Comparing 'Dance And The Railroad' By David Hwang

In Dance and the Railroad by David Hwang, we meet Lone and Ma, who are two very interesting characters to compare and contrast. To contrast, Lone is pessimistic and Ma is optimistic, Lone has experience performing and is a teacher figure to Ma wants to learn becomes Lone’s student, and Lone is experienced on the Gold Mountain while Ma is not. It’s clear that Ma is very optimistic. We see this especially in scene two while Ma is speaking to Lone about his dreams and ambitions he hopes to achieve:

MA. Sure. By the time I go back to China, I’ll ride in gold sedan chairs, with twenty wives fanning me all around.

LONE. Twenty wives? This boy is ambitious.

MA. I’ll give out pigs on New Years and keep a stable of small birds to give to any woman

It’s suggested that over time working on the Golden Mountain he has slowly turned more negative and only finds joy in practicing what he learned at his time in the opera. Lone and Ma carry their optimistic and pessimistic attitudes for the rest of The Dance and the Railroad. Lone has experience performing in the opera, it is his craft that he spent a large part of his life mastering. In contrast, Ma wants to learn but is not skilled or disciplined in the art. Lone gives insight on his background as a performer in scene three when he says:

LONE. It’s not you. Everyone must earn the right to play Gwan Gung. I entered Opera school when I was ten years old. My parents decided to sell me for ten years to this Opera company. I lived with eighty other boys and we slept in bunks four beds high and hid our candy and rice cakes from each other. For eight years, I was studying to play Gwan Gung.

MA. Eight years?

LONE. I was one of the best in my class. One day, I was summoned by my master, who told me I was to go home for two days, because my mother had fallen very ill ad was dying. When I arrived home, Mother was standing at the door waiting, not sick at all. Her first words to me, the son away for eight years, were, You’ve been playing while your village has starved. You must go to the Gold Mountain and work.

It’s ugly to practice when the mountain has turned your muscles to ice. When my body hurts too much to come here, I look at the other ChinaMen and think, “They are dead. Their muscles work only because the white man forces them.” I live because I can still force my muscles to work for me.” Say it. “They are dead.”

MA. No. they’re my friends.

LONE. Well, then, take your dice down to your friends.

MA. But I want to learn—

LONE. This is your first lesson.

…

MA. All right. I’m one of them. I’m a dead man too.

LONE. I thought as much. So, go. You have your friends. (1591-1592).

Lone, after working on the Gold Mountain for two years has developed a distaste for the other railroad workers, while Ma is perceived as naive and easily influences who has been working for one month and enjoys the company of the other workers. In conclusion, in The Dance and the Railroad by David Henry Hwang, a story that follows Lone and Ma, two opposing characters, we see that Lone is pessimistic and in contrast Ma is optimistic, Lone has experience performing and becomes Ma’s teacher, who has no experience but a desire to learn, and Lone has more experience working on the Gold Mountain which turns him bitter, while Ma is new and still looks for the best in various