Bobby and Language

            Though it is difficult to find a cohesive thread between Bobby’s chapters, if one examines the presence and attitude towards language within these sections, the organization becomes less confusing. One must keep in mind the first picture that is painted of the character in the beginning of the book: “If you know your Asians, you look at Bobby. You say, that’s Vietnamese…Turns out you’ll be wrong. And you gonna be confused. Dude speaks Spanish. Comprende? … Turns out Bobby’s from Singapore…Bobby Ngu…that’s not his real name. Real name’s Li Kwan Yu…Bobby’s Chinese. Chinese from Singapore with a Vietnam name speaking like a Mexican living in Koreatown. That’s it” (14-15). Immediately this is a character that is established through cultures and subsequently those culture’s languages. Whether this be through the names like the Vietnamese “Ngu” or the Chineses “Li Kwan Yu” or through actual words like “Comprende,” Bobby’s character is closely tied to a complex, woven system of languages and cultures. Through out his chapters, the sparse diction is scattered with Spanish phrases, as well as signals to how he treats languages themselves. He speaks English but doesn’t teach Rafaela, and instead she must learn through audio tapes. Although Bobby’s assortment of languages might appear jumbled or chaotic, he seems to have them separated in such a way that suits him and serves him well.

            Thus, in chapter forty when he’s viewing the television on which, his cousin is channel surfing he observes, “Tube’s got Korean channel speaking something. Maybe it’s Russian. Some’s Swahili. Spanish channel’s speaking English with an accent. Everybody in the Mexican soap’s speaking the Queen’s English. Other hand, network’s speaking fluent Castilian. Some’s even in Mandarin. He understands it. He’s thinking too it’s not a mistake; it all makes sense? But! … Who’s gonna understand all this all the time? This some joke” (232)? It is on the television that the blending and mixing of cultures and languages loses the necessary order and separation, becoming a mass of chaos. The separations that allow Bobby to understand the complexities in his life are lost within the TV, therefore leading him to wonder whether it’s a joke or not.