Success: What Does it Look Like? SP25 Blog

What I find most interesting about Lydia’s struggles is the fact that she clearly does not feel comfortable communicating with her family openly about her struggles. She is isolated and alone, and it’s shown by the fact that she fakes a smile for her family at her celebration; however, she unexpectedly failed her driving test. It appears that both Marilyn and James have so many expectations of what Lydia should be that she feels scared to express herself genuinely, and it’s shown by her blatantly faking her emotions. In a scene from chapter 9 when Lydia comes home after failing her driving test but comes home to a celebration, its described that the smile she had was "too wide,  too bright, cheery and white-tooth and fake….it was terrifying; it made Lydia look like a different person, a stranger" (Ng. 237). This quote shows how Lydia hides her true emotions to not disappoint her family. This leaves Lydia, however, to lead a disingenuous and fake reality where she may feel lik...

 The perfection that Lydia lives through is like a ghost haunting her soul.  The blindness of her parents and even Nathan pushes her farther away from them, then they even realize it. Throughout the novel, the little things her parents discover about their daughter make sense because Lydia wore a facemask that her parents envisioned for her. This chapter explains the imperfections she actually has. Her struggles are actually not surprising because of the level of pressure her parents place on her. The only person who really sees Lydia is Hannah, " The smile too wide,  too bright, cheery and white-tooth and fake. On her sister's face it was terrifying; it made Lydia look like a different person, a stranger" (Ng. 237). Externally, Lydia was supposedly getting perfect grades, having lots of friends, studying math and biology like her mother, and doing all the things her parents loved her for. Internally, she felt trapped and had the need to escape from where she was. Her par...

Lydia is someone buckling under the immense pressure placed on her by her social environment. She feels like she has to appease practically everyone in her life, and no one seems to want to reach out to her and offer their help. Because of this, Lydia feels immense stress. As the text describes Lydia's situation, "It didn’t matter what she wanted. It never had. Everything that mattered, school, friends, her future, depended on keeping her parents happy," (Ng 161). Lydia is of the understanding that her entire livelihood is dependent on her ability to appease her parents. She knows that her mother has designed a path for her, and if she doesn't follow that path, she risks loosing her livelihood. Marylin is in many ways living vicariously through her daughter. She wants her daughter to live the life she always wanted but never got to have. However, Lydia has different goals, which is creating conflict and misery within Lydia. As such, we see Lydia start to get more and ...

This chapter highlights how Lydia's struggles come from both herself and the expectations placed on her by her parents and society. Lydia’s parents, especially her mother, laid their dreams on her, teaching her that love depended on how well she could fulfill their expectations. When she begins to struggle academically and socially, she feels herself falling apart.  Her entire sense of worth was built around meeting the expectations of others. Lydia internalizes the pressure of being the "perfect daughter," hiding her failures and pretending to be fine even as she feels more isolated. When Lydia lies to her parents, it reveals what they expected of her: " ...she spun stories for her mother about her grades and her extra credit project, or for her father about Shelly's new perm or Pam's obsession with David Cassidy..." (Ng, 221). Her mother wanted her to excel academically, while her father wanted her to be like everyone else around her, to be "one ...

Throughout the early parts of the story, we discover that Lydia is the primary focus of this story, even though she is not alive for most of the story. The entire book shows the events that happened around her life and the question of what led to her death, revealing to us what it’s like to grow up in a dysfunctional family as well as a minority. One of the first significant events in her life was when her mother, Marilyn, suddenly left to pursue her dreams. This left Lydia feeling abandoned and confused. When Marilyn returned home after she had left them, she started to push her dreams of being a doctor onto Lydia as she saw she was the child who was most likely able to fulfill her aspirations, expecting her to find success in ways she could not in her youth. Lydia faced a lot of pressure trying to live up to her mom’s expectations and was afraid to disappoint her as we saw when her mom returned she made sure everything was perfect for her mom. Another major issue Lydia faced with was...

 What's most interesting about Lydia's struggle is that it's very related to the audience, and especially the audience the book is targeted too. Like Lydia, most young adults are trying to impress their parents with their success, so they aren't disappointed. For example, in chapter nine, Lydia gets caught holding out on her homework, so her mom talks about her future to motivate her daughter, so Lydia pretends to work on her homework so she can receive the "that's my girl" praise from her mother ( Ng 223). Lydia is not the star student that her parents expected from their "Golden Child," so she feels she must fake it to keep up with her parents' false reality. Many young adults do the same thing because parental love is sometimes conditional upon results, which makes us want to exaggerate our achievements to gain our parents' approval. This was interesting more because of the ideology of what a successful parent is tells us that our kids...

 Reading this chapter, I couldn’t stop thinking about how lonely Lydia felt. Not just lonely in the sense of not having friends, but lonely in the deepest, most personal way. Like she didn’t even belong in her own life. What hit me the hardest was realizing that she’s not just trying to succeed, she’s trying to survive under all the weight her family unknowingly put on her. This one line broke me a little:  “It didn’t matter what she wanted. It never had. Everything that mattered, school, friends, her future, depended on keeping her parents happy”  (pg 161). Imagine being a teenager and already believing that your wants don’t count. That your entire purpose is to make someone else proud. Lydia doesn’t even get to dream for herself because she’s too busy being the dream her parents had in mind. The Social Environment slides talk about the way cultural and family expectations can become a kind of cage, especially for daughters. Lydia’s caught in this imp...

     Lydia’s character goes through a dynamic change throughout this chapter. Though we are already aware of her fate at the beginning of the book, this chapter reveals many reasons why she may have ended up dead. She reveals how she felt about her dynamic in the family, as well as how it was causing her to fail in school, hide away from her family, and not have many friends. The pressures she faced from her parents to be perfect ended up causing her to be withdrawn from outside society and develop feelings of self-hatred. Lydia felt a need to be the model child, but it just caused a separation between her and the rest of her family, as they did not really see that she was struggli ng or needed help. Her parents believed that she lived a perfect life with many friends, perfect grades, and a bright future ahead. Her siblings felt some resentment towards her as she took away their parent’s attention, and was very obviously the favorite child, causing them to pull away fro...

  What I found most interesting about Lydia’s struggles in this chapter is how she faces both favoritism and intense pressure from her parents. She receives special attention because she looks the most white, yet she also experiences the weight of the “model minority” expectations placed on her as an Asian American. The environment results in an internal despire for freedom. Lydia’s parents push her in different directions, each wanting her to become what they never were. James wants Lydia to be popular and have friends, while Marilyn wants her to become a doctor. Lydia feels constant pressure to be perfect, to fulfill both of their dreams simultaneously. However, in this chapter, Lydia does something surprising, she fails her learner’s permit test and disappoints her parents. Marilyn’s reaction to the news is, “What do you mean, you failed?” (236), showing her immediate disappointment and disbelief. This moment highlights the external struggle Lydia faces in trying to meet her par...

       In Everything I Never Told You, the dilemma of Lydia Lee is not that she is a bad student or an awkward socialite — it is that the expectations placed on her are impossible, and that she has been born into a world in which nowhere was made for someone like her. What makes Lydia’s story so riveting, though, is how her internal struggle mirrors the wider social climate of the 1950s-1970s. An Asian American girl, the Chinese American father and the white mother she refers to as the “two halves” of her, she is stuck between conflicting cultures, with expectations and stereotypes on both sides splintering her sense of self. The social context the slides provide — especially Orientalism; the “model minority” myth; W.E.B. Du Bois’s double-consciousness — is helping us understand how Lydia’s internal and external struggles reflect a deeply racialized and gendered world.      Every correspondence is heartbreaking, but one of the most heartbreaking moment...

  In the novel, Everything I Never Told You, Lydia goes through a lot in chapter 9. She fails her permit test, her dad’s comments about “everyone”, her mom constantly nagging her about schoolwork, Nath leaving for college soon and never looking back, and especially Louisa. Lydia’s struggles are all different and they follow different themes. I think Lydia’s conflicts when she was in the car with her dad and Louisa were the most interesting. Not only did she see another woman flirting with her father, but she also saw a bunch of boys make fun of all of them for being asian. “I’m just a poor grad student, not a rich professor. She patted his arm playfully, and the tenderness in her face shocked Lydia.” (Ng 229). James thought it was a good idea to pick Louisa up before picking Lydia up so they can meet each other. Lydia felt super uncomfortable and angry at the situation and felt like she couldn’t say anything, but she knew. In the same sitting, a group of boys crossing the street lo...

Willis' conflict throughout Interior Chinatown is the desire to play the role of "Kung Fu Guy." He desires to have the spotlight placed on him for once instead of being stuck in the background. However, at the end of the book, he comes to realize that this is just another generic role. He learns that Kung Fu Guy just maintains the suppression of Asians in media, and he completely lets his ethnicity define him. As he states, "But at the same time, I’m guilty, too. Guilty of playing this role. Letting it define me. Internalizing the role so completely that I’ve lost track of where reality starts and the performance begins" (Yu). This is a very meta moment. He is saying how he has lost track of the line between fiction and reality, just as that line is blurred throughout the book. It is an emblem of how media is only a reflection of the struggles that exist in real life, and the difficulties Asian Americans face in overcoming the labels of "generic" that ...

       Throughout the novel, Willis struggles with being seen only through stereotypes—always stuck playing roles like “Generic Asian Man” or “Delivery Guy.” His internal conflict revolves around whether he can ever be more than the roles society assigns him. It’s only after he chases the status of “Kung Fu Guy,” even at the cost of distancing himself from his wife and daughter, that he realizes he has been caught in a trap. Through this awakening, Willis recognizes that his dream of becoming “Kung Fu Guy” was never truly his own, but rather a fantasy shaped by societal expectations. This realization comes together in the courtroom, where Willis finally steps out of character.  Standing before Green, Turner, his friends and family, that Willis finally comes to terms with the role he plays in society, admitting, “I’m as guilty of it as anyone. Fetishizing Black people and their coolness. Romanticizing White women. Wishing I were a White man. Putting myself into t...

 A resolved conflict by the end of Interior Chinatown is Willis's internal conflict with accepting himself and his own identity. Throughout the book, Willis is binded to the roles which Hollywood set upon Asian men. He feels like his worth is set on him becoming the role of "Kung Fu Guy". By the end of the book Willis rejects the limited narrative of the glorious role of "Kung Fu Guy" and embraces his own identity and narrative. For example, at the end of book reflects on being young and only wanting to become Kung Fu Guy, which was the highest role for Asian men, and stumbles on why he "wanted this so bad" (Yu 244). He thought this would make him feel special and separate himself from the barriers to Asians, but it didn't. This make realize that "Kung Fu Guy is just another form of Generic Asian Man" and that their is no higharchy to the oppressive system (Yu 245). Willis accepts himself and finds that he can only live for his own narrat...

The conflict that has been resolved was not achieved through the resolution of the conflict, but rather, Willis disregarded the conflict altogether. I suggest this because what solves the conflict of Willis feeling oppressed and confined to stereotypes of an Asian man is Willis disregarding these stereotypes and deciding to live as he pleases, as a Father. Typically, if it is said that a conflict is resolved, it means that someone won, like if two people were fighting and one knocked out the other person, that is a resolved conflict. I am suggesting that this conflict was resolved in a different way, where there is still a fight, but contrary to the previous example, one person decides to walk away to resolve the conflict. Willis, in his enduring conflict to be Kung Fu Man and achieve greatness within a system of oppression, eventually comes to realize his real priority is his daughter, not his role as an actor, and decides to walk away from playing Asian roles and instead be a father....

     One of the main topics that was focused on in Interior Chinatown  is the constant struggle between internalized ideologies and true identity. Throughout the book, we see this struggle through the eyes of Willus Wu. Willus' experience in Hollywood illustrates how Asian Americans are constantly discriminated against in American society even in the most subtle of ways. Although Asian representation has improved in recent mainstream media, there is still a lack of proper recognition and opportunities for Asian American actors in Hollywood. Willus' journey throughout the text follows his experiences in the different acting roles he was given, such as "Generic Asian Man" and "Kung Fu Dad." The roles that Willus is given throughout the story illustrates how Asian characters and actors are often seen as disposable background characters who are deemed unfit to play a main role. Early in the text, Willus says "Black and White always look good...They're t...

 At the end of the novel, Willis and Older Brother address the issues of separating Asians from other people and how it is impossible for Asians to assimilate into American culture. However, the very end of the book seems to show that Willis is still struggling with internal conflict. As an actor, he always wanted to be Kung Fu Guy, and he worked as hard as he could to achieve this. As we discussed in class, this caused tension among his own family just for him to reach his goal to become this character. However, Old Asian Woman, which I believe is Willis' mom, says "You are not Kung Fu Guy. You are Willis Wu, dad." (Yu 256). Willis has lost his personality and what makes him human by trying to become something that he is not. We saw in the novel how this affected Willis and his family, and when Willis is reflecting with Karen and his mom at the end of Act VI, we see how this dream has killed Willis Wu the person. He tried so hard to become someone that he is not, and now...

     Throughout the novel Interior Chinatown , Willus Wu, the narrator, continually discusses the discrimination that Asian Americans face within American society. It is a struggle that they have faced for over a century, with little progress an d even less recognition. They are continually put down within society, but their struggles are not often at the forefront of s ocietal movements and protests. They are viewed as a model minority but face much of the discrimination that other minorities face. They are put in to a box, one that is nearly impossible to escape and limits them even within their own communities.         Asian Americans are constantly expected to graduate from top colleges and high grades, but they struggle to get jobs even with these high achievements. Within the court case in Act VI of Interior Chin atown, Willus discusses how Asians “[internalize] the role so completely that [they’ve] lost track of where reality starts an...

     We all play a role in life, but what happens when those roles are written by someone else? In Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown, Willis Wu spends much of his life confined by the roles assigned to him literally and metaphorically.       This novel's central conflict revolves around identity and is partially resolved during Willis's testimony in court when he confronts his internalized role "Guilty of playing this role. Letting it define me... I’ve lost track of where reality starts and the performance begins. And letting that define how I see other people. I’m guilty of it as anyone” (Yu 246). In this scene, Willis admits that he hasn’t just been trapped in the roles imposed on him, but also played a part in sustaining those roles. This shows that conflict isn't just external but also internal. He starts his path to self-discovery with this confession.      However, not all conflicts were resolved by the end of the novel. The soc...

 In  Interior Chinatown  by Charles Yu, the protagonist Willis Wu struggles with his identity, trapped in the stereotypical role of "Generic Asian Man" in a world that forces him into predefined positions based on his race. This internal conflict, which centers on Willis’s desire to be seen as more than just a stereotype, remains unresolved by the novel's conclusion. One key moment illustrating Willis's struggle occurs when he reflects, "I am not the Kung Fu Guy. I am the Generic Asian Man" (Yu 120). This statement highlights his frustration and the limitations of his identity, defined by others rather than his aspirations. Throughout the novel, Willis dreams of breaking free from the roles imposed on him, particularly aspiring to be the "Kung Fu Guy," a character who has power and control. However, despite his awareness of this desire, he remains stuck in the same position. Yu’s decision to leave this conflict unresolved emphasizes the ongoing, pe...

  At the conclusion of Charles Yu's novel "Interior Chinatown", the protagonist Willis Wu finally achieves something that had previously seemed impossible. He breaks free from the confining role of "Generic Asian Man" to claim his own identity. The novel's most significant resolved conflict is Willis's struggle to rise above the limiting roles assigned to Asian Americans in Hollywood and American society. Throughout the novel, Willis exists within a scripted world where the best he can hope for is to become "Kung Fu Guy." By the end, Willis rejects these predetermined roles, as seen when he tells his father, "I'm going to write us as the leads. I'm going to write us as human beings" (Yu 241). These words signify Willis's want to write his own story rather than accept the parts written for him by others. What makes this resolution compelling is that it doesn't erase complexity. Yu acknowledges that identity happens with...

 The line, “In a world of Black and White, everyone starts out as Generic Asian Man. Everyone who looks like you, anyway. Unless you’re a woman, in which case you start out as Pretty Asian Woman” (10), highlights the reductive stereotypes imposed on people based on race and gender. The phrase suggests that in a binary world, individuals of Asian descent are stereotypically defined by their appearance: men as “Generic Asian Man” and women as “Pretty Asian Woman.” This sets the stage for a deeper examination of how these labels affect identity and self-perception. In Acts II and III, the characters challenge these simplified identities. The "Generic Asian Man," initially seen as an indistinguishable figure, reveals a unique inner world filled with personal struggles, dreams, and aspirations. Meanwhile, women who are first reduced to their physical beauty show their strength and intelligence, defying the “Pretty Asian Woman” stereotype. Through these character developments, the ...

Act one of Interior Chinatown depicts the basic stereotypes of Asians through the expectations of men's and women's roles and appearance. There's a generic idea of what Asians should look like, and if you break it, you would be considered different, but in a negative sense, such as being a tall Asian, which is regarded as above 6 feet. In act one, there's the role of the ideal Asian that many look up to, the "Bruce Lee " of Asians, but often don't achieve and remain as the side character. Women are also expected to maintain an appearance that is appealing and gentle. In our society today, they are known for their "glass skin" and silky jet black hair, and therefore, the prettier they are, the more they are valued. Act II and III continue to expand on the roles Asian men are confined to. The script is already written for them. A rogue actor can get cut from the scene, and nobody would know. There isn't actual character development for the mino...

 The meaning of this passage line is that since America is so focused on the race between "black and white" there is no room for Asians and more specifically east Asians to be seen outside of their stereotype. This is shown is act two, where Asian men are quickly put into a stereotypical category. For example, "every since you were a boy, you've dreamt of being Kung Fu Guy" (Yu 45). Asian men are put into the category of the Kung Fu Guy due to the set role model of Bruce Lee. Lee's success taught Asians boys that to be valued by American society you have to be a Kung Fu movie star. This elaborates on the quote from the beginning of the book by showing what little variability Asian boys have to categorize themselves in. Another meaning of this quote would be that this world is ignorant and simple, so Asians are forced to stick to their stereotypical role. This is shown in act three where Asians are invisible in media. For example, an American show is "bl...

  This quote implies that Asian actors are subject to stereotypes that sets the pathway for their career, including their ceiling or best possible role they can receive. They must start as a certain role and follow the path that all Asians follow, which are all away from the spotlight. This leaves kids with unattainable dreams that are certain to be crushed and leaving actors feeling stuck about their career. In Act 2, a story is casted about two cops who are black and white and how the Asian character does not fit in the spotlight with the two races. Yu highlights one of the main stereotypes when he writes in this scene, GREEN (turns to you) You speak English well. GENERIC ASIAN MAN Thank you. TURNER Really well. It’s almost like you don’t have an accent (Yu 75). This quotation highlights that the actors cannot even act in their own voice. They have to manufacture an unauthentic accent in order to play the part. The Asian actor constantly has to fit into stereotypes such as these,...

 In Interior Chinatown, the author talks about the racial stereotypes that identify Asian Americans to strict stereotyped roles. He highlights how Asian identity is often put into generic roles in Hollywood and American society. This line suggests that Asian men are viewed as background figures with little individuality, while Asian women are primarily valued for their appearance. His entire world is structured like a television script where he, like other Asian actors, is assigned roles such as he says “Delivery Guy.”(Yu 5). He aspires to be Kung Fu Guy the Bruce Lee, the highest-ranking role available to someone like him. Unfortunately, this is just another stereotype. He emphasizes this lack of agency when Willis reflects, “Which equals, stretch the dollar that week, boil chicken bones twice a week for watery soup, make the bottom of the bag of rice last another dinner or three”(Yu 21). It shows the daily realities of living in poverty and the sacrifices that must be made to get...

     The lines on page 10, “In a world of Black and White, everyone starts out as Generic Asian Man. Everyone who looks like you, anyway. Unless you’re a woman, in which case you start out as Pretty Asian Woman,” highlight how gender influences the roles available to Asian actors. This idea is further illustrated in Acts II and III through terminology and the character of The Hostess. The distinction between "Generic Asian Man" and "Pretty Asian Woman" emphasizes how race and gender come together to shape the stereotypes imposed on Asian actors.       During Willis’s time as a special guest on Black and White , he and Turner get into an altercation. In an attempt to calm Turner down, Green says, “Just-be nice to the Asian Guy, okay?” (94). Willis overhears this comment and begins to think, “Two words define you, flatten you, trap you, and keep you here ... Your most salient feature, overshadowing any other feature about you, making irrelevant any ot...

Yu is referencing stereotypes that are applied to Asian American Actors in our society. Comparing it to a world of Black and white is suggesting that living as an Asian actor is one of absolutes, and if you are Asian, your stereotypes are simply applied to you whether you want them to be or not.  This is shown in Act II when Willis’s father is stereotyped as “old Asian man” and how it seems destined that this is the only role he will ever be cast for. Willis states that “You are so deep in the background [] your only action is to watch your father get talked to like that. It's his reaction that breaks something inside of you."(Yu, 72) This quote is powerful because it suggests a feeling of powerlessness as well as generational shame. Willis seems to be ashamed of himself and his father and his predicament- and I’d even go so far as to say he wishes he didn’t have to deal with being stereotyped for being an Asian in the acting field. To circle back to the initial quote, life as...

     From its opening lines, Interior Chinatown exposes how Asian identities are reduced to narrow, dehumanizing stereotypes. Charles Yu introduces a world where Asian men are confined to the background--"Generic Asian Man"--and Asian women are valued mainly for their appearance. Acts II and III highlight these constraints, showing the difficulty of escaping roles that are deeply ingrained not only in Hollywood but in society itself.     In  Act II, Willis Wu’s father, despite a lifetime of effort, remains stuck as “Old Asian Man.” His fate reflects a broader reality: no matter how hard Asian actors work, they are rarely cast as leads. "You are so deep in the background [] your only action is to watch your father get talked to like that. It's his reaction that breaks something inside of you." (Yu, 72) Willis internalizes this message--he learns his place is on the sidelines, silent and disposable. In Act III, Willis briefly climbs the hierarchy, upgraded ...

     This passage line exemplifies the stereotypes that many Asian actors fell into when they were starting out in Hollywood, and the ones that many would remain as. It describes how many Asian actors are forced to be put out of the spotlight in their roles and how they never can reach any true level of fame. They are limited within their potential to succeed and can never go past the pinnacle of “Kung Fu Guy” (Yu 3), and many view it as the highest marker. The story continues this question of what it means for Asians to succeed in Holl ywood, and how they are only able to get so far.   Acts two and three discuss the crippling reality of the Asian in Hollywood, which includes financial struggles and only being able to grasp at dreams of success. Everyone in the industry comes into it with big dreams, but eventually all get stuck continuing to work at a Chinese restaurant and being stuck saying “I’m full, you say, but in truth you want a little more and your mother...

     Charles Yu's Interior Chinatown has a strong focus on the racial and gender-based stereotypes that have been forced upon Asian Americans. Many people turn a blind eye to the racial discrimination of Asian Americans due to the belief that they face "good" stereotypes such as the model minority myth. Yu critiques this idea by illustrating how these "good" stereotypes lead to the simplification of Asian identities and all Asian Americans being viewed as a monolith rather than distinct individuals. In the text, Yu stated “In a world of Black and White, everyone starts out as Generic Asian Man.” Everyone who looks like you, anyway. Unless you’re a woman, in which case you start out as Pretty Asian Woman” (10). This quote is likely an illustration of Yu's negative views on Asian American stereotypes. In the quote, he uses terms like "black and white" and "generic," likely to emphasize the way that racial stereotypes categorize all Asian A...