East Goes West

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

of the story. Before the final scene, Kang's wit serves the purpose of elevating the Asian Han in the eyes of his audience, but ultimately, it has a more serious, lingering effect. Ironically, it reveals the life of this character to be tragic, hopeless, and not at all amusing. The final line, delivered by Han's mistress, dismisses him from his post, for she requested "a house servant, not a comedian" (2001). Kang thus suggests here that regardless of the amount of effort Han puts into his work and no matter how honest his intentions, he will never be taken seriously nor given a chance to assimilate and improve upon his mistakes. Although he was expected "to work from morning to night" and "had never had to work so hard in his life with no time to himself," his intentions were never regarded as anything but lazy and laughter provoking. Upon learning that he is to be fired, he offers one final, wholehearted attempt to please an unsatisfiable woman: "But hoping still to make good, I ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE: