Gene
Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese
follows three stories that initially seem unconnected. The first follows a monkey who tries to leave
his monkey life behind to become a deity.
The second story follows Jin, a Chinese-American who is often ashamed of
his heritage and just wants to fit in.
The third follows Danny, an American boy who is extremely embarrassed by
his Asian cousin. Although these stories
do not seem to relate at first, a common theme becomes evident. Each story teaches that one should not change
who they are to fit in.
The
Monkey King’s story begins with him being rejected by the deities. They cannot believe that he would try to come
to their dinner party, because he is only a monkey. The Monkey King is devastated. He is “thoroughly embarrassed” and attacks
all of the deities (15). This scene
makes the King resentful of being a monkey and decides to transform
himself. He trained and learned many
sacred disciplines in order to no longer be a monkey. However, he gets trapped for years, and he can
only be released if he accepts his true form again. This story shows that it is best when one
appreciates who they are.
Jin’s
story is very similar. He is ashamed of
being Asian-American because the American children at school make fun of his
culture and heritage. He is so ashamed
that he almost rejects the friendship of Wei-Chen, who becomes his best
friend. Jin changes his hair in order to
impress an American girl. He even fights
with Wei-Chen and kisses his girlfriend because he is so ashamed of being
surrounded by other Asian-Americans. He
tells Wei-Chen that his girlfriend could “do better than a F.O.B. like you”
(191). Jin is seen as miserable when he
is thinking about his Asian roots, often shown staying awake through the
night. He eventually changes his identity
to an American boy named Danny.
Danny’s
(or Jin’s) story focuses around an unwanted visit from his cousin Chin-Kee. Chin-Kee’s character represents every Asian stereotype
in one character. Danny is thoroughly ashamed
of his cousin. He transfers from school
to school because he thinks that Chin-Kee ruins his reputation. He says that “no one thinks of me as Danny
anymore. I’m Chin-Kee’s cousin” (127).
Chin-Kee, however, is very content with his culture and heritage. He never acts ashamed of how his peers view
him.
Eventually,
the reader finds out that the Monkey King is actually Chin-Kee, and Wei-Chin is
one of his sons. The Monkey King is
happy in life now that he has embraced his life as a monkey, and is no longer
trying to change who he is. Danny
changes back to being Jin, and eventually meets with Wei-Chin. Jin is content at the end of the novel, after
he accepts who he is. His reunited
friendship with Wei-Chin insinuates that Wei-Chin will embrace his roots as
well.
Each
protagonist struggles with their identities.
However, once they stop trying to change who they are, they feel empowered
by their roots and comfortable in their own skin.
You bring up some good points about the different stories in American Born Chinese. When I started the work, I was first confused as to why Yang would incorporate such different stories into one work. However, as one gets further into the graphic novel, it becomes evident that Yang is using all of these different stories to convey a common theme: it is important to embrace one’s identity instead of hiding it. As you mentioned, this can be seen in the story of the Monkey King. While trying to change to fit in, the Monkey King hides qualities that are essential to his very being. The Monkey King states, “all monkeys must wear shoes” (55). The Monkey King does this to impress the gods. When the Monkey King does this, he hinders the very biological traits that monkeys need to survive. They need their feet to survive, however by trying to impress the gods, the Monkey King has hindered himself. This theme of changing can be seen again with Jin almost immediately in his story. When meeting Wei-Chen, he originally rejects his friendship because he is embarrassed of who he is. However, once Jin embraces Wei-Chen’s friendship, and a little piece of his identity, he finds a best friend. Although Jin is not entirely comfortable with his identity, by accepting a small part of his identity and becoming friends with Wei-Chen, he has already begun to become happier. Although it appears that American Born Chinese is full of unrelated stories, as one reads more into the story it is clear that Yang has incorporated all of these stories to stress the importance of embracing identity.
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