Voir Dire from Don Lees Short Story Collection Yellow
One cannot be 'yellow' to embark upon the challenges inherent to the American judicial system Don Lee's short story "Voir Dire" is a kind of legal thriller ofidentity politics, although it takes the form of a tautly short story,rather than a sprawling John Grisham thriller. This legal story set in asmall California suburb, populated by many Asians as well as whites.However, the struggle of its central protagonist, despite the apparentsleepiness of the town, is anything but Pacific like the nearby ocean.Hank Low Kwon may be a successful lawyer, but his usual confidence in thecourtroom is not matched by his confident place as an Asian in a societystill filled, in his eyes with prejudice. As the story progresses, itbecomes clear that Kwon lives in a nearly constant state of self-doubt. The actual plot of the story "Voir Dire" covers the trial of drugaddict Chee Seng Lam, who is accused of murdering the child of hisgirlfriend, Ruby Liu. "Voir Dire" as a legal term refers to the 'vetting'of a jury, determining if it is fair and lacking in prejudice against thedefendant and the issues present in the structure of the particular legal
Clearly, according tothe moral of the tale, despite the legal system's attempt through the voirdire process to create a system without prejudice, every individual is fullof prejudice of some kind, because every individual has a past that affectshim or herself, whether they would admit to such prejudice in a court oflaw or not. Doing so often is oftenlooked down upon by others in his Asian community, and goes against thehigh expectations of his family, as contrary to stereotypes of what Asianssuch as themselves should do to glean a respectable place in society. Lam stands accused of beating hisgirlfriend's infant son to death, a horrific and unsympathetic crime. The community may be prejudiced against the defendant for his professionand his race, but even the public defender Hank has prejudices withinhimself as well as experiences them within society. Although Lam's girlfriend was Asian rather than white, Hank cannothelp but see a certain resonance between his own situation and MollyBeddle. HankKwon, as the story progresses, has more and more stress and anxiety overhis morality in choosing to represent the defendant in the case and hisability to win the case with such an unsympathetic defendant. This hurts not only his abilityas a defender, but, even though Hank will not admit it to himself, Hank'sown fragile sense of identity and self-esteem. Kwon does not feel ready to takeup the identity or the status of fatherhood. But Hank is also worried about how his representation of his clientwill look to the jury. But if he cannot overcome such prejudice, what was thepoint in his ever becoming a defense attorney in the community' If hecannot understand the plight of Lam, what makes him so unique and competentas a specifically Asian attorney' Hank's anxieties as they pertain to hisoccupation in general are also exacerbated by the pregnancy of his owngirlfriend, Molly Beddle a blonde diving coach. He seems guilty, in Hank Kwon's eyes,although Kwon will still represent him. ry be lacking in prejudice against an Asiandefendant, whom is measured by the color of his skin constantly, in a stateof perpetual societal prejudice' And how can Kwon himself, so filled withhis own prejudices about his position in society, and so anxious about theprejudices he sees around him in a racist society, represent such a client' In "Voir Dire," thus the public defender Hank Low Kwon is confrontednot simply with the issue of representing a man whose crime isquestionable, a crime that he intuitively and instinctively abhors, but hemust struggle with how the defendant whom he must represent has a face thatin society's eyes, functions a reflection of his own. Hank is also afraid that his own personal prejudice may compromisehis defense of Lam. Nor is it, inhis family and relative's views, an especially respectable profession, ashe is not representing either the state like a prosecutor or an individualthat can pay him particularly well.
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