Previous
Karen Lee
Phoebe is Willis and Karen’s daughter. She lives with Karen in the suburbs and is the star of a children’s TV show that follows a little Chinese girl named Mei Mei (little sister) on her adventures in America. Willis and Phoebe divorced not long after Phoebe was born, and Willis doesn’t get to know her until he leaves Chinatown and his role on Black and White to stay with Phoebe and Karen in Phoebe Land, where Phoebe’s show is set. In Phoebe Land, an idealized, imaginary world of Phoebe’s making, Phoebe can move freely between Asian and American cultures, something Willis could never fully do. He admires her ability to be herself without falling into the stereotypical roles that society has carved out for her. Phoebe forgives Willis for not being the best dad, claiming that he tried his best. Ultimately, Willis learns that the most important role he’s played in life isn’t Kung Fu Guy—it’s Phoebe’s Dad.
Phoebe Quotes in Interior Chinatown
The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Phoebe or refer to Phoebe . 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 5: Kung Fu Dad
Quotes
You survey the room: drawings, hair ties, notes to herself. Seemingly every species of stuffed animal or creature, real or imagined, lined up like a royal court along the walls on the floors. Her friends, her audience. Her off-screen voices. She seems both more resourceful and yet more childlike at the same time—how she’s invented a world, stylized, so that its roles and scenery, its characters and rules, its truths and dangers, all fit within one room. How small it is, and overstuffed, and ready for expansion. How bright it is, how messy. This whole place, the objects in it, all from her.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The words coming out of your mouth, you can feel it happening, how you’re softening, changing into a different person. You were a bit player in the world of Black and White, but here and now, in her world, you’re more. Not the star of the show, something better. The star’s dad. Somehow you were lucky enough to end up in her story.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
PHOEBE Can you tell me a story?
KUNG FU DAD I don’t know how. No one’s ever asked me to.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
KAREN You wanted them to find you.
KUNG FU DAD I wanted them to find us.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 7: Ext. Chinatown
Quotes
Maybe, if you’re lucky, she’ll teach you. If she can move freely between worlds, why can’t you?
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Interior Chinatown LitChart as a printable PDF.
Phoebe Quotes in Interior Chinatown
The Interior Chinatown quotes below are all either spoken by Phoebe or refer to Phoebe . 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 5: Kung Fu Dad
Quotes
You survey the room: drawings, hair ties, notes to herself. Seemingly every species of stuffed animal or creature, real or imagined, lined up like a royal court along the walls on the floors. Her friends, her audience. Her off-screen voices. She seems both more resourceful and yet more childlike at the same time—how she’s invented a world, stylized, so that its roles and scenery, its characters and rules, its truths and dangers, all fit within one room. How small it is, and overstuffed, and ready for expansion. How bright it is, how messy. This whole place, the objects in it, all from her.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The words coming out of your mouth, you can feel it happening, how you’re softening, changing into a different person. You were a bit player in the world of Black and White, but here and now, in her world, you’re more. Not the star of the show, something better. The star’s dad. Somehow you were lucky enough to end up in her story.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
PHOEBE Can you tell me a story?
KUNG FU DAD I don’t know how. No one’s ever asked me to.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
KAREN You wanted them to find you.
KUNG FU DAD I wanted them to find us.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 7: Ext. Chinatown
Quotes
Maybe, if you’re lucky, she’ll teach you. If she can move freely between worlds, why can’t you?
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
