Magical realism is a genre of literature, the origins of which are generally traced back to South America. It was popularized by authors such as Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez. Magical realism overlays a realistic setting with fantastic elements and is often used for political critique. Tropic of Orange is set in a mostly realistic version of Los Angeles and Mexico that becomes increasingly stranger as the orange that represents the Tropic of Cancer moves north. The narrative is conscious of the magical events taking place: When Arcangel tows the bus to the border, the event is televised but not actually shown because “[t]he virtually real could not accommodate the magical. Digital memory failed to translate imaginary memory” (169). The elements of magical realism in the novel include the moving line of the Tropic of Cancer, the collapse of realistic geography, the mythic battle between Rafaela and her pursuer, and the wrestling match between SUPERNAFTA and El Gran Mojado.

As the orange from Gabriel’s tree on the Tropic of Cancer moves north with Arcangel, any vestige of realistic geography begins to fall apart.