Interior Chinatown

One of Willis’s fears is that his life will turn out exactly like his father’s. What parallel or repeating patterns occur in the lives of characters in Interior Chinatown, and how do these patterns highlight the significance of Willis’s decisions about his life near the end of the novel?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may tend to focus on just Willis’s story and how it compares and contrasts with his father’s. Consider encouraging them to see the broader patterns in the novel’s depictions of characters. You might ask students to think about characters like Older Brother, Old Mr. Fong, Karen, and Dorothy. Students may also want to think about things like the inclusive language used to discuss the trajectories of both Asian men and Asian women in this text. The final section of the prompt question is likely to be where students struggle most. It is easy to say that Willis clearly wants to break free of the generational cycles he sees playing out around him, but it is more difficult to ascribe a meaning to this. You might prompt students to think about what Older Brother and Karen have in common since these characters have already paved a path for Willis to follow, and you might ask students why Phoebe’s character is so important to Willis’s thinking about his future.