The Chickencoop Chinaman: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Chickencoop Chinaman" is a play that explores the complexities of identity and cultural heritage through its major characters. The protagonist, Tam Lum, is a Chinese American writer who grapples with his disconnection from both his Chinese roots and mainstream American culture. His journey to Pittsburgh to interview Charley Popcorn, a former boxing trainer, serves as a catalyst for his quest for artistic identity and self-acceptance. Kenji, a Japanese American dentist, contrasts with Tam Lum by moving toward assimilation, having also rejected his cultural heritage in their youth.
Lee, a Eurasian woman and Kenji's guest, embodies the tension between different cultures and her hostility toward men, particularly Chinese men, creates a central conflict in the narrative. Tom, Lee's ex-husband, represents the assimilationist mindset, having fully embraced white culture at the expense of his own identity, furthering the play's exploration of cultural pressures. Robbie, Lee's son, is depicted as impressionable, seeking father figures while reflecting the biases of adult society. The play's background characters, such as the Lone Ranger and Charley Popcorn, symbolize the varied influences and disappointments Tam Lum faces in defining his identity and understanding his heritage. Overall, the characters in "The Chickencoop Chinaman" engage with themes of cultural conflict, identity, and the search for belonging, making the play a poignant reflection on the immigrant experience in America.
The Chickencoop Chinaman: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Frank Chin
First published: 1981, with The Year of the Dragon
Genre: Play
Locale: the Oakland district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Plot: Comedy
Time: The late 1960's
Tam Lum, a Chinese American writer and filmmaker. Tam Lum is a young writer cast loose from his Chinese heritage, displaced from mainstream American culture, and obsessed with creating a unified artistic identity and discovering an appropriate voice and language in which to tell his stories. He is puzzled, cross, mocking, frustrated, isolated, and essentially passive, with a touch of the poet and a gift for telling a story. In the play's major action, Tam Lum journeys to Pittsburgh to interview Charley Popcorn for a documentary film on the life and career of Ovaltine Jack Dancer, a black fighter who had been the childhood hero of Tam Lum and Kenji.
Kenji, sometimes called Blackjap Kenji, a Japanese American research dentist who has been Tam Lum's friend since childhood. In his youth, Kenji rejected his cultural and racial heritage, just as did Tam Lum. Together, they found heroes and role models in black men, such as Ovaltine Jack Dancer, and in media heroes, such as the Lone Ranger. Tam Lum stays at Kenji's house in Pittsburgh and renews their friendship while in the city to interview Charley Popcorn. In contrast to Tam Lum, Kenji moves toward assimilation during the play. At the end, Lee will stay with Kenji, as his wife or lover, and Robbie, Lee's son, will have the father he seeks.
Lee, an attractive Eurasian or Chinese American woman whom Kenji has invited to stay in his apartment. Lee is hostile toward men, especially Chinese men. She represents the lack of sympathy in the white, black, and Oriental worlds for any person who attempts to create a new self by amalgamating elements of all three cultures. Lee's hostility toward Tam Lum provides the major conflict of act 1. During the play, Lee begins to understand Tam Lum and to appreciate the form his rebellion takes.
Tom, Lee's former husband, a Chinese American writer. Tom is a neat, tidy, completely assimilated Chinese American, a man who has denied his Chinese heritage and past to be acceptable to the majority white culture. Tom is the opposite of Tam Lum in many ways. Tom has attempted to blend with the white culture, whereas Tam Lum has resisted assimilation. He represents a white culture that demands too high a price for success: the repudiation of the writer's Chinese heritage. A major scene in act 2 consists of an argument between Tam Lum and Tom over what it means to be Chinese.
Robbie, Lee's twelve-year-old son. Like Tam Lum and Kenji, Robbie is looking for a strong father figure. He represents impressionable youth, which repeats the prejudices of the adult world but neither fully understands nor believes them.
Charley Popcorn, an old black man. Charley is a former boxing trainer who runs a pornographic cinema in Pittsburgh. Tam Lum believes that he is the father of Ovaltine Jack Dancer, but Charley denies it. Tam Lum's major disappointment in the play is his failure to find the father of his childhood hero, who represents to him the ideal father. Charley Popcorn is the object of Tam Lum's quest to Pittsburgh to meet the ideal father.
The Lone Ranger, Tonto, and Hong Kong Dream Girl,all fantasy/dream characters who represent Tam Lum's rejection of his Chinese as well as his American heritage.