Previous
Sifu/Ming-Chen Wu/Old Asian Man
Dorothy is Willis’s mother and Sifu’s wife. She immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan when she was a young woman and now lives in a room above the Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant. In her old age, she’s stuck playing the one-dimensional role of Old Asian Woman on Black and White. Like her husband, Sifu, Dorothy’s life in the U.S. contrasts sharply with the dreams she once had for her future there. Though she once dreamed of becoming famous and getting rich off real estate, she could only find work playing one-dimensional, stereotypical roles like “Pretty Oriental Flower” and “Girl with the Almond Eyes.” When Willis was young, Dorothy saw how fiercely he longed to become Kung Fu Guy and urged him to “Be more.”
Dorothy/Old Asian Woman Quotes in Interior Chinatown
The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Dorothy/Old Asian Woman or refer to Dorothy/Old Asian Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2: Int. Golden Palace
Quotes
Be more.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4: Striving Immigrant
Quotes
When she was dead, she got to be your mother.
Your mother weeps, and dies. Weeps and dies. Weeps and doesn’t die. Just weeps. Because now, your father is no longer a person, no longer a human. Just some mystical Eastern force, some Wizened Chinaman. Her husband is gone, Wu is gone, even Young Asian Man is gone. They took him away from her. He is lost now, in his work, in who they made him. Distant. Cold, perfectionist. Inscrutable. No descriptors, anymore, no age or build, just a role, a name, a shell where he used to be. His features taken away and replaced by archetypes, even his face hollowing out.
This is how he became Sifu. This is how she lost her husband. How you lost your dad.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Interior Chinatown LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dorothy/Old Asian Woman Quotes in Interior Chinatown
The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Dorothy/Old Asian Woman or refer to Dorothy/Old Asian Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2: Int. Golden Palace
Quotes
Be more.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4: Striving Immigrant
Quotes
When she was dead, she got to be your mother.
Your mother weeps, and dies. Weeps and dies. Weeps and doesn’t die. Just weeps. Because now, your father is no longer a person, no longer a human. Just some mystical Eastern force, some Wizened Chinaman. Her husband is gone, Wu is gone, even Young Asian Man is gone. They took him away from her. He is lost now, in his work, in who they made him. Distant. Cold, perfectionist. Inscrutable. No descriptors, anymore, no age or build, just a role, a name, a shell where he used to be. His features taken away and replaced by archetypes, even his face hollowing out.
This is how he became Sifu. This is how she lost her husband. How you lost your dad.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
