Stereotyping And Prejudice In Trying To Find Chinatown

In n the play entitled Trying to Find Chinatown, Hwang implements polemical stereotyping by establishing a contemporary theme with a vernacular tone that is based on the various stereotypical factors depicted in both Asian-American and Caucasian communities. The author, in the play, succeeds in considering two chinese characters who express their interchangeable tirade with the same innate cultural conflicts they experience but in different ways. Ronnie is a genetically chinese New Yorker whose assimilation to Americanization seems to cost him his cultural identity, while, Benjamin tries to further explore his chinese identity which was nurtured by his adopting parents. Both characters in Trying to Find Chinatown seem to not only identify themselves in life, but also do so in the process of

identifying others by utilizing stereotyping and prejudice.

For an example, Hwang introduces Ronnie as an Asian-American man in his mid-twenties whose racial connection to the Chinese culture is more emphasized than his ethnic connection. Ronnie, in annoyance of Benjamin’s stereotypical advance to him, asks: “So why is it that you picked me, of all the street musicians in the city — to point you in the direction of Chinatown?” (Hwang, 39). Ronnie insinuates that, because he is racially identified as an asian, Benjamin would assume that he could assist in finding the location. This is what the author Hwang defines as polemical stereotyping in the play, revealing that Benjamin’s approach to Ronnie is due to his racial appearance.

Furthermore, as the play merges into life, Hwang puts forth frequent examples of polemical stereotyping in regards to rural inhabitants. For example, Ronnie does not only go on a vitrol about Benjamin being a “trailer-park

refugee” (Hwang, 38), but he also states that if his violin instrument “was a fiddle, I’d be sitting here with a cob pipe, stomping my cowboy boots and kicking up hay. Then I’d go home and fuck my cousin” (Hwang, 38). With this example of polemical stereotyping alluding to country artists who plays fiddles, an instrument very identical to a violin, one that was played by Ronnie. What emphasized this statement illustrated by Whang, is the cob pipe, hay kicking, and incest relations which regards to the stereotypical factors presenting Country community groups in rural areas. Moreover, during Ronnie’s angered tone towards Benjamin’s insistence of belonging to the Chinese culture, Hwang illustrates a shift where the blond, blue-eyed character Benjamin begins to the stereotype Asian students by stating how “the Asian students put that “They all look alike” stereotype to good use” (Whang, 39) during the Third World Hunger strike. Similarly, Ronnie responds to Benjamin’s fascinating quest for his asian roots by wondering if it had ever crossed his mind that “in order to find your Asian “roots,” it’s a good idea to first be Asian?” (Hwang, 40). The common believe which Ronnie expressed here was one that associates simply with race. Ronnie believed that because Benjamin was of a Caucasian decent racially, he could not be able to share any Asian backgrounds, incapacitating him to find any Asian “roots”. This stereotype epitomizes individuals to specific ethnicities or cultures simply because they share they physical appearances.