What Are The Stereotypes In Trying To Find Chinatown

“Trying to Find Chinatown” is a play by Asian-American playwright David Henry Hwang. It takes place in New York and describes the interaction between Ronnie, an Asian-American street musician, and Benjamin, a Caucasian tourist from the Midwest. The play begins with Benjamin encountering Ronnie during one of his live performances, then asking him for directions to Chinatown. Ronnie is angry that Benjamin chose him out of all people to ask directions from. His anger escalates when Benjamin claims to be Asian because he was adopted by Asian parents. On the other hand, Ronnie, who is actually racially Asian, knows very little about his culture. This surprising turn of events raises the question about what caused these two characters to stray from

At one point, he calls him a “trailer-park refugee” (287). It is shocking how so many insults are woven into his vocabulary, and how easily he says them aloud. Then, Ronnie proceeds to list even more stereotypes, however, this time they are about his own race. For Ronnie to say all this unprovoked, and to a stranger at that, suggests that there is another reason for his actions. Considering the time this play was created and America’s history with people of color, it is likely that Ronnie was once a victim of these stereotypes. He could have had these stereotypes said to him in the past, perhaps much worse, so now he is repeating them to Benjamin. Surprisingly, Benjamin understands his rage, and sympathizes with the fact that Ronnie has to “battle with all of Euro-America’s emasculating and brutal stereotypes of Asians” (287). Ronnie is shocked as he probably has never met someone so informed on racial injustice as Benjamin. The mention of an Asian-American studies class also took him by surprise. This shows that the mistreatment of Asians was normalized in New York. On top of racism, many Asian-Americans felt pressured to assimilate into the American way of

However, that required them to leave parts of their own culture behind in the process. In response to Ronnie refusing to accept Chinatown as his community, Benjamin asks him, “you’re one of those self-hating, assimilated Chinese-Americans, aren’t you” (291). Yes, while that could be the case, Ronnie’s life growing up was never discussed in the play. On the other hand, the audience knows much more about Benjamin because information about his family was revealed throughout the play. The point is that Ronnie could have grown up without exposure to Chinese culture, making it easier for him to assimilate. Benjamin was fortunate to have Asian parents to look to for guidance. In the end, both characters assimilated into a culture that is not technically their own. At the end of the play, Benjamin manages to find Chinatown and, upon arriving, immediately feels that he “had entered a world where all things were familiar” (293). Benjamin may not be Asian race-wise, but it is clear that he does appreciate and connect with the culture. Racism and discrimination was so common at the time that the beauty of America’s diversity was overlooked. There were so many cultures to learn from and Benjamin happened to get that