Chinatown by David Hwang
This one- act play, Trying to Find Chinatown, describes the encounter between two characters that are dissimilar in their traits; Benjamin, an ethnic Caucasian who considers himself Asian, and Ronnie, who is an ethnic Asian but actually knows very little about his Asian heritage. Benjamin was adopted by a Chinese- American family and is desperately trying to find out his father’s birth house in New York’s Chinatown. In the process he meets Ronnie, a street musician expert in playing violin,and ask for directions to the house. He assumes that Ronnie is an Asian man and would perhaps know his way around the lanes of Chinatown. Their viewpoint are contrarian but interesting to observe
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His ranting about ethnic pride leaves one with pride and reflects the liberal education he had at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he majored in Asian American studies. I empathize with him when I notice that Benjamin’s last name and his ethnic identity are the products of his adoption as an infant into an Asian American family. There is a similarity of character between his and mine ,this happened when few of my cousins took a trip to Calabar a state in Nigeria to go find the grave of my maternal great grandfather who was sent on exile for mix communication,he died and was buried there,a thing that never happened in the Benin kingdom a to a king.We experience the same attitude Benjamin character got from Ronnie.The first person we met as we enter the city misdirected us,after all said and done we find where he was buried we were filled with joy and we paid homage.furthermore the reason for Benjamin’s visit to New York City is a kind of pilgrimage during which he wants to pay homage to his recently deceased father. This being his first time to the New York City, he is obviously lost as he does not know the whereabouts of the location. His objective is to visit his father’s birth house in Chinatown. However, since he is new to the place, he needs directions to reach there. This is where the clash comes when he hopes to wrestle the information from Ronnie. He assumes that since Ronnie is Asian in appearance, and looks might be the right person to provide him the relevant
In life, one’s journey is a never-ending process, with a multitude of sudden changes and unexpected delays. While researching characters in both the New York Times’ 1 in 8 million miniseries, and in Sherman Alexie’s Ten Little Indians, there were three particularly intriguing men who stuck out from the bunch, and their stories piqued my interest like no other characters have before. There is Joshua Febres, a young African-American teenager born in the Bronx, who is a part of the infamous gang, the Crips. You have Patrick Harris, a white, middle aged man who grew up a part of an affluent family on Long Island, New York, and lives on a sailboat on the Hudson Bay. And finally, there is Harlan Atwater, who biologically is a Spokane Indian, but
Unlike Eli, Lionel continues to struggle within the liminal space between the ‘white’ and ‘Native American’ worlds. His desire to return to university and educate himself to get a better job suggest his attempt of finding himself. However, before he takes that step, he remains in a conflicted position of being a Blackfoot and not a Blackfoot at the same time. He may look like one, but he does not feel like a Blackfoot. Lionel points out to the reader how he “[feels] completely out of place” due to his appearance while at the Sun Dance (365).
Andy’s experience is one of unusual circumstances. Living up to his title of a “brave and beautiful boy”, this leading character chooses to tease the one man in town that all fear: the Chinaman. Through the author’s utilization of point of view, the reader can perceive the uniqueness of the Chinaman two very distinct ways: either through the view of the townspeople or Andy, himself. However, it is through Andy, and the author’s detailed depiction of this specific incident, that we as readers can look deep into the eyes of the Chinaman. This strange visual symbolism provided in this passage of Cannery Row is what guides us into the lonely, isolated soul that is the Chinaman’s life.
Benny is furious but allows Sam to live with them. Although Sam is rather strange and eccentric with an obsession of films, Benny realizes that Sam is capable of taking care of and watching over Joon while he can’t. After spending a lot of time together, Sam and Joon start to fall in love with each other. When Benny find out about the two of them he is angry and kicks
Mobina Shams “Benjamin, don’t underestimate the mentally ill”: The perceptions caused by others in Joon’s life. Self-perception is an element of behavior, and can be described as imperfect self-knowledge. Our self-image is created by society, its expectations, and the influence of others around us. Through the years, society has created conjectures that we need to meet in order to be accepted by others.
In American Born Chinese, Jin Wang changes immensely from the beginning to the end of the story. At the beginning of the story, Jin Wang wants to fit in and break apart from his Chinese Heritage. By the end of the story, because of various external and internal conflicts, Jin has learned to accept his Chinese heritage. He has also experienced anger, happiness, regret, and guilt that all got him to the point where he learned to accept his heritage.
In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes.
For a relationship to work, there is a lot that needs to be put in from both people. If everyone would realize that no one will feel comfortable being with a person unless they are able maintain a healthy balance between what the other person wants and what they themselves want, if that that is achieved, then the relationships on Earth would be so much more enjoyable. Henry does this in the novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by: Jamie Ford, when he falls in love with Keiko. Yes Henry and Keiko like each other, and could probably see themselves together in the future, but Henry's father forbids that to ever happen. This is the reason that Henry and Keiko are not noble to maintain any sort of relationship, because what Henry's father
The Red Couch Tour has a strong influence on Canadians and conveys a clear message through these different stories. The main artifact is a red couch with the Canada’s 150 maple leaf logo; and the location of the red couch placement is close to the ‘empty space’ of Canada. The secondary artifact is the invited Canadians who story tell about Canada’s past time and identities. The meaning of the artifact is more than what meets the eyes; this event develops on the theme of unification, storytelling and cultural nationalism. These theme is described from this quote, “Instead of going to peoples’ living rooms, we’re taking it to them.
The greatest heroes in human history, whether real or fictional, are often portrayed as lone-wolves, people who neither require nor want help from others. But that is entirely untrue. Every president has a vice president, every superhero has a sidekick. And if even those people need help, then of course a normal man such as Nick Flynn does too. In Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, by Nick Flynn, Flynn details his and his absent father’s experiences, as they dance around each other for years before slowly developing a relationship.
Arnold Spirit Junior is hyper-conscious of his position inside any social group. Consequently, he is aware of what it means to be Indian versus what it means to be White, he worries about what it means to be a man (when it is acceptable for men to cry, or when boys have to stop holding hands with their friends) and how to fit in as a “freak”(p.98) who is bullied by his peers and even by some adults. A big part of Junior’s coming of age is trying to figure out the extent to which people are defined by their birth or their origins, as opposed to their individual choices. At the beginning of his story Junior states, “I was born with water on the brain” (p.1) (a reference to his own disability of hydrocephalus) and identifying his tough, irrational,
In the film Sunset Boulevard many character struggled with wishes, lies and dreams of fame and fortune. The film states the corruption in hollywood and that people will do anything to get ahead. With hope and delusion each character tries to gain happiness, while only being self-destructive and isolating themselves. The characters ultimately deny their problems and confuse those around them. One character in the film who struggles with her wishes, lies and dreams is, Norma Desmond, a washed up actress.
Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce. Annotated Bibliography Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ethnic American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students. Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.This encyclopedia points out that the negative interaction he held with the white man as a young hustler was countered by these same experiences pushing Malcolm X to reclaim his “African identity”. This shows, as described by the cited work, what a man pushed by his negative interactions with the oppressive white men is willing to do to find his identity (i.e. through hustling).
Consolisa Edmond Professor Sanati English Comp. 102-12 22 March 2017 Analysis of” Trying to Find Chinatown” Shortly after birth, we have our identity written on our birth certificate and we are forever defined by that. The world often defines the people within it, instead of people going off to discover their own identity themselves. Race, ethnicity and other factors like it describe who we are but not represent our identity. In David Hwang’s 1996 play “Trying to Find Chinatown” Hwang considers the role of race and ethnicity in how we identify ourselves and how others identify us.
The book “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang is a story about various characters that feel like they don 't fit in so they change who they are. In the text “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller is a story in a town where a couple of girls make the town believe that they are possessed and their behavior has to do with witchcraft something no one in the town believes is evil . These two stories have social pressure in order to fit in. Although these characters are very different, throughout the text the characters change who they are in order to fit in.