The short play "Trying to find Chinatown" is about an encounter between a Caucasian male named Benjamin who considers himself a Chinese-American and an Asian male on the street musician, Ronnie. The show is set in New York's Lower East Side. Benjamin believes he is Chinese-American because he was adopted by a Chinese family at a young age which influenced their cultural roots in him. Ronnie, on the other hand, is Asian but knows very little about Asian cultural roots and considers himself Asian only from a genetic point of view. As Benjamin goes on his journey to discover his Asian roots, he asks Ronnie for directions to the address of Benjamin's father's old house in Chinatown. Ronnie is immediately offended that just because he's Asian he knows the directions to somewhere in Chinatown. For Ronnie this is considered a racial insult. While Benjamin believes that Ronnie should respect and embrace the culture of his ancestors. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In David Henry Hwangs' play "Trying to find Chinatown," Benjamin's diction reveals a strong-willed character in a way that he does not allow the opinions of others to change his mind about what he truly believes is the its cultural identity. Typically, we assume a given individual's race by the way they appear, such as skin color, hair type, eye color, etc. As Ronnie states "If genes don't determine race, what does?". Ronnie's perspective on race is about the genetic genes a person inherits from their parents. In Benjamin's eyes, this is seen as the stereotypical view of race. Even though Benjamin is a white male, he considers himself Chinese-American and believes this does not come from genetics. The reader can see this when Benjamin responds to Ronnie "Well, you can't judge my race just by my genetic heritage." Benjamin says this because his skin color may be white but deep down he feels that his Asian identity has a stronger effect on the person he truly is. Benjamin's strong reaction is satisfying because your appearance alone does not determine how you present yourself. When Benjamin states “So what are you? “Just a human being”? It's like saying you have no identity." When Benjamin makes this statement, he implies that everyone acts in a certain way that defines themselves. In this case, Benjamin uses his Asian traditions to form his identity through which people can recognize him, it is what differentiates him from the simple human being. Even when Benjamin was in school, the audience can see it because even though he is Caucasian the kids called him “Gook! Ciccio! Almond eyes!”. This shows how your race is interpreted by the way you behave or present yourself, but not always by the genes you get. Even in the situation Ronnie finds himself in throughout the show, he states that his race doesn't matter. This may be true, but after all his identity is determined by his interest in music. Referring to Benjamin's quote at the beginning of the paragraph, it is emphasized that every human being has a personality that forms your identity and makes you who you are. Does our ethnicity come from where we grow up, like that of our community? Often, the race of our community reflects how we define our ethics. When Ronnie states "I don't know what community you're talking about, but it's definitely not mine." Ronnie is expressing to Benjamin that community is not an aspect that could shape your ethnicity. While Benjamin feels very touched by the community, as when he states.