American Born Chineseby Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel that tackles difficult topics like racism and the concept of individuality in face of adversity. By teaching readers through a visual medium, Yang is better able to portray the challenges of his characters to fit into a society that will not accept them. Young readers in particular can benefit from this form of education. Two types of readers that this graphic novel is particularly beneficial for are those who can relate to challenges Jin Wang faces as the child of immigrants and those who are unintentionally insensitive to the challenges people like Jin face regularly.
Yang portrays relatable scenarios in American Born Chinese for those who don’t fit in perfectly with the white American population. Like we discussed in class, the repeated butchering of both Jin and Wei-Chen by teachers is familiar to many who do not have typical American names. The blatant lack of respect for other cultures by people in authority, in this case the teachers, perpetuates the issue and tells the impressionable students that it is okay to act this way. This same behavior exists in the teacher’s response to Timmy saying, “My momma says Chinese people eat dogs” (31). The teacher brushes off the heinous comment without teaching the students about actual Chinese culture or even correcting the stereotype. Behavior like this is all too common, and while everyone’s experiences are different, I am confident that this sort of treatment is familiar to many.
American Born Chinese is also very beneficial to those who are in the majority and have not struggled with their cultural identity like Jin has. I think that far too many of us are unaware of this privilege and are not contentious of the battles others are fighting. Greg’s character embodies this mentality. Greg is not a bad person and does not allow his friends to attack Jin over offensive stereotypes, saying “Hey be cool, man” when they do (32). However, Greg also does not go out of his way to support Jin, and later even interferes with Jin dating Amelia. Greg asks Jin to not ask her out again because he “just [doesn’t] know if [Jin is] right for her” (180). Unlike his friends, Greg does not try to attack Jin for his differences, but he also is not fully comfortable with Jin either. Too many people fall into this category that is not outwardly harmful, but also not supportive of those they perceive to be different. Reading American Born Chinese is an eye-opening experience for those of us who, like Greg, need to do more to support individuality and cultural differences.
I think your point that American Born Chinese also brings to the light the passive behavior many people have when not supporting people who are different from themselves is an interesting yet true point. Not only are the characters who have speaking roles, such as Greg, a part of this, but every other character seen in the background also shows this type of behavior. As seen on page 32, there are lots of children playing of the playground and yet no one offers Jin to play with them nor do they attempt to stop the bullying that he goes through. In many other pop culture depictions of someone moving to a new school and being alone of the first day, there is always a group of friends who offers the main character to hang out with, a stark contrast from what we see in this book. Throughout the rest of Jin's story, the only people he is seen hanging out with are Wei-chen and Suzy even though it seems to have been a few years after Jin moved, Amelia being the one exception as Jin's crush. These people in the background are never seen being rude or harmful to Jin like the bullies in the beginning, but these "hidden" characters are also never seen being comfortable with Jin and being friends with him, proving the point you made above. This book sheds light on all sides of this issue, from the bullies to the Asian-Americans to the bystanders, making it have the eye opening experience that you talk about in the end.
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ReplyDeleteYou have poignantly noted that American Born Chinese serves a dual purpose of representation and awareness. Considering these two factors together, Yang’s novel creates a sad realization for American immigrants/first-generation immigrants of color. Often, the responsibility falls on the oppressed racial group to recognize, reprimand and resolve normalized racism. Yang writes in “Does acknowledging a stereotype perpetuate it?” that if he “hadn’t invited Cousin Chin-Kee...into the pages of [his] comic book,” the false representation of Chinese Americans would only persist. Through his slanted eyes, buck teeth, sickly yellow skin and take-out box suitcases (48), Chin-Kee serves as a painful reminder for how others view Chinese Americans. Yang writes that similar variations of Chin-Kee have been featured across media, from 80’s movie “Sixteen Candles” to Pat Oliphant’s political cartoons (Yang, “Does?”). Clearly, Yang asserts that Asian American themselves must acknowledge racial stereotypes because when they leave representation up to white people, they do it wrong—severely. As you mentioned, Yang uses Greg’s passive intervention with the bully and later microaggression about Jin and Amelia’s relationship to exemplify society’s subtle permittal of racist attitudes (32 and 180). Jin is forced to solve his identity issues (which is a problem only because of others’ behaviors) through his disingenuous and harmful transformation into white “Danny” (196). Yang urges that those people actually responsible for racist foundations take the fault and work to eradicate racial stereotypes. Therefore, American Born Chinese presents another dual purpose of reclaiming the Chinese identity and subsequent call to action of white Americans.
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