Wrecking the Recognitions...Chap 4 banana republic

[Michael Bailey]

Mark Kohut wrote:
> In the way that fiction embodies meaning larger than journalism, this chapter is
> also---along with whatever all the conversations carry about characters and
> themes
> an indictment of the US of A for the exploitation it inflicted for the wealth
> some characters
> have in TR, yes?
>

sort of; otoh maybe it is the free-floating sympathy for the abortive
efforts of the local banana growers that is meant to stay with us and
stick to our ribs, rather than any attack of the sharp business
practices of the big banana companies

(there is some urban myth that a company has no other obligation than
to improve its bottom line, this patently false bit of friedmanism is
lived by by many and will never be vanquished except by sympathy for
others: "mankind should have been my business" as Marley said to his
buddy Ebenezer Scrooge)

old Otto not out for adventure or local color or any of that stuff,
just one reason for the trip:  money

he's as bad as the banana factotums