Last Night at the Telegraph Club

The Telegraph Club symbolizes hope to Lily. When she first comes across the ad in the newspaper that features male impersonator Tommy Andrews, she doesn’t quite know why she tears it out, but she’s fascinated by the appearance of a woman dressed in a suit. Eventually, it becomes clear that Tommy and the Telegraph Club as a whole illustrate for Lily that she doesn’t need to conform to the standards that society has set for her, especially given that she deals with significant pressure on so many sides of her life.

Hearing Tommy sing for the first time, Lily realizes the anticipation she built up over imagining Tommy’s act. It lives up to her expectations and helps her realize that Tommy is a real person, “a woman made of flesh and blood, and that frightened Lily most of all” (148). Hearing Tommy sing opens a world of possibility for Lily, a world in which she must find her place but where she can be open and accepted for her sexuality.

However, even in the Telegraph Club, Lily’s identity as a Chinese American woman sets her apart. When she looks around the first time she’s there, she balances the benefit with the drawback of this: “That meant there was no one from Chinatown to recognize her, but it also made her stand out all the more” (147).