Cultural Identity
As he grows up under the falsehoods and star-studded qualities of L.A., Young Man attempts to negotiate his struggles with sexuality with the cultural expectations of his family. As an Asian American, Young Man feels that he cannot accept his sexuality—especially in the face of his picture-perfect, Americanized nuclear family. Young Man feels a sense of responsibility to his father to carry on the Asian American traditions that have been so deeply ingrained within him. And yet, he attempts to find a balance between his Asian American values and the morally-corrupt, Americanized values that surround him in L.A. In this way, cultural identity is a central theme of the play as Young Man attempts to develop his sense of self.
Sexual Identity
Just as Young Man struggles to develop his sense of cultural identity, he struggles equally with his sexual identity. Having been raised in a heterosexual, nuclear family framework, and given his Asian American family values, Young Man tries to ignore the fact that he identifies as gay. Though Young Man is surrounded by open and accepting individuals in Los Angeles, he struggles to accept his sexuality in the face of his familial and cultural expectations. Given that this play is semi-autobiographical in nature, this themed struggle is representative of playwright Chay Yew’s own struggles with sexuality and his sexual identity.
Commercialized Values
As Young Man grows older and begins to venture into a state of independence and autonomy, he struggles to come to terms with the reality of family and relationships. Chay Yew uses this play as a commentary on how the American Dream has become nothing more than a commercialized venture. He uses Young Man to highlight the broken family values that exist within real families. Despite the fact that Americanized family values depict families as being nuclear, loving, and supportive, Young Man’s own experiences—having been shunned and kicked out by his parents—reveal the cracks in his visage and ultimately shed light upon the fact that America has capitalized upon false images of loving family values. Chay Yew suggests that—if one looks deeper beneath the surface—all these moralistic beliefs and false familial supports have been manufactured by American industries to capitalize upon a sense of false togetherness.
