Analysis Of The Oriental Contingent

“She identifies herself as an American writer whose background is mostly Chinese.” Diana Chang’s description of her identity is crucial to the reader’s understanding of her story, “The Oriental Contingent” for she described her two nationalities as different aspects of her identity, an indication of conflict between them, just how the protagonists, Connie Sung and Lisa Mallory, experienced this conflict for they are both Chinese-American women. In her story, Connie Sung and Lisa Mallory overcome their internal conflict, of how they perceived their own identities to be invalid compared to other Asians, emerge through several elements such as Character, Theme, and Figure of speech by revealing their concealed point of views that showed they

And as Connie mentioned that Lisa had not “given her enough clues”, this indicated that Lisa reciprocated Connie’s internal conflict, therefore purposely kept her identity a secret from Connie, and instinctively pulled away, staying in the darkness rather than making an attempt to reveal more of herself, which would not be determined if the theme and character-interactions were overlooked. Another example of this was how Lisa, from Connie’s perspective, “pursued her own line of thought actively and seemed to find herself mildly amusing.” At surface level, this described Lisa as person who enjoyed to talk. However, this revealed more, with the attention to how Lisa reacted when felt conflicted, by the way Lisa pulled away by making it seem that she rambled on her own thoughts, where in actuality, controlled the conversation to steer Connie away from her identity, which would not be determined if the theme was overlooked. And When Connie instinctively pushed too hard when she asked Lisa what her profession was, “[Lisa] replied, ““what do all Chinese excel at?”” Not as if she’d asked a rhetorical question, she waited,

You can’t help being an American product”” This showed how Eric demeaned Connie as he compared her to an object and not to take herself seriously, as if he viewed Connie to be a joke, for she had told him she was “a failed Chinese” Thus making it evident that Eric Li viewed himself to be better than Connie, for he was born in China. The figure of speech in these interactions also reveal a conflict. Connie felt as she “confessed “to Eric, when she told him she is a “failed Chinese” an odd description of her identity, however thus revealing her perception of her invalid identity, her internal conflict to exist due to the manner Eric treated her. Eric also demeaned Lisa, as he did with Connie when he said “She is what she is. I know what she is. But she avoids going to Hong Kong. She avoids it.” Eric claimed to know “what” she is, not who, as if the fact the Lisa is Chinese-American made her an object, which would prove Lisa had the same internal conflict as Connie as “She ma[d]e up many excuses” to Eric, or pulled away as she tended to do when feeling conflicted. However this does not stop Connie and Lisa to overcome their internal conflicts as they revealed their Identities to each other, despite their insecurities, and despite the anticipated reactions they were