Reading Response 4 – Jan Carlo Avendano

Kindness Can Be Found in the Most Unlikely Places

When I think of exploring the identity of oneself, I usually don’t think about using derogatory terms to explore identity in a comedic way. However, Lauren Yee’s Ching Chong Chinaman does exactly this, where a Chinese American family grapples with their individual identities, specifically their cultural identity. Known as the Wong family, a couple with two children embodies a near typical American family, like how the father, Ed, is obsessed with playing golf, while the daughter, Desdemona, dreams of getting into Princton University, doing nearly anything to get in. Each family member has their cultural identity explored in some way, the catalyst for this exploration being Jinqiang, a Chinese man that Upton, the son in the family, brought to America in order to do his chores and homework while he plays videogames. It is worth noting that the derogatory terms start with Jinqiang, since the family confuse him for Upton, and pay no effort to say his name correctly, calling him “Ching Chong” out of their American ignorance. The most interesting family member that was explored to me was Upton, who has dreams of becoming a champion in the world of gaming. While he seems just like the rest of his family members, driven deep into their own endeavors, it’s later revealed there is much more he cares about then his drive to become the champion of a World of Warcraft international arena tournament. His character is one that subverted my expectations, since I originally thought would be a far more selfish character. However, he ends up being a character with some of the most impactful moments throughout the few moments that he had.

Interestingly, Upton’s full name is Upton Sinclair Lewis Wong, clearly named after an American writer of the same name. Throughout Ching Chong Chinaman, he introduces essays that he has written regarding his plan to become the World of Warcraft champion. One essay in particular delves into his inspiration for the idea of bringing Jinqiang to America, where he points out Charles Crocker and how he hired foreign Chinese workers to work on building the transcontinental railroad, “They complete my homework, my chores, and my familial obligations. Like Crocker, I am able to achieve my goals painlessly, and they recieve opportunites far beyond what they could get in their home countries” (Yee 24). This whole introduction to Upton made him out to be selfish and self-centered, only caring about his own endeavors and what he wants. In addition to this, the selfishness of other characters like his sister Desdemona only amplifies the idea that this family genuinely does not care much for others, exemplified by the actions of the family as a whole towards Jinqiang, since they simply accept Upton’s excuses for bringing Jinqiang and also ignoring their racism towards him. The development of Upton only seems to lead further down this road, since later on he ends up fantasizing about an asian schoolgirl obsessing over him and his interest in gaming. He ignores his family completely in these moments, although when his family does say things like “You know we’re kicking you out of the house once you hit eighteen,” and “I just don’t think Koreans would find you attractive and an American unless you were white,” it’s understable why he may be ignoring them (Yee 46). It begins to paint a clear picture of what is actually going on with Upton, since his family only seem to encourage his behaviour by attempting to stifle his ambitions to compete. However, who Upton truly is begins to be revealed later on in the story when the family decide to go on a trip to Mexico, while he goes to the tournament in South Korea to compete.

Once Upton gets to Korea, I expected his mind to be completely taken by the drive to win at the tournament. Instead, I found that Upton was one of the only people trying to talk to his family members, who now shut him out. He frequently calls his family members, wanting to tell Desdemona about how she made it into Princeton, only to get disconnected by Desdemona as she celebrates without even hearing everything Upton has to say (Yee 67). Later on, Upton also tries to talk to his mom about the championship, but she doesn’t answer. She barely even listens to the voicemails he left before skipping through them (Yee 71-72). He really does seem to care for his family at the end of the day, and Ed makes clear why Upton has beent he way he has, “He knows what he wants in life and he doesn’t need me there to hold his hand. (Lights up on Upton, eating a Korean snack. Or several snacks. He waits for his cell phone to ring)” (Yee 74). Throughout the story, Upton was really misunderstood rather than a selfish, self-centered person. Even at the beginning of the story, he tries to correct his father on the pronounciation of Jinqiang name, and when that failed, he still wanted to respect him as simply “J”. While essentially putting Jinqiang into “indentured servitude”, he also actually does find his opportunity, as he is actually a dancer who finds his shot at tap dancing in America. While Upton may have ignored his family as they criticized him for playing World of Warcraft all day, he may have actually just wanted attention for his passions and interests, which is why he fantasizes about the asian schoolgirl. Once all his hard work finally ends up paying off at the tournament, he returns to his family in a sense, desperately wanting to hear from them, only to recieve barely any response. He even wants to congratulate his sister on making it to Princeton, merely mentioning his impressive tournament victory as a simple win before moving on to praise her and her hard work. In short, with each and every moment in the story, Upton’s character begins to shine because he begins to outdo the viewers expectations of him, and this makes the viewers think further about Upton’s actual motivations and what he really seems to care about.

Works Cited

Yee, Lauren. Ching Chong Chinaman. Samuel French, 2011.