The Monkey King and White Acceptance

I remember growing up and watching old VHS tapes of the Chinese Monkey King cartoon series, a mind-numbing series of TV shows every Chinese kid at the time was being raised on. Adapted from Sun Wukong from Journey To The West, the cartoon series was a ubiquitous series in China comparable to SpongeBob in America. While Journey To The West and the Monkey King, specifically, have literally experienced hundreds of remakes in television, film, and literature, Chinese media adaptations of the novel have largely been substanceless rehashes of a familiar name; however, Gene Luen Yang takes this familiar name and throws it into an unfamiliar American territory to represent a much deeper, race-motivated issue in America.

In a nutshell, white acceptance is the idea that underrepresented groups seek out approval from white members of their community in the effort to be considered generally accepted in society. In American Born Chinese, Jin Wang seeks out white acceptance from his white peers at school because he simply wants to fit in and the Monkey King seeks out acceptance from the gods because he wants to be more than just a monkey. By relating white people to the deities, Chinese people to the monkeys, and generally accepted “white culture” as the heavenly disciplines that the Monkey King chooses to master, the symbolism relating the Monkey King and Jin tells of the Asian-American experience from the perspective of a boy who feels like an outsider.

As the novel progresses, the Monkey King and Jin both experience sudden transformations on their perception of themselves; the Monkey King accepts that he is indeed a monkey, and Jin accepts that he certainly is Chinese. Wong Lai-Tsao makes the Monkey King recognize this, and the Monkey King does the same for Jin. As the Monkey King reveals himself to Jin, Yang ties together the different parallels within American Born Chinese and allows for the reader to consider the value of accepting oneself for who they are rather than seeking out white acceptance.

While the Monkey King is a mythological character, he serves as the best representation Yang provides to explain the struggle of Asian-Americans and other minorities when it comes to white acceptance in America. That said, Yang’s use of parallelism provides guidance for kids struggling with white acceptance in predominantly white communities and opens white students up to some of the deep challenges minority groups have in a clean, well-told manner.

Why Chin-Kee?

In American Born Chinese, Chin-Kee serves as a satirical, exaggerated form of the stereotypes people have about asians in America.. I argue that making Chin-Kee's purpose is more to make  the reader uncomfortable rather than to serve as a comic agent. Racism against asians in the US is almost always glossed over as a thing of the past, making many believe it is no longer an issue. Chin-kee serves to bring back the blatant, historical racism and forces the reader to knowledge the dark history surrounding the US and their race relations and see how it was the foundation of the lingering racism and stereotypes that are still around today.

This is why I would argue that Chin-kee is designed to offend the reader. It does not let the racist stereotypes if asians go unsaid; rather, it forces the reader to understand how the historic prejudice against asians is still apparent today, over what we wish to believe, that it is a thing of the past. Chin-Kee as a character embodies historical cartoons and has an entire design as to remind the reader of racism. He is also given a strong accent whenever he speaks as well. This makes Chin-Kee uncomfortable to look at for he brings up many racist ideals, making it rather hard for the reader to find humor in what he does, rather than disgust at the racist stereotypes he represents.

Chin-Kee instead can serve the purpose of having Jin-Wang as well as the reader knowledge the stereotypes that are held and how they need to be dealt with. On page 214, when the Monkey King reveals himself to Jin-Wang it can be understood that the Monkey King  has been serving to make Jin-Wang understand that the stereotypes surrounding asians are completely inaccurate. The Money-King had been trying to get Jin-Wang to see that he should not believe the prejudices and stereotypes held against him because they are rooted in historical, backwards beliefs and they are not true to who he is as a person. This lets the reader understand that Chin-Kee is representative of the obstacles Jin-Wang has to overcome to feel good about himself rather than internalize society's inaccurate beliefs.

Yang's choice to have Chin-Kee as a character is not for humor but more as a way for the reader to understand the sharp reality of stereotyping and racism today. Chin-Kee serves as a window into the past through his embodiment of historical cartoons making the reader uncomfortable with the acknowledgment of such a dark time in history, rather than as a means of humor. The monkey king's embodiment of Chin-Kee also serves to remind Jin-Wang of the racism society has held as well. However, for Jin-Wang acknowledging the stupidity of these stereoypes is not to make him remember event in history, like it is for the reader, but actually so that Jin-Wang can see that these are ideas and prejudices that are so ridiculous they are fundamentally untrue and should not be applied to Jin-Wang's identity.

Overcoming stereotypes and prejudice

Gene Luen Yang’s novel, American Born Chinese, depicts the struggle of living in the United States as Asian American as the characters, Jin Wang and Wei-Chen Sun, face stereotypes and prejudice against them for being Asian. Through humor and exaggeration, Yang captures the harsh reality of what many Asian Americans living in the United States face. Although anxiety present in teenage years and the discrimination as an Asian American can be traumatic, Wei-Chen shows that confidence and inner peace can overcome racial discrimination.

As a Korean who has lived in the United States for the past 13 years, I sympathize very much with some of the hardship described in the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Yang presents the scene where Wei-Chen Sun goes to his first day of class. Even the teacher pronounces his name wrong as “Chei-Chen Chun” and incorrectly tells the class that Wei-Chen is from “China” rather than “Taiwan” (36). When I first moved to the U.S. as a 4^th grader, I, too, had a similar experience in that the teacher could not pronounce my name correctly [I was still using my Korean name at the time] and many students assumed that I came from China. In addition, I, too, was asked if “[my people] eat dogs” and experienced the practical lectures from my parents about “concentrating on your studies now so that you can have any girl you want later” (31, 163). As a nine year old, this gave me a lot of stress. However, I responded to these hardships in the same way that Wei-Chen does in the novel.

Despite the difference in the environment and the hardship he faces from his surroundings, Wei-Chen makes a girlfriend, Suzy Nakamura, before Jin and actually helps Jin secure a date with Amelia (89). Wei-Chen admits that “when he move here to America, I was afraid nobody wants to be my friend”, but he is the one who shows Amelia what a good guy Jin is by saying, “Jin teach me hip English phrase like “Don’t have a cow, man” (102). I was also able to accept the differences and acclimate well to the different environment. I knew that I had an accent and could not speak English well, I was not ashamed. Rather, I was proactive in seeking friends and found a lot of people who accepted and even supported me for my uniqueness.

Ultimately, growing through childhood in the United States as an Asian may contain some hardship with stereotypes and discrimination along the way. However, the underlying problem is not the race itself. Self-confidence, acceptance of different cultures, and appreciation one’s uniqueness allow anyone to exceed in any unfavorable environment.

Chin-Kee

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is all about accepting oneself especially in the context of Jin Wang learning to accept his Chinese heritage. As someone who is in the first generation of my family growing up in America (instead of Greece), I understand to some extent the cultural struggle Yang presents but I think he takes it a little far with his character Chin-Kee.

Yang presents a lot of the struggles and ignorance immigrants and children of immigrants deal with. From the teachers mispronouncing and stereotyping names (30), to the other children asking ignorant and offensive questions (31) to Jin Wang generally being ostracized and defined by his stereotype, Yang presents very real and relatable situations. Children in school are often cruel especially to anyone with such noticeable differences such as race and I think Yang represents this extremely well. He introduces a highly satirical stereotyped character Chin-Kee, as the cousin of the character Danny, who is definietly supposed to be the antithesis of everything politically correct.

Chin-Kee is first introduced as he enters the household of his cousin Danny. I’ll describe the panel of the graphic novel. Chin-Kee is shown wearing a purple straight collared shirt and matching purple slacks which are in a stereotypical Chinese design. He has long white socks with slip-on shoes, a purple headband, and a long black braid. Chin-Kee has squinty eyes and a buck-toothed mouth from which he utters the greeting, “Harro Amellica!”(48). He is supposed to be the ultimate satirical representation, generally causes a ruckus with his socially unacceptable behavior, and later turns out to be the Monkey King in disguise. His character is supposed to be utterly ridiculous, but I can’t help but question though how far can one go with the satire that it moves from funny to offensive. I understand the role Chin-Kee is supposed to play in the book as he makes Danny embarrassed and I am not a Chinese American, but I think that if a Greek artist came out with a similarly stereotypical comic I would be to some degree offended.

Thus, I think Yang displays realistic and somewhat humorous representations of Chinese American immigrants struggles, but I think his character Chin-Kee starts to beg the question of where one draws the line with humour.

Rejection: The first steps of identity

American Born Chinese features several story lines that each have their own themes, lessons, and conflicts. One of the largest motifs of both the stories of the Monkey King and of Jin is identity. Both of these stories work through the struggle of forming and maintaining a healthy self-identity within opposition and expectations from others. However, each of these characters fights this battle differently by reacting in very different ways to the expectations imposed upon them.

The Monkey King initially enjoys his identity as the ruler of all monkeys. At first, “the Monkey King ruled with a firm, but gentle hand” (10). But once he discovered that the gods looked down on him for being a monkey, instead of seeing him as an equal deity, he grows angry, and seeks to gain their respect. There are two ways that he could have sought their respect: by demonstrating that monkeys are not to be looked down upon through sharing his own grace and power, or by rejecting his own identity and seeking to gain a new identity similar to the other gods. Interestingly, he chooses the second path, similar to Jin initially seeks the approval of his American peers by abandoning his Chinese heritage.  

The Monkey King, after being rejected from the godly dinner party for not wearing shoes, requires that “all monkeys must wear shoes” (55). He also changes his form to appear less like a monkey, distancing himself even further from his original identity, and changes his name to the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven. In addition, we see the Monkey King begin to look down on monkeys himself as he attempts to leave behind his identity. When one of his monkeys asks if he wants a banana, he only glares in return before stalking off. It is obvious that the Monkey King has come to resent the identity that he is trying to leave behind and is pushing away anyone else that reminds him of his origin. Jin also follows this path to a lesser extent, which we see with his attempts to change his hair and his first interaction with Wei-Chen. When Wei-Chen first greets him in Mandarin, Jin replies, “You’re in America. Speak English” (37). These rejections are all the first steps that each character takes in order to come full circle and accept the identities that they initially sought to escape.

Little Women All Over Again

American Born Chinese by bene Luen Yang is reminiscent of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott due to the little moral questions that are central to each chapter. While American Born Chinese tackles probably a broader and definitely more modern set of issues, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Little Women.

In the very first chapter, the Monkey King is denied entry to a party because he has no shoes and is a monkey (14,15). This book is not quite the directive moral tale, as the Monkey King reacts to this news by attacking everyone at the party. Yet, this novel still recalls Little Women because the Monkey King notices that his cave smells like monkey fur and then “stayed awake the rest of the night thinking of ways to get rid of it[the monkey fur smell]” (20). While the moral is not quite as well spelled out as it was in Little Women, like Marmee just telling everyone what to do, the Monkey King is not accepted because of who and what he is.

Another chapter with an aggressive moral element is the one in which the Monkey King interacts with Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the creator. In this chapter the Monkey King learns a lesson about pride. The Monkey King full of hubris thinks he can escape the reach of the creator and flies “past the boundaries of reality itself” (77), only to learn that even then he cannot escape the reach of the creator. The Monkey King refuses to accept his limitations and accept himself and thus is sentenced to 500 years under a mountain of rocks. Again, this novel presents a pretty clear-cut moral lesson and exhibits negative behaviors that need to be curbed, particularly with regards to accepting oneself.

Being able to accept oneself despite society rejecting you is a hard lesson to learn and this is but one of the more complex issues that Yang tackles in this graphic novel. There are elements of friendship, romance, treatment of immigrants, commentary on American society, all woven in to a modern and relatable setting. Thus, this novel is clearly a distinct and in certain ways more complex tale than Little Women, each chapter being centered around a life lesson instantly reminded me of Alcott’s tale.

Parallelism in ABC

            Despite the wholesome ending, all three sections of American Born Chinese progress in distinct settings for almost the entirety of the beginning two hundred pages.  Nonetheless, Gene Luen Yang utilizes repeated plot devices and parallel conflicts so that the sudden blend of monkey king, shy schoolboy, and stereotype sitcom doesn’t seem too out of place.  Transformation of identity is the most obvious recurring element, as the monkey king achieves “the four major disciplines of bodily form” (58) in hopes of being taken seriously by other deities.   In the same manner, Jin adopts his “nice perm” (98) to fit in with the white American students that he idolizes.  Both of these fit in with Jin’s childhood love of Transformers, robots that are “more than meets the eye” (28).  One may also view Danny’s three school transfers (126) as attempts to transform into new, fresh identities; after all, Yang’s emphasis on the F.O.B. experience always appears to commence with an introduction of a new classmate.  Even if students don’t always move between countries, the underlying parallel pattern persists.  Several smaller links are also present between the stories.  For instance, Wei-Chen possesses a transformer toy which has both monkey and robot forms (217).  Again, Suzy recounts being embarrassed when she realized Lauren did not actually invite her to the birthday party (187) just as the monkey king was denied entrance to the heavenly gathering.  All of these connections serve to foreshadow and legitimize the eventual collision between the three settings.

            After the plot lines clash together, Yang makes direct observations about these parallelisms to support his novel’s overall theme: identity should be embraced and prided more than it is shunned and mocked.  Perhaps the most pivotal moment occurs as Chin-Kee and Danny reveal their true identities.  The monkey king then advises “You know, Jin, I would have saved myself from five hundred years of imprisonment beneath a mountain of rock had I only realized how good it is to be a monkey” (223).  Here, Yang hopes to show his audience that if Jin and Suzy were less concerned with being seen as stereotypical “chink[s]” (187) and more content with their heritage and families, they would have a much easier time finding peace and purpose in this world.  The mountain of rock which Tze-Yo-Tzuh buries the monkey king under (84) until he embraces his true self parallels the peer pressure and societal stereotypes which Jin (and other Asian American children) often caves to.  Effective use of parallelism enables the author to construct a powerful real-world message from fictional and, at times, mythical stories.

The Blending of Chinese and American Theologies

In this book, I loved finding the blended aspects of Chinese and American legend and religion; and because it is a graphic novel, the author had the unique opportunity to make these elements extremely obvious within the text or extremely subtle within the visuals. One of the features that I was most excited to recognize was the presence of the lion, the ox, the human, and the eagle as emissaries of Tze-Yo-Tzuh (67). Although this may have significance in Chinese legend or religion, I immediately recognized these figures as common Christian representations of the four New Testament gospel writers. The Monkey King, at least before his character arc, also reminded me of the Christian story of the falling of Satan from Heaven. He thought that he could overpower God, but his failure to do so caused his fall into Hell, and in the same way the Monkey King thought that he could defy Tze-Yo-Tzuh, but was consequently punished by being buried under rocks (84). Finally, shown in a more obvious way, Lai-Tsao and his disciples are tasked to transport three packages, and on page 215 the reader finds out that they are actually acting as the wise men from Christian theology and bringing these gifts to baby Jesus.

In addition to being fun to find, this incorporation of Christian theology into the Asian stories is also very telling. The main challenge of the novel is for both the Monkey King and Jin to accept themselves for who they truly are, and for Jin, this is mostly focusing on how he needs to accept his Chinese background. Incorporations of Christian stories in this way show, however, that Jin not only needs to accept that he is Chinese, but that his identity is a blending of Chinese and American culture. Although I do recognize that Christianity does not represent all Americans, the United States is a largely Christian nation, so it is not a stretch to assume Yang may be using Christianity to represent America. But in this blending of stories, the reader can further see that Jin is not just American or Chinese, but both. Just as the story Yang tells of the Monkey King is not only a Chinese story, but both.