Interior Chinatown

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Interior Chinatown makes it clear that despite the aspirational nature of becoming Kung Fu Guy, the role comes with significant drawbacks.

• What does it mean to be Kung Fu Guy? (topic sentence)
• Give at least two examples from different sections of the text to support each aspect of Kung Fu Guy that you identify in your topic sentence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, show how the text uses Kung Fu Guy to convey ideas about Elusive National Identity, A Typecast Life, and The Need for Self-Definition.

2. Willis’s daughter, Phoebe, is in some respects very different from Willis himself.

• What hope for the future is conveyed through the characterization of Phoebe? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples of the characterization of Phoebe, explaining clearly how each example supports the idea that she represents hope.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, connect the characterization of Phoebe with the novel’s larger thematic interest in Elusive National Identity and The Need for Self-Definition.

3. The title Interior Chinatown has more than one level of meaning.

• In what sense does the title also refer to Willis’s central conflict? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples that support your interpretation of this alternate meaning of the title.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, connect your interpretation of the title to the novel’s larger thematic interest in A Typecast Life and The Need for Self-Definition.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Why has Yu formatted this novel as a screenplay? Consider how this format inherently comments on the artificiality of stereotypes, the patterns and confinements of the “roles” we play in life, and the idea of people as “performers” in their own lives. Also think about the extra layer of distance that a screenplay format creates between the reader and the characters: How might this ironic distance serve Yu’s purposes? In what sense does Yu manage to take advantage of the features of both novel and screenplay by creating this hybrid format? Write an essay in which you analyze how this hybrid format serves Yu’s purposes. Connect your analysis to the novel’s thematic interest in A Typecast Life and The Need for Self-Definition. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. Why does Yu use the second-person point of view in this novel? Is his goal to address the reader directly, to put the reader in Willis’s shoes, or to indicate some degree of alienation Willis has from himself—or is it a combination of these things? How does this choice impact the reader? What would change in the reader’s experience if this novel were written in the first or third person? Write an essay in which you analyze the impact of and purposes behind Yu’s use of the second person. Connect your analysis to the novel’s thematic interest in A Typecast Life and The Need for Self-Definition. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Why has Yu chosen to construct a nonlinear narrative? Where does the novel break with traditional, chronological structure? How does the juxtaposition of the scenes that flash backward or forward in time comment on what is happening in the “present” time narrative? How do the flashback scenes provide exposition that helps the reader understand the novel’s conflict and characterization? How do the flash-forwards create suspense or tension? Write an essay that analyzes the impacts of nonlinear narrative in Interior Chinatown. Connect your analysis to one or more of the novel’s thematic concerns: Elusive National Identity, A Typecast Life, and The Need for Self-Definition. Support your analysis with evidence drawn from throughout the text, making sure to cite any quoted material.