Eat a Bowl of Tea

Explore the role of gossip within the Chinatown community. How does it impact the characters’ lives and relationships?

How does Ben Loy’s impotence affect his sense of masculinity and his identity as a husband?

Examine the importance of public spaces such as the Money Come club, the barbershop, and the Wang Association headquarters. How do these spaces serve the community?

Discuss Mei Oi’s relationship with Ah Song. Although their first encounter ends in rape, she later says that he shows her a tenderness lacking with Ben Loy. How does the novel address this contradiction?

Explore the use of profanity in the novel. How do phrases like “wow your mother” and “dead boy” reflect the demographics of Chinatown in the mid-20th century?

How does Mei Oi assert her agency within the constraints of her cultural and marital expectations? What does her journey reveal about the position of women in male-dominated societies?

Examine the depiction of California in the final section of the novel. Compare and contrast the novel’s depictions of San Francisco and New York City.

Analyze the relationships between father and child at the heart of the novel. How do Wah Gay and Lee Gong support or disappoint their children? How do Ben Loy and Mei Oi support or disappoint their parents?