The Windup Girl

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

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Chapters 43-45Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 43 Summary

Kanya, Pai, and Hiroko undergo more attacks from the tanks. Hiroko has saved Kanya twice, but she burns up and needs ice. None is accessible, so Hiroko says she needs to bathe in the river and return to Yashimoto. Kanya remains ambivalent toward the windup girl. Upon finding a radio, Kanya learns that General Pracha may be dead.

Chapter 44 Summary

Emiko emerges from the garbage and manages to climb up six balconies to Anderson’s apartment. She falls repeatedly and breaks her arm. Her hands bleed and, as she hangs on to Anderson’s balcony, trying to get over it, Mai and Hock confront her. Mai puts a spring gun to her forehead as Emiko asks Mai for help.

Chapter 45 Summary

At the emergency command center, Akkarat informs Anderson and Carlyle that they have secured the methane source and the conflict is over. Akkarat has his limousine take them back to Anderson’s place and they view the destruction of the city. The sun rises as they try to find whisky before sitting on the roof, to watch the day begin.

Chapters 43-45 Analysis

Another series of very clipped chapters reinforce the immediacy and disjointedness of the broader conflict. Kanya, Pai, and Hiroko struggle blindly; Hiroko attempts to save herself as she burns up, and Anderson and Carlyle, as injured as they are, leave to drink whisky, watch the sun rise, and reclaim a small sense of normalcy. At one point, Carlyle asks if Anderson’s coughing fit isn’t some sort of cibiscosis-like disease, but Anderson protests that he’s been inoculated against environmental diseases. He dismisses his cough as merely the product of broken ribs. They permit Akkarat his victory, despite their treatment. Their complicity in the matter attests to the greed and power of Trade and its unethical ways as Anderson and Carlyle still figure as representatives of the West who, no matter what they endure, are intent on making money, regardless of the financial or personal costs.