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As a boy, James Lee is keenly aware of the way his Chinese heritage isolated and differentiated him from others. Intelligent and sensitive, he is able to attend a prestigious private school because his parents work there, and he later attends Harvard University. He doesn’t feel as though he belongs in either place, even though he excels academically. He is quickly taught by his teachers and peers that the fact that he looks different should be a source of shame, and he is the victim of racist slurs. In choosing quintessential American themes for his graduate work, abandoning Chinese traditions and foods, and marrying a white woman, James consistently works to diminish the outward appearance of his ethnicity and the negative attention it brings.
These efforts are only partially successful, however. James is not chosen for an expected teaching position at Harvard and ends up taking a much less prestigious job at a small college in Ohio. Quiet disappointment is James’s defining trait, and it contributes to the prevailing silence that characterizes the seemingly happy family. His grief at Lydia’s death is profound but, unlike Marilyn, he does not challenge the police or their conclusions. Instead, he retreats into a brief sexual relationship with a Chinese-American graduate student, a liaison where he is able to finally fit in. In deciding to end the affair, however, James reveals a commitment to his family that indicates future changes to his character.
