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.
I agree that Chin-Kee’s purpose was to make the reader feel uncomfortable. The number of stereotypes combined to create the character is very large. Some of the stereotypes include his physical appearance, his traditional Chinese outfit, his long pony tail, his accent which leads to mispronunciation of English words, the discussion of eating cats and dogs, and the idea of arranged marriages. Every stereotype is so exaggerated that the character seems overdone and unrealistic. The reader is left feeling as annoyed and uncomfortable as Danny is. Perhaps Chin-Kee is such a loud and persistent character because the stereotyping and judgement that Chinese-Americans face is ever-present and persistent throughout time. Just as Danny can’t get rid of Chin-Kee, Chinese-Americans and Chinese people, in general, can’t escape the stereotyping and judgement that is placed on them. It is almost suffocating how much Chin-Kee dominates the pages he is present in. It may give the reader an idea of how it feels to be stereotyped like that and have automatic judgements made about their identity, whether they be true or not. Humans can be rightly or wrongly judged. However, combining all of these stereotypes into one character shows how untrue and overwhelming a whole society’s worth of judgement can be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment of Chin-Kee for the most part. I think he's definitely meant to make the reader feel uncomfortable, however, I don't think doing this and making the reader laugh are mutually exclusive events. Yes, Chin-Kee is a conglomeration of the most offensive Asian stereotypes that America has to offer- slanted eyes, poor english, buck teeth, and of course, dog and cat eating- and these characteristics are meant to offend the reader. However, Chin-Kee's actions in the book also act as some comic relief to lighten the story's message, albeit in a way that makes the reader think about WHY they laugh, and why this is wrong. Chin-Kee can't be taken as anything more than a satirical character. No educated reader, even at the middle school level where this book is taught, can see Chin-Kee and believe there is someone out there like him, which is Yang's point. Yang wrote Chin-Kee into "American Born Chinese" to express to the reader just how outrageous the typical stereotypes of Asian-Americans can be, and by beheading him in the end, symbolizes his vision for a movement from these offensive stereotypes to a more inclusive vision of Asian-Americans in our country.
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