Language barriers, cultural barriers, social barriers…the epitome of immigration much? As foreigners in another country, immigrants facing these issues have had to do much to overcome them.  Others have just sat quietly trying to stay unnoticed, and dealt with the difficulties.  I think what’s special, and what I enjoyed, about the plays Yellow Face and A View from the Bridge was the immigrant groups’ determination to overcome the barriers they faced.  I’ve always been one to stand up for my beliefs, which is probably why I was able to relate with the actions these people took.

The Chinese immigrants in Yellow Face and the Italians in A View from the Bridge faced issues of racism and legality/citizenship, respectively, which created varying conflicts in their stories.  Nonetheless, their feelings of inferiority to “American” citizens are clearly elucidated in the texts of the plays.  The Chinese acting unions felt strong racism against their ethnicity in the theater world, which created a bigger, public issue in the world of theater.  Beatrice’s cousins, in contrast, felt oppressed on a more personal level, by Eddie in particular.  This, to me, raises the question of whether oppression on a personal or general level is worse.  While one who is being oppressed on the personal level great public pressure, as those oppressed generally would, he does not have a support group as do those who are oppressed in groups.  The Chinese immigrants in the play had each other to count on in their cause, and to share their feelings with, while Marco and Rodolpho did not.  Moreover, they could not seek support from anyone really (perhaps Catherine, in Rodolpho’s case anyways) because they could not make themselves known in society, for fear of deportation.  Unfortunately, they as well have, because they were ultimately deported, but how could they have known that?

In writing their plays, Miller and Hwang targeted different issues in the immigrant experience: Miller’s play is more focused on the issue of citizenship for immigrants, as Intrigulus did.  I thought it was interesting to read about day-to-day immigrant life, in contrast with hearing about it after-the-matter, as in Intringulus.  Contrastinagly, Hwang’s was a greater focus on ethnic groups and racism, although this play, similar to Miller’s was also happening “in the moment.”  The two plays though, express the feelings of disappointment with immigrant life, since characters in both plays were left without the supposed “glorious” feeling of America.  What I’m referring to is Hwang’s father’s lines at the end of the play of how his actual American experience did not live up to what he had dreamed.  Likewise, Marco’s disappointment in the end of the play expresses many immigrants’ disappointment, obviously, especially those facing deportation. Reading Rodolpho’s lines too, even though he was not deported, display the not-so-glamorous American life.  These emotions would probably have been expressed even more effectively if we had been watching the play instead of reading them, as the actors’ body language and expressions would give off feelings to the audience even more than text could.

I’m glad we had this opportunity to explore themes of immigration in this unit because they are integral to New York City life.  While many of you are “friends” with Jesse Eisenberg, Nicki and I are friends, without quotation marks.

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