Rice That Doesn't Taste like Rice

       "AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!(spits out rice) This isn't rice! It looks like rice, but it is not rice! It has no taste!"(Bold Words 397). This is my exact same reaction upon my arrival in Washington. In Hawaii, I grew up with rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, and rice for dinner. Due to the huge Asian influence in the islands, I was raised with the culture of eating rice everyday. As a result, the art of cooking rice has been brought to a higher standard of perfection within our community. So, in coming to the mainland, probably one of the greatest disappointments I experienced was upon the discovery of the land's deficiency in the quality of rice. I can relate with poor, young Alex's shock once he uncovers the terrible truth about America's rice. That it doesn't taste like rice. It has no taste.

           However, within the context of the Alex Luu's play "Three Lives", the writer might be trying to get at something much deeper than merely the disappointment of flavorless rice. He describes how "Alex wolfs down rice" (Luu 397), after starving for so many nights, but effectively spits it out immediately after tasting it. This portrays a sense of how the Southeast Asian have a hunger for a type of culture that America is unable to provide. Alex's "first taste of America," (Luu 397), is one that is completely unsatisfying and it turns out later that his "second" taste is just as disappointing, but instead depicts the sense of how every man is for himself. Luu uses taste to symbolize the Southeast Asians first experiences with the American lifestyle, and how they find that it is one they are not used to.