The Mosquito Coast

Charlie wakes in the middle of the night, instinctively aware that his father is not in their house. Charlie goes outside to search the surrounding area. Walking through the woods to the edge of Tiny Polski’s fields, Charlie notices a series of torchlights in motion in the distance. Terror mounts as Charlie realizes the torchbearers are walking in procession toward him, and he crawls into a ditch and covers himself with vegetation. As the group draws nearer, Charlie sees that one of the participants is carrying a cross, and another figure is carrying what appears to be a limp human body. Charlie is immediately overcome by the conviction that it is the body of his father and flees for home. Huddled back in his bed, Charlie wrestles with the impossible notion that his father is dead. Charlie falls asleep, dreaming that he is leading his mother and siblings through a burned field. Allie wakes him, noting that Charlie covered with poison ivy. Much is made of this by his family, who are unaware of his terror and distress. On the drive to Polski’s farmhouse, Charlie is overcome with dread when he sees the neighboring field and the cross from the night before with a body strung across it. Allie is entertained by his reaction, laughing that his son is so frightened by a scarecrow.

Charlie relates Allie’s version of the events which led to his father’s employment at the farm, calling it “the story.” According to his father, Polski was aware of Allie’s talents as an inventor and sought him out, but Charlie remembers otherwise. Before their relocation to Massachusetts, the Fox family had attempted living on a self-sufficient homestead in the woods of Maine. The failure of the project culminated in Allie’s hunger strike and subsequent hospitalization. After his discharge from the institution Allie nicknamed “The Buzz Palace,” the family left for Massachusetts.

As they drive to Polski’s farmhouse to demonstrate Allie’s newest invention, Charlie explains that he cannot imagine anyone truly having authority over his father, even his employer: “He believed that Polski, and most men, were his inferiors” (20). Allie’s invention is called the Worm Tub. It is a wooden box containing a complex, intricate piping and coil system which makes ice. Summoning Polski from inside his home, in typical performative fashion Allie makes a spectacle of demonstrating how it works. Though the farmer remains cordial, Allie is trying Polski’s patience by prolonging his lecture. Although it performs as intended, Polski describes it as a “contraption,” earning Allie’s contempt. Though Polski is polite, he raises the issue of safety, in particular the risks of combustion. Allie Gripes about Polski’s lack of intelligence and sophistication on the ride away from the farmhouse. Charlie says that the Worm Tub looks like a “fat boy,” and Allie renames the invention. 

Frustrated by his interaction with Polski, Allie decides to gift his prototype to the migrant workers. Charlie accompanies Allie to a dilapidated house he and his siblings refer to as “The Monkey House.” Allie has no qualms about entering unannounced, but Charlie is hesitant. The house is inhabited by a great number of tenants living in squalor with no furniture or utilities under unsanitary conditions. Proceeding to disparage their lifestyle and make inferences about their value system, Allie explains to Charlie that this home is where the migrant workers live. Allie again expresses the opinion that these workers would have been better off in their home country. Charlie wonders why his father seems to have no fear of people whom he denigrates and mistrusts. When they leave the invention, Allie assures Charlie that they will know who left it for them.

Despite his apparent talents, Allie’s primary role on the Polski farm is as handyman, though he strategizes how to improve the farm’s production and efficiency. While digging a ditch by the side of the road, Charlie is overcome with shame as a group of children from town ride past on their bicycles, taunting him as he toils with his father. Allie’s insistence that Charlie’s opportunities are superior to theirs does nothing to assuage Charlie’s embarrassment.

Tiny Polski visits Allie at home to discuss a possible resolution to a dilemma. Polski’s asparagus crop must be harvested, but his cold storage unit cannot accommodate any more produce. Unwilling to sell the asparagus he is storing, waiting for a better market price, Polski asks Allie to devise a means of refrigerating a portion of his barn for additional storage space. Allie begins a diatribe which fluctuates between criticism of Polski and veneration of his own ideas. He criticizes his employer for wanting to make a profit, suggesting that Polski is exploitative, and challenging his ethics. Polski attempts to keep Allie on track when Allie suggests a grand plan which would involve the construction of a larger scale Worm Tub. Polski insists he needs a more practical, immediate solution. Allie becomes increasingly more insulting and belligerent, until Polski finally warns him, “You’re talking yourself out of a job, Mr. Fox” (39). Allie haughtily dismisses the threat, attempting to pull Mother into the conversation. When Tiny Polski leaves, Charlie, listening from another room, detects a sense of sadness and resignation in Polski’s tone, and Charlie expresses empathy for him.