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Abstract This thesis negotiates and reconstructs the image of the Asian- Americans, specifically Chinese and Japanese races, which is fixed in Western mindset. These races are often viewed as the threatening, undesirable, and yellow-skinned cunning people. The thesis, also, highlights not only how these negative stereotyped images are fundamentally based on Western assumptions and flimsy ideas, but also it attempts to reveal their untruthfulness and deceptiveness. In an attempt to verify the aforementioned idea, the thesis focuses on six plays by two Asian-American playwrights: David Henry Hwang, a Chinese-American dramatist, and Philip Kan Gotanda, a Japanese-American playwright. In each play, the reader sees two groups of different ethnicity who are striving: one group comprises both Asian and Asian-American characters who attempt to challenge the constructed images surrounding their race, whereas the other is the Western people who adhere to the preconceived ideas engraved in their consciousness. The method of approach employed in this thesis is an interdisciplinary one. The study comprises three chapters, in addition to an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction provides a detailed account of the image of the Asians and Asian-Americans in the American West, and the various types of prejudice and persecution exercised over them. The first chapter focuses on the clear-cut distinction set between the East and the West. Chapter two handles the issue of racism and its damaging impact on the image and psyche of the Asians in dominant cultures. The third chapter explores the notion of stereotyping and its negative effects on the Asian-Americans in the United States of America. Finally, the conclusion is a summing up of the findings of the thesis. |