Unnamed Chinese Laundryman

Character Key Number: 
3298
Display Name: 
Unnamed Chinese Laundryman
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Chinese Laundryman
Ever Present in Yoknapatawpha?: 
Yes
Biography: 

This "Chinese laundryman" mentioned in The Town is the only Asian character who appears in Yoknapatawpha. Charles Mallison explains why, although he is not white, this man is in a category that is distinct from the one that the other non-white - i.e. Negro - inhabitants of Yoknapatawpha belong to: "And although the Chinese was definitely a colored man even if not a Negro, he was only he, single peculiar and barren; not just kinless but even kindless, half the world or anyway half the continent . . . sundered from his like and therefore as threatless as a mule" (321).

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