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.
I found an article where Yang discusses his Christian faith!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/The-Humble-Comic-3214214.php
In 2008, Yang was teaching at a Catholic school, which makes the inclusion of Christian theology less surprising to me (Catholic school teachers, in my 12 years of experience, tend to find a lot of ways to talk about Jesus). It also made some of his experiences with school make sense to me– I attended a couple different Catholic schools, but a lot of them are incredibly, almost cartoonishly white.
It seems that Yang has a lot of faith and a very strong belief in God. This article in particular mentions a lot of prayers asking for answers and guidance. It mentions that “he always struggles with balancing faith and work,” something that we wouldn’t necessarily know from his work. It also discusses his blending of Christianity and traditional Chinese beliefs in his work.
What I found interesting regarding religion in American Born Chinese was the utilization of religion in each of the three stories. The Monkey King has religious themes throughout the story, as Meagan mentioned. Jin's story has more limited religious themes, but the herbalist's wife at the beginning and end has a spiritual component to her. However, Danny's story has no outright religious components to it. I wonder if that was intentionally done by Yang, to reflect the perception of what American's religious beliefs are in the 21st century. Pew Research found between 2007 and 2014, 7% fewer Americans (from 71% to 63%) believed in God with absolute certainty. Likewise, while a majority of Americans report as Christian, the number who attend regular service and actively practice the faith is a minority in the country. Thus, it could be another sign of the clarity of focus in the Monkey King's and Danny's story, but the conflict and balance in Jin's.
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