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• 1 2016-05-16T17:38:55-07:00 "Ox-Cart" 3 plain 2016-05-18T12:03:39-07:00 In his short story, “Ox­Cart” in ​Weird Tales​ magazine, Frank Owen makes use of vivid descriptions and imagery in order to refute common and harmful Asian stereotypes and humanize Chinese people and families. The story is of an American, John Steppling, who is in China and meets an old Chinese man, Huang Ti, who drives an Ox­Cart. John Steppling hops on the cart and discovers that Huang Ti is an immortal man from the future who has come back in time to change the fate of his lover, hoping to make her immortal as well. Huang Ti asks him for help in accomplishing his goal, leading to a disorienting adventure for John Steppling, where he wakes up unsure if the series of events had even occurred. This story was published in December of 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. The cover of the issue portrays the yellow peril stereotype of Asians, which was common during this era. Yellow peril perpetuated the idea that Asian men were going to “steal” jobs and white women from their white, male counterparts. 1933 was also the year that former­president Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the New Deal, a series of programs that were often labeled as fascist, communist, and socialist which are frequently associated with China and the Chinese. It can be argued that the existing stereotypes, such as yellow peril, dehumanized and demonized the Chinese, where Owen responds with a story that goes against these harmful notions, and aims to break away from stereotypical norms through the encounter of John Steppling with Huang Ti.
   
  The story opens with John Steppling on the side of the road, where Huang Ti stops his Ox­Cart right in front of him, the first interaction between the American and the Chinese man. John Steppling looks up, startled, and notes that Huang Ti’s “eyes were not old. They seemed to flame. They were of terrific brilliance. Steppling could think of no milder term to describe him” (698). In choosing to specifically describe the eyes, Owen is countering to the slanty, blank eye stereotype that often characterized Asians in various anti­immigration, anti­Asian propaganda and graphics. The “eyes” used to represent Asians, and the Chinese, were usually connected with ideas of distrust and mischief. Owen describes the eyes of Huang Ti to “flame,” to be of “brilliance,” humanizing the character of Huang Ti. The description also gives way to signs of respect and admiration that John Steppling has for Huang Ti, that he was not someone he regarded as beneath him, contrary to perceived social and racial hierarchies. Owen’s use of imagery sets the awestruck fascination tone of the story, which he uses throughout the book to have the reader think critically of their internalized views of the Chinese, and Asians in general. Owen continues by having Huang Ti describe his love, Li­La, to John Steppling to dispel stereotypes pertaining to the Chinese family and values. Huang tells John of when he fell in love with Li­La, remarking that “Li­La was brought up by parents who did not believe in bounding feet, nor did they believe in hiding their daughter away from strangers” (702). By choosing to specifically use detail of “bounding it,” Owen is strategically using an example that was seen to be oppressive to Chinese daughters.. Asian women were also stereotyped as submissive and quiet, and in making use of these specific examples, Owen is arguing that not all Chinese parents raised their children this way, despite popular belief. He is shedding light on a family dynamic that was not typically associated with Chinese families, trying to humanize them and fight against how they are portrayed in the media.