Tripmaster Monkey

The passage I am examining comes from chapter 9, "One-Man Show" on page 308. The performance of Wittman's play has just ended and he is now addressing the audience alone on stage. Wittman reads some reviews of the show that call it 'exotic' and 'east meets west'. Wittman takes offense to the reviews saying, "There is no East here. West is meeting West. This was all West" (Kingston, 308). Wittman is likening his own identity to that of the play, and knows that people see him just as they see his play, East meeting West. We know, however, that Wittman, like his play, is all West. He was born, raised and educated in the West.

Wittman cannot escape the perception people have of him. Througout the novel, Wittman wrestles with his identity, as it is brought up in different situations. Early in the novel Wittman is at an event for Mattel, in which he thinks to himself, "Wherever I go, I do the integrating." (Kingston, 57). Later in the novel, Wittman is thinking about a Kerouac poem and realizes, "Shit. The 'twinkling little Chinese' must be none other than himself" (Kingston, 69). In both instances, Wittman is alienated. He is alone at the party and in the eyes of a writer he respects, he is merely a "twinling little Chinese". The passage on 308 is the culmination of Wittman's frustration with the way he is perceived as East, or different and exotic.