The Unrealizable American Dream: On Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown

Abstract

The article analyzes the history of the concept of the “American Dream” in Chinese American literature, and particularly in the work of the Chinese American writer Charles Yu. In his novel Interior Chinatown, he examines the stereotypical perception of Chinese Americans in the eyes of white Americans and highlights the problems that Asian Americans have to deal with, e.g. national identity or discrimination. The novel shows how difficult the process of achieving the American dream is for Asian Americans and how difficult it is for them to find the answer to the question “Who am I,” which is closely connected with the realization of their “American Dream.”