Though some of the characters
embody their stereotypes in American Born
Chinese, from the bully Peter to Wei-Chan, nobody fully enacts all the
negative stereotypes of their character except for Chin-Kee. Chin-Kee continually
terrorizes Danny year to year, destroying his reputation and causing him to
change schools. However, at the end of the novel, the reader learns that Chin-Kee
is the Monkey King in disguise after his change of heart, so it seems almost counterintuitive
for such an enlightened character to plant chaos in the life of Danny.
In his
time before following Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the Monkey King encapsulates all the aspects
of pride as he states, “I am now the great sage, equal of heaven” (63). He has
a deep hatred for being a monkey, and since his experience at the dinner party
he devotes his effort to change his status among the other deities. Despite
this, the Monkey King remains a monkey, unable to change the nature of his
existence. Once he comes to terms with this, he begins to follow Tze-Yo-Tzuh
and changes his ways. When he learns of Jin through his son Wei-Chan, the Monkey
King sees a reflection of himself: a prideful individual who denies the state
of his existence in exchange for another more pleasant life. Therefore, the
Monkey King tries to remind Jin of his Chinese-American identity to bring him
back to his true self.
Despite
his good intentions, the Monkey King goes about helping Jin in an unusual way
by embarrassing him at every opportunity and destroying his image during his once-a-year
trip. From eating cat gizzards to answering every question in class, Gene Luen
Yang illustrates the negative stereotypes that Americans make towards those of
Asian descent. He serves not only as a message to Danny to return to his true self
as Jin, but as a message to the reader to turn away from unfounded, negative stereotypes.
He understands the flaws of human existence, but rather than condemning them for
stealing his son, he seeks to teach others to avoid the same mistake. Though a
case can be made for the Monkey King going too far in his lessons for Danny,
they illustrate a key cultural issue that the reader can take from the novel
and apply to the real world.
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ReplyDeleteYour post led me to think more about the book's message towards Americans to avoid negative stereotypes. Gene Luen Yang uses Chin-kee and the Monkey King to teach the lesson of being proud of who you are: “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). At the same time, Yang uses them to depict the necessity for not judging a book by its cover or, in this case, for not judging a human by its stereotypes. The novel portrays both adults referencing stereotypes, as seen by Mrs. Greeder’s introduction of Jin Wang as “Jing Jang” and stating that he “recently moved to our neighborhood all the way from China” when he moved from San Francisco, as well as young children, as seen by Tommy stating “My momma says Chinese people eat dogs” when he first meets Jin (30-31). Both of these quotes express how deeply rooted the negative stereotypes are in society. If both teachers and parents are holding on to these stereotypes and passing it on to their children and students, there is a never ending cycle of negative stereotype. By having Chin-kee’s section of the novel be in the form of a television show, Yang reflects on the negative images that Americans produce of Chinese individuals in pop culture and how large of an effect it has on Americans’ opinions - if the American public see characters like Chin-kee all over the media, they are going to assume that that is the way all Asian individuals are and stereotype them using those images (43).
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