In Charles Yu’s novel Interior Chinatown, race is depicted as a costume that the characters wear simply because society expects it of them, not because they feel like it truly defines themselves. This portrayal fits well into the structure of the book, as it is written as a screenplay or script. When Willis is on trial, he asks the audience of his fellow Chinatown residents “how often do you, or you, or any of us ever think the thought, I’m an Asian man? Almost never. Not until someone reminds you” (Yu 248). With this answer to his own question, Willis points out how race feels irrelevant to who they are but it becomes the only characteristic others make note of. I find this line thought-provoking because it highlights how race is not a costume that is always voluntarily put on. At times, it can be as if someone forces it onto the wearer.
After the brief happiness of Ming-Chen and Dorothy’s wedding, they “put their Asian costumes back on” (Yu 156). They had just been told to “get back to work,” which took them out of their joyful moment surrounded by friends and put them back into a working environment where they were expected to act and be a certain way (Yu 156). In this scene, Yu demonstrates how the Asians in the book are not even afforded time to enjoy their happy moments without being interrupted and brought back to a situation in which they have to wear their race as a costume. In Interior Chinatown, I failed to note a situation when Asian characters felt comfortable enough to not wear their ‘costume’ with non-Asian characters. Putting on the costume felt like second nature and without question.
When he came to the United States as a student and later sought employment, Ming-Chen was often given a label and assumed to have stereotypical characteristics of Asian Americans or Asian immigrants. He was taken aback when called ‘Chinaman’, as the name simplified him as a person and became the only trait to describe him (Yu 146). After his roommate Allen was attacked in a hate crime, there was a moment of realization among Ming-Chen and his roommates that any of them could have been attacked because “they are all the same” (Yu 147). When he interviewed for a job, the interviewer told him that he was an undesired candidate since he had an accent -- but what the interviewer meant was that he had an accent that was similar to an American accent and thus, did not have the accent expected of an Asian man (Yu 150). After this comment, “he learns to do an accent,” demonstrating how these generalizations and stereotypes put pressure on Asian people to conform to society’s expectations of them (Yu 150).
This concept leaves me with a question: do other minorities feel the same way, and what would be the traits and character types associated with them? I believe the obvious answer is yes, other minorities do often feel boxed into an assumption of who they are simply due to the color of their skin. In Interior Chinatown, Miles Turner and Sarah Green are expected to follow stereotypes associated with their minority, and Miles Turner even points out to Willis how he is not the only person who feels unseen.
While being Asian is a part of someone’s identity and brings with it cultural significance, Yu argues that it can be a facade used for societal acceptance in order to be who society feels they are “supposed” to be. Yu isn’t arguing that being Asian itself is a costume, but one’s mannerisms and personality traits are -- thus feeling like the whole self is a costume.
This post emphasized the theme of expectations in this novel. Specifically, the post references the excerpt involving immigrant housemates. The significance of this is less about Asian-Americans' expectations, but more about the expectations of others. “All five of Young Wu’s housemates are called names…some names are specific, others are quite universal in their function and application…Wu can never quite get over it…Chinaman…in that simplicity…it encapsulates so much” (Yu 146). The post says that the remark “...simplified him (Wu) as a person and became the only trait to describe him..” This interpretation finds strength in its simplicity. The perception of the character is entirely around physical traits and origin, which is parallel to the cartoons and movie posters that we looked at in class. Overly exaggerated stereotypical traits became the reason that people perceived people like Young Wu in that manner and watched people with similar descents play roles like “Kung Fu Guy”.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel's beginning, Willis Wu aspires to be “Kung Fu Guy”. He watched people who had similar appearances to himself play these roles, idolized the character, and put the role of “Kung Fu Guy” on a pedestal. In this case, Dorothy sees Willis wanting to voluntarily put on his race as a costume, and pleads with him to not. She says, “Don’t grow up to be Kung Fu Guy” (Yu 56). This strengthens the post’s point about race being used as a costume. Many young boys aspire to wear it with pride, wanting to be Kung Fu Guy or Bruce Lee when they grow up, but as they get older, their choice to wear this costume becomes less of a choice and more of a necessity.
This blog post truly relayed how race is depicted in the novel, and how it is shown to have such a negative impact on the character's lives. One of the many examples of how the interviewer negatively talked down to Ming Chen about having an accent is only a fraction of the racism that Asian Americans have had to face, and I think that Yu's passion to help bring awareness to this matter is extremely admirable. Likewise, as you mentioned the idea that Asian Americans have to wear a "costume" around people who are like them is a concept that was relatable to not only the characters in the novel but to society as well. Because there are so many stereotypes involving Asian Americans, they feel so pressured and in turn are always trying to fit the mold that society has provided.
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