Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book: Analysis of Major Characters
"Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book" is a novel that centers around Wittman Ah Sing, a Chinese American poet and playwright who embodies the spirit of a trickster. Recently graduated from UC Berkeley, Wittman grapples with the challenges of unemployment and the desire to stage a grand theatrical production that intertwines elements from two classic Chinese epics: "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West." Throughout the narrative, Wittman engages with themes of identity, ethnicity, and societal norms, often through humor and a playful manipulation of language.
Key characters in the story include Tana Chloe De Weese, Wittman's love interest who aspires to be a painter, and Lance Kamiyama, his conformist friend who contrasts sharply with Wittman's rebellious nature. Wittman's family members, including his vibrant mother Ruby and unconventional father Zeppelin, add depth to his exploration of heritage and cultural expectations. Additionally, the character PoPo, a grandmotherly figure to Wittman, serves as a reminder of familial bonds and community ties. Overall, the novel combines personal and collective histories, offering a unique perspective on the Asian American experience while celebrating the artistry of storytelling.
Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Maxine Hong Kingston
First published: 1989
Genre: Novel
Locale: San Francisco, California
Plot: Magical realism
Time: the 1960's
Wittman Ah Sing, a presumptive Chinese American poet and playwright, a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Wittman is a tall, skinny, long-haired, black-clad, manic storyteller with a beatnik penchant for attacking establishment values in favor of experimenting with personal visionary states sometimes augmented by drugs and music. After being fired from his job as a toy department clerk in a large retail store, throughout most of the novel Wittman is devoted to a double quest: acquiring unemployment compensation and putting on a marathon play incorporating characters from two Chinese classics, the war epic The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by fourteenth century author Lo Kuan-chung and the equally monumental narrative Journey to the West by sixteenth century writer Wu Ch'eng-en. In the second of those works, a Buddhist priest named Hsuan-tsang and his supernatural companion Monkey, the most famous comic figure in Chinese literature, survive a number of fantastic adventures on their travels from China to India. Similarly, Wittman's large-scale stage production as well as his entire narrative take on, through the power of his imagination and the magic of his wordplay, aspects of the real and the fanciful. Like the legendary Monkey, Wittman is a trickster who, through the agencies of roleplaying and verbal dexterity, transcends social rules and restrictions to tap into what psychologist Carl Jung referred to as the collective unconscious. In this case, Wittman examines ethnic stereotypes and, in so doing, redefines for himself and his audience—like his namesake, the nineteenth century American poet Walt Whitman—the nature of both individual and group identity.
Tana Chloe De Weese, an assistant claims adjuster who wants to be a painter. Wittman is attracted to her golden blond beauty. After one night of lovemaking, they are “married” by a draft dodger named Gabe, who carries a card proclaiming himself to be a minister in the Universal Life Church. Tana subsequently is introduced to Wittman's parents, and the young couple decide to live together, although each tells the other that theirs is not a true, romantic love. Tana informs Wittman that she wants him to be the “wife” and do the housework.
Lance Kamiyama, a Japanese American government worker and Wittman's erstwhile best friend. As a career-conscious conformist, Lance is a foil to Wittman. Hosting parties for other ambitious young Asian Americans, whom he calls “Young Millionaires,” Lance lives in an impressive Victorian house with his blond wife, Sunny. He tends to underplay the consequences of his ethnicity, having blocked out memories of his childhood in a relocation camp during World War II.
Ruby Ah Sing, sometimes called Ruby Long Legs, Wittman's mother. Ruby, a retired vaudeville song-and-dance performer, spends more time with her female friends than with her eccentric husband. Skeptical of the value of Wittman's college education, Ruby calls him moong cha cha, or spacy.
Zeppelin Ah Sing, Wittman's father, a former huckster of cure-all potions and sidewalk organ grinder whose exotic appearance often makes others think that he is not Chinese but of Italian, Mexican, or gypsy descent. When Wittman was a child, Zeppelin often dressed him as a monkey to collect money from passersby. Now, in retirement, he spends his time with his male cronies at a makeshift fishing camp near the Sacramento River.
PoPo, an elderly theater wardrobe mistress. Wittman thinks of her as his grandmother despite the fact that she is not related to the family by blood. On the pretense of picnicking in the high Sierras, PoPo is abandoned by Ruby and Zeppelin, who have come to see her as a financial burden, but she somehow manages to hitch a ride from a wealthy property owner named Lincoln Fong, who marries her in Reno and bankrolls the production of Wittman's play.