For January 13: Responses to chapters 1-3 of The

Windup Girl

I thought the first 3 chpaters of "The Windup Girl" would play a role of guiding me
through this somewhat deep and scientific fiction. But instead, it was full of futuristic foreign
terms in which I couldn't even get close to guessing them. It was after I read it over a few
times when I could finally absorb what the setting and the purpose of this book is about.
By the presence of 'ngaw', a new fruit which has obviously been created as there is no
record of it having existed before today, I could already feel the mysterious, but yet "not-sobright" future that the book is about to portray. Chapter 1 illustrates Anderson's line of flow
to portray how ways of living have changed in the future world, specifically twenty-third
century Thailand where the economy is ruled by calorie companies since several foodborne
viruses wiped out large portions of the population. Chapter 2 shows an episode that
introduces Hock Seng, manager of Anderson's factory and also a Malaysian refugee, whom
I felt the strong tension from. Four years ago, he was a big name, but now, he is nothing;
still, he forces back the memories, reminding himself that he is safe because this is not
Malaya. Hock Seng's thoughts of the blueprints in the safe and his disappointment when he
finds the safe locked felt like it was foreshadowing his plan to steal the blueprints. Chapter 3
introduces Emiko, the engineered robotic windup girl for whom the novel was titled. Emiko's
unhappiness with her present situation as a prostitute in Raleigh's establishment is shown.
It could seem like the setting of this book is way too bizarre and unrealistic, but I couldn't not
fall for it because I felt like our future could actually get this crazy and environmentally
ruined. But what caught my interest was how Hock Seng and Emiko are illustrated. A
refugee that gets treated like he is below everyone else and a windup prostitute treated like
a tool when it has a living soul, to me carry more meaning and give more reasons for me to
question what kinds of impact could such environmental destruction have on humans other
than obvious consequences like loss of foods and energy sources.

For January 20: Responses to chapters 4-7 of The

Windup Girl
In the beginning of these chapters, we are introduced to new characters Captain Jaidee and
Adjutant Kanya. Captain Jaidee thinks protecting the Kingdom from infections of the natural
world is his biggest task with the power he has. Surveying the wreckage his men have
wrought, he notes that nearly every crate holds something suspicious and orders to burn it
all. At first, because of the way his actions are described, I couldn't tell if he was the "good"
one or the "bad" one. But I soon found out that Jaidee was a dauntless, generous person

who fights for what he think is right from the parts where he gives money to his men and
from the parts that showed Jaidee and Kanya's steadfast relastionship.
There was a part in chpater 5 where it says "It amuses him that the Thais, even amid
starvation, have found the time and energy to resurrect nicotine addiction. He wonders if
human nature ever really changes." and "These dead men and women have no idea that
they stand in front of the treasure of the ages." This was when Anderson was trying and
retracing the past to find the history of 'ngaw'. These two quotes really got me to think more
seriously about the possible future we could be living in. What we think is rightful to be there
now could become a reason for one dying thirsty for in the future. But at the same time with
the part where Anderson feels skeptical about the continuity of nicotine, I asked te same
question; Does human nature ever really changes? Does the serious loss of food and
energy sources get in the way of human nature to seek satisfaction in things like sexual
desire and other entertainments?

For January 27: Responses to chapters 8-12 of The

Windup Girl
As confusing and difficult it was to keep track of newly introduced characters, I thought
chpater 8 described the miserably destroyed background of our future very well. And it also
showed how passionate and eagered Anderson is for inventing the 'ngaw' to his own favor.
Emiko's desire to move out to the North side, which I thought resembled Anderson's desire
in many ways, put here in danger and it played a big role in Emiko and Anderson's
relationship. I was confused if their feelings were just simply based on sexual curiosity and
was excited to find out which path their relationship would take later in the book.
What I thought was most important from these chapters is both Jaidee and Hock Seng's
dramatic change in emotion. I found both of them losing their self-respect and pride, Jaidee
by being put in a situation where he has to chose one between his pride as a captain with
the fame and accepting the reality as an ordinary husband to save his kidnapped wife, and
Hock Seng by being harshly scolded and desregarded by Anderson for his mistake which
led to strong growth of urge for betrayal. I find Jaidee's inner conflict and Hock Seng's trade
with the Dong Lord taking positive progression to be very interesting and important in the
future development of this book.

For February 3: Responses to chapter 13-17 of The

Windup Girl
I felt a lot of tension through out these chapters. Not to mention Jaidee's relegation to death,
Anderson's contact with Akkarat, Emiko's continuous conflict with her owner, and Hock

Seng's feeling of uneasiness about the possible disease spreading from algae tanks. It was
to me the most exciting and interesting part of the reading so far. The fall of Jaidee could be
portrayed as pitiful and miserable, but him not falling apart and hoping for revenge rather
showed me humanness side of him. There is a part where Carlyle describes Jaidee's
relegation as "The dawn of a new era" and Anderson as "Back to the future." These two
different interpretations they have show each of theirs attitude on secretive plans against
the reality.
And as important as Jaidee's death, I think Emiko's change in dealing with her emotions is
very significant. Throughout the book, she has been describing herself as a useless,
preprogrammed windup that does not belong to the human world. But with the growth of her
desire to move to North, where she thinks she belongs, it seems like she is finding ways not
to hide her real feelings behind what she is "made to feel". Even though it is incompetant to
get what she wants out of Raleigh, but she is slowly fighting against herself to do so.

For February 10: Responses to chapters 18-25 of The

Windup Girl
Like we were told, these chapters really do talk about a lot of important events. (almost too
much at once that it's overwhelming) The big incidents that were just predicted throughout
the previous plots of the book actually took place. Hock Seng finally ran away with money
as he had planned for a long time, Kanya turned out to be a spy which brings out a new
character Narong, and Gi Bu Sen was finally mentioned. The overall development of the
story was very tensioned and full of conflicts, but I focused a lot on Kanya this time. By
learning that she was a spy, which I did not expect at all, threw me a lot of questions. It is
illustrated and hinted that her past bad memories with the white shirts have gotten her to
become a spy, but I wonder what she really felt about what she was doing and Jaidee.
There were many parts where she feels the guilt to the point she hallucinates Jaidee, and it
got me wondering, is this what she really wanted? Was there chance of her stopping it if
Jaidee told her the truth? But it is not just the case of Kanya I found interesting, I found a lot
of the various emotional changes in characters in these chapters; like Hock Seng bringing
along Mai to his runaway, Anderson finding the chance of convince Akkarat, and Emiko
struggling to take one side between wanting to get help from Anderson and sticking to her
role as the windup girl.

For February 17: Responding to chapters 26-30 of The

Windup Girl

These chapters were very graphic and dramatic. There still was a lot of conflicts going on
but it was developed more which made it seem like the story was coming to an end.
Gibbons was finally introduced with Kanya still experiencing inner conflicts over Jaidee's
death and her tasks. When she visits Gibbons to find out about the new disease, the way
Gibbons was illustrated made him seem more dangerous. There was a part where he gets
furious and mentions about brining more windup girls which made me guess that both
Emiko and Anderson will somehow end up interacting with Gibbons in a negative way at the
end of this book. Another thing I found interesting along with Anderson's approach to
Somdet was Emiko finally getting out of her shell. She realizes that there is no hope for her
anymore and let go of all the programmed pressure she was under. Though I still don't know
what she will end up with, but I feel like her change will have a great impact on the transition
of this story as a whole. Overall, by looking at Hock Seng pushed to an edge by the white
shirts, Thai being found with new epidemic, Emiko giving counterattacks, rising conflicts
from the appearance of Gibbons, and Kanya finding about Spring Life, everyone in the story
seems to be taking steps closer to collapsing.

For February 24: Responding to chapters 31-38 of The

Windup Girl
It sure does feel like the book is coming to an end. Every characters and conflicts are
approaching each others to link up in the center. Even though I had a hard time figuring out
which character was against who with all the chaotic scenes going on, I could still tell that
these chapters were pointing at the one big disaster at the end. First, I was surprised to find
out about Somdet's death, which I thought was a bit random, but more surprised that it was
done by Emiko. Last chapter ended with Emiko attacking her owner and I had never
imagined her being capable of bringing so many people to death. Then I thought Kanya's
meeting with Yashimoto very interesting in a way that it explained more about the science
and history of the windups. But I'm still curious to find out how it was possible for Emiko to
kill so many people to the point where I'm thinking maybe she really was a military purposed
windup. (And I'm also curious how Emiko is even alive after jumping out the balcony) Hock
Seng, of course, was another surprise. He's been out of picture for awhile now and it seems
like he's finally got the chance to make his plan work. I feel like Hock Seng and Kanya's
future actions will lead to a big event which will bring a miserable end to both Anderson and
Emiko.