664 Kingston, Maxine Hong
are unbearable. Unlike most of his fellow Asian-
American classmates, Wittman graduated from
college with a degree in liberal arts. If anything, this
education has taught him to question everything
about capitalism, and the only thing he can think
is “[w]hich way out? Which way out?” Blaming
his “malcontentedness” on his education, Wittman
knows this world offers him no creative outlet, but
rather more of the same for the rest of his life. Hav-
ing failed managerial training, there isn’t even any
hope for a promotion, which would at least change
his job duties. Wittman tries to make the best of his
situation. Believing he can at least educate custom-
ers, he lectures a grandmother about the evil of toy
guns. In the end, the woman is extremely irritated
and still buys the gun.
Accompanying his manager, Louise, to a toy
convention, Wittman views commercialism’s point-
lessness firsthand. The first half of the convention
is wasted with idle chitchat and eating; as far as
Wittman can tell, nothing productive occurs. The
conference also is solely about upcoming releases in
the Mattel toy line. The second half of the conven-
tion is full of self-important business people spout-
ing statistics and reading from pie charts. All these
charts offer nothing, for they are purely guesses as to
who will buy what and how much. Furthermore, the
conference is not even promoting a necessary prod-
uct, but rather something that is purely for children’s
entertainment. While he tries to pay attention to
the speakers at first, Wittman soon finds that “his
mind died . . . [and] the next thing he knew, he was
aware of not having listened for some time.” Trying
to inject some meaning into the trivial proceedings,
he asks the speakers if Mattel donated anything
to the needy. His question is ignored, and instead
another business person leads the crowd in chanting
the Mattel slogan.
Wittman is depressed when he is fired after
returning to the store. Placing Barbie Bride in a
sexual position, he winds up a toy monkey and
places it on top, horrifying the mothers. He is not
so miserable over the loss of the job itself but of the
income, especially since most of his friends have
successfully navigated the corporate world. Wittman
cannot even escape this world through his social life.
Attending his friend Lance’s party later that night,
Wittman realizes the theme itself is business, with
most partygoers wearing suits. While Lance expects
Wittman to network and easily come away from
the party with a new job, Wittman has absolutely
no desire to do so. In fact, he realizes that “he didn’t
want to do business whatsoever. There has got to be
a way to live and never do business.” He is delighted
when he learns that he can apply for and subsist on
unemployment. Suddenly, his dream of writing and
producing his own play seems attainable, and he
actually finds that he respects himself more for not
crawling back to the capitalistic “monster” that has
consumed all his friends.
Throughout Tripmaster Monkey, the artistic and
creative is celebrated, particularly for the way it can
challenge thoughts and ideas. The commercial, on
the other hand, is critiqued for offering little of value
to the world, other than a steady paycheck. Knowing
he must find a job to support Taña and himself, his
derision for the corporate world still shows at the
end. As he tells his audience, when asked during
job interviews why he wants to join a corporation,
he thinks, “ ‘[t]hey don’t understand, I don’t want
to. I have to.’ ” Understanding that he must join the
corporate ranks to survive, he also uses this as moti-
vation for creative works, works through which he
knows he can ultimately escape.
Lisa Wengeridentity in Tripmaster Monkey
Wittman Ah Sing is secure in and proud of his
identity, a fifth-generation Chinese American. The
problem lies in the way whites view him and other
Asian Americans. Whites automatically assume all
Asian Americans are “F.O.B.s” The acronym, for
Fresh off the Boat, is a slang term often applied
to newly arrived Asian immigrants, indicating that
they have not assimilated into American culture. In
this way, the whites differentiate between what it
means to be American and Asian, while completely
overlooking the Asian-American identity. Wittman
knows there is nothing “Eastern” about him or other
Asian Americans, yet they must continually rein-
force and defend their identities.
Continually lumped in with new Asian immi-
grants, Wittman’s frustration grows, for he is
so far removed from that culture. As he relates,