American Born Chinese sheds light on the psyche of immigrant children, breaking down the simple and complex prejudices they are forced to face along the way to adulthood. It focuses on the stereotypes that Chinese students faced in particular, through the lens of Jin, the novels protagonist. The most effective illustration of this struggle comes through the authors depiction of characters Danny and Chin-kee, two students on opposing ends of the social spectrum bound by their Asian identity. This personification of dual identity is the author’s most compelling portrayal of how young people deal with their heritage, and proves the empathetic resolution that can come out of it.
Throughout the story, author Gene Yang makes clear that there are no similarities between story lead Danny and his immigrant cousin, Chin-kee. Danny is a charming, confident teenager who understands the ins and outs of social culture, and enjoys the benefits of his status as a jock. He seems to have no problems talking to his friends, going on dates with girls, etc, until his cousin, Chin-Kee, is introduced. His abhorrent behavior (peeing in the Coke can, shouting in class, calling Melanie a “pletty Amellican girl wiff bountiful Amellican bosom” (53)), embarrasses Danny and creates a not-so-subconscious connection between him and his cousin. This goes so far as to ruin his standing with Melanie, who later remarks that “[she] never noticed it before, but your teeth kind of buck out a little” (127).
Chin-kee’s weighing down of Danny represents a parallel of Jin’s perception of his own culture. While ultimately protective of it, he saw his heritage as an obstacle, until coming to the revelation that the character of Chin-kee was indeed a facet of Jin’s identity all along. His eventual acceptance of this comes with a token of self peace, as Jin realizes the best course of action is to accept himself as a whole, Danny and Chin-kee, and appreciate his true identity.
I like what your saying about the way Jin/Danny comes around to accepting his own culture. From the beginning we see how much he tries to stay away from things that most people would think are Asian. He avoids Suzy because they are the only two Asians in the school, he is apprehensive of befriending Wei-Chen, and he even perms his hair so it looks more white. It is very obvious that Jin is not comfortable with who he is and his heritage. He just wants to fit in and be what he sees as normal. So when he finally becomes a white boy in the form of Danny he probably expected everything to be smooth sailing from then on. However, the introduction of Chin-Kee into his life seemingly ruins all of that. Chin-Kee represents every facet of "not fitting in" that Jin/Danny had always tried to avoid. However if you really look at the problems Danny faced when Chin-Kee came around, Melanie not wanting to go out with him, missing basketball, etc. , its actually pretty apparent that none of them had to do with Chin-Kee. Sure Chin-Kee was a loud and obnoxious caricature, but all of Danny's friends insisted no one had any actual problems with him. All of his issues regarding Chin-Kee were in his head. I think that this point kind of goes to show that we need to be more accepting of the things that make us different. Our differences are not the root of our problems and we'd all be a lot more successful if we accepted our identities rather than fought them.
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ReplyDeleteI like how you note that Danny views Chin-Kee as a facet of his identity. The introduction of Chin-Kee initially confused me, as I first thought he served no purpose other than a comedic, racist presence, poking fun at Asians. His behavior, as you mentioned, was completely abhorrent, and even reinforced the incorrect stereotypes people had of Asians.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, I also realized that Chin-Kee symbolized how Danny himself viewed his Asian heritage, and that he associated every action Chin-Kee was doing to the part of himself he was hiding. I first thought this when Steve, a varsity basketball player for Oliphant High, was introduced. When Steve attempts to start a normal conversation with Chin-kee, asking how "How long you in town for?", Dan immediately steers the conversation towards a different topic (116). Even with Chin-Kee doing nothing strange at the time, Dan refuses to let Steve acknowledge Chin-Kee, symbolizing how he himself isn't acknowledging his Asian side. As Justin said as well, many of his issues are in his own head, and Danny is merely associating all his problems with his Asian roots. The Monkey King meant for Chin-Kee to serve as Jin's "conscience - as a signpost to [his] soul", intending for Jin to accept his Asian background and grow from it.