Analysis Of Anthony Veasna So's The Shop

More than just a means of providing for oneself, a job can signify a lot about someone’s identity, especially as late stage capitalism encourages people to define themselves by their economic productivity more than any other marker of who they are. This idea is apparent in Anthony Veasna So’s short story collection about the descendants of Cambodian immigrants Afterparties, and is perhaps most prevalent in the two stories from the collection that I will be analyzing “Human Development” and “The Shop.” So’s “Human Development” follows a young, gay man as he begins a relationship with an older app developer. While So’s “The Shop” tells the story of an aimless college graduate as he watches his father’s car repair shop, where he works, struggle

Anthony compares Ben to “a clueless kid” who “learned something new at school and was now obsessed with talking about it” as he clings onto phrases like “safe space” during his obviously rehearsed pitch. (So “Human Development” 191). Because this scene is set in Ben’s luxury apartment, it is difficult not to relate his understanding of the world back to his class status. Ben is the child of immigrant parents, but it is perhaps because of this that he has wholeheartedly bought into the American dream, which seems to have largely delivered on its promises of success for Ben, blinding him from the ways it has failed the majority of people like him. As Ben spends his time “reading articles about diversifying Silicon Valley with more brown faces” he seems to think that the numerous problems with the tech industry either are not too egregious or that they can simply be fixed through the inclusion of more diversity within the industry (So “Human Development” 193). However, it is made clear that Anthony, who refers to the tech industry as “absurd grotesque and frivolous,” is able to see Ben’s understanding of the tech industry and the safe space app that he’s developing as hollow, band-aid solutions, attempting to capitalize off of the much larger problems of oppression in America (So “Human Development” 193). Anthony does assert about Ben and his work that “he seemed not to care if he made money only that his vision be fully realized” (So “Human Development” 194). However, Ben is still clearly working within capitalism as he searches for venture capitalists to fund his app, rather than working to challenge capitalism through, say, making his app as part of a non-profit. The American dream