenchit, a gentleman’s club that features Emiko and other windups performing sexually-explicit acts. He is a drunk and depraved man who begrudges Emiko any compensation. Raleigh must constantly bribe white shirts to protect her. He hints at villages in the North populated by windups and grows resentful of Emiko’s increasing independence. Emiko snaps his neck and he dies next to a bar stool in the club.

Gibbons is a shadowy, diseased figure once known as the greatest gene-ripper at AgriGen. He has been in hiding but Kanya consults him for information about the new algae-vat disease infecting Anderson’s workers. He takes comfort in ladyboys, young sexual boy toys. He also appreciates both cheshires and windups. At the end of the novel, he appears with his ladyboy, Kip, and tells Emiko he can help her start a new civilization ruled by windups. Ironically, for a diseased and disliked person, Gibbons is able to survive the various conflicts the plot presents.

Pracha is the head of the Ministry of Environment and the leader of the white shirts. He manifests ambivalence, as he works for good but also trades in the corrupt. He tells Jaidee that Jaidee must make amends for the destruction of valuable goods and is also the object of Kanya’s vengeance because he burned her childhood village. As head of environment, he and Akkarat are natural enemies. He is killed during the Revolution.

The Somdet Chaopraya is a powerful but shadowy figure who appears physically only three times in the novel. He is the power behind the Child Queen’s throne. His death at the hands of Emiko incites both the Revolution and the Child Queen’s coming into her own prominence.