The concept of social identity shapes each and every person. One’s identity is made up of many factors such as age, gender, race, and nationality just to name a few. For the majority of people, the part of their identity that differs from the group tends to be what they focus on the most. This is exactly the case in Yu Ta-Fu’s “Sinking.” The unnamed protagonist finds himself the odd man out as a China man in Japan. In this new environment, the identity that he spent his life creating is now under siege as he looks at China through the lens of another country. This crumbling sense of self leads him to recognize the flaws within China and its relationship to the rest of the world, however, it also drives him to admit defeat rather than strive…show more content… His isolation and in turn paranoia are one example of this. Within the Japanese classroom he finds himself worried that everyone is looking down on him. By personality, he is not very approachable in the first place. After trying to interact with him and finding him unresponsive the Japanese students stopped talking to him. In the protagonist’s mind, they were looking down on him. Whenever he was at school he believed that the jokes were about him and his classmates were staring at him. It all came down to what he believed was his background as a China man. Eventually, the Japanese classmates stopped approaching him and he became even more bitter. This was when he began wishing his country was strong so he could be proud of being Chinese. He even begins to distance himself from the other Chinese men in his school. He believes they cannot understand his struggle and have given up some of their pride as Chinese citizens. In relation to China as a whole, this isolationist attitude is one that China had for a long time. The country kept to themselves and was very set in their ways. When foreign powers started to enter China, they found that they did not have the strength to fight back. This isolation that the protagonist feels was self-made as was China’s. The inability to adapt to new situations keeps the protagonist isolated and in turn makes him more…show more content… He finds himself very attracted to the Japanese women in his village. For the first time he takes his sexual frustration out through masturbation which in it of itself is taboo. To be a good Chinese man, one must respect the body their parents gave them. He becomes very concerned with the life source and energy he is losing through masturbation and changes what he eats to try to replenish his energy. This is the only time he finished the books he decided to read. These books were the French novels and other stories with pornographic material. At his age it is almost strange that he can’t work up the courage to interact with the girls he fancies. The innkeeper’s daughter becomes the object of his affection and he cannot work up the nerve to speak to her when she comes to his room. Eventually, he peeps on her while she bathing and the embarrassment and worry that he might be confronted by the innkeeper forces him to move. He also believes that the women are looking down on him because he is Chinese. When he goes to see the prostitute he cannot bring himself to tell her he is from China because he is ashamed. Relating his problems to China as a whole there is the problem that Japan used to be the “little brother” of China. Japan’s language, culture, and religion can all be traced back to China. However, Japan embraced modernity and was able to surpass its big brother. Japan also was able to defeat and colonize China,
