Stand Up, Yumi Chung!

Jasmine is an attractive comedian with a large social media following for her kids’ comedy tutorial vlog. She also becomes Yumi’s comic mentor when the latter attends her comedy camp under false pretenses. Jasmine has faced her own struggles with poverty as a child and has had continued difficulty establishing a comedy career writing for television.

Jasmine’s greatest lesson to Yumi is that it’s okay to fail, something her parents never taught her. Jasmine says, “Living with failure […] is an essential part of being a comedian” (157). Because Jasmine doesn’t come from Yumi’s ethnically homogenous background, she can offer a different take on life than her protégé’s Korean American experience would allow.

Even though Yumi attends her class on false pretenses, Jasmine forgives the deception. She also uses her social media contacts to promote Chung’s Barbecue when the restaurant needs new patrons to survive. Jasmine’s resilience and generosity provide a positive role model for Yumi’s future career in comedy.

Yuri is Yumi’s 20-year-old sister. With her genius IQ, she had no difficulty getting admitted to UCLA’s medical school. Yuri is held up as the family paragon, while Yumi frequently fails to live up to her sister’s accomplishments. Secretly, Yuri suffers from the same anxiety as Yumi about disappointing her parents. She hates medical school and doesn’t feel drawn to the profession, even though it would offer her financial security.

Instead, Yuri makes the tough decision to quit school and join the Peace Corps. Her willingness to choose personal happiness over family expectations helps pave the way for Yumi. Yuri advises her little sister, “If you never stand up for yourself and go along blindly with whatever Mom and Dad say, you’ll be chasing their dreams, not your own” (63).

Despite her brave advice to Yumi, Yuri’s internal struggle causes her to become pale and thin. Ultimately, she places her own needs ahead of her family’s ambitions. By the novel’s end, she’s packing to leave for Nepal, but her close emotional ties to her family prompt her to keep in close touch with them through the internet.

Mr. Chung is Yumi’s workaholic father. He tries very hard to support his family through Chung’s Barbecue. Unfortunately, he faces a demographic shift in Koreatown that erodes his usual business. Chung is open to new ideas to expand his business and even installs a karaoke stage and promotes a Grand Reopening to save the restaurant from going under.

When his plan doesn’t work, Chung confesses his disappointment to Yumi and expresses his desire to give her a better life, free of money stress. He also admits his love of performing since he wanted to become a singer in his younger years. Unlike Yumi, Chung put away his personal dreams for the sake of his family. By a happy accident, the karaoke stage will allow him to perform for the dinner crowd in his restaurant and satisfy his own need for self-expression.

Mrs. Chung shares the same values as her husband. She works equally hard in the restaurant to give her daughters a better life. However, she is close-minded to Yumi’s aspirations as a comedian. Mrs. Chung is heavily influenced by prestige. She wants her elder daughter to become a doctor and wants Yumi to go to an expensive middle school because it will get her into a top college someday.

Like her husband, she cares about her daughters but has a blind spot regarding their happiness. To Mrs. Chung, financial security represents happiness, while inner fulfillment is unnecessary. By the novel’s end, she begins to appreciate Yumi’s comedy and her resourcefulness in solving the restaurant’s money problems. While Mrs. Chung doesn’t give up her ambition for Yumi’s academic future, she does allow her daughter to take comedy classes on the weekends.

Mrs. Pak is Yumi’s strict hagwon instructor. The teacher provides test preparation courses that help her students get into the best schools and graduate with honors. She initially struggles with motivating Yumi and seems uncaring in her approach. However, she also asks the right question and is able to pinpoint the source of Yumi’s fears. More importantly, she gives a valuable piece of advice that will serve Yumi well: “Then Mrs. Pak scrawls something on a yellow legal pad. She tears off the sheet and presses it into my palm. In neat loopy script it reads, The only failure is not trying” (79).

Mrs. Pak emphasizes the need to pursue excellence on one’s own terms, a message Yumi has never heard before. She has been conditioned to please her parents and teachers. Now, a teacher is saying that she should also please herself. In the end, Mrs. Pak improves Yumi’s chances of getting a scholarship at Winston but also improves Yumi’s chances of finding personal satisfaction along the way.

Ginny is Yumi’s Korean American best friend, and they attend hagwon classes together during the summer. Unlike Yumi, Ginny doesn’t consider it a good idea to defy parental wishes. When Yumi asks for advice about her future in comedy, Ginny gives the unhelpful advice to forget about it. She represents the voice of reason and tradition as experienced by Korean Americans. Her practical approach to Yumi’s future echoes what Yumi might hear from her parents.

Despite this hidebound way of looking at career options, Ginny is rebellious in another way. She is a confirmed vegan and resists all her mother’s attempts to make her eat meat. While doing so would follow tradition, Ginny is willing to defy her mother for ethical reasons. Ultimately, she succeeds by talking the issue through with her parents, something Yumi hasn’t tried with her own family.

Felipe is a Hispanic boy who befriends Yumi during their first day of comedy camp. He is also an avid collector of comic books and introduces Yumi and Sienna to his favorite characters. Felipe is supportive of Yumi’s comedy aspirations. He eventually figures out that she is attending the camp under false pretenses but doesn’t give her secret away until the real Kay Nakamura shows up. Even though Yumi betrayed his trust by lying to him, he forgives her and attends the restaurant benefit.

Sienna is Yumi’s other comedy camp friend. Her parents work in the film industry, so Yumi perceives Sienna to have a privileged existence. In reality, Sienna’s parents are neglectful and take little interest in their daughter’s activities. Yumi also disregards Sienna’s feelings by making fun of her upscale life in some of Yumi’s jokes. Despite this dismissive behavior and Yumi’s lies about her identity, Sienna also forgives and attends the restaurant benefit to support her friend.