Roles

Throughout the novel, the author uses Willis Wu's struggle to understand himself to explore the ways in which cultural expectations shape the individual's societal roles. As a young man, Willis becomes obsessed with becoming Kung Fu Guy: what he perceives to be the ultimate version of self, both in the acting and the real world. As the son of Taiwanese immigrants, Willis feels that, like all of his Asian peers, he has grown up "training for this and only this. All the scrawny yellow boys up and down the block dreaming the same dream" (12). This dream, however, is not inspired by Willis's personal longings, but by American cultural prescriptions for who he is allowed to be. While acting in the Black and White production, Willis feels especially desperate to climb the ladder to success. Yet he also knows that his presence as an Asian man in...