In American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, the main character, Jin, struggles with identity issues that are often reinforced by the people he interacts with. The kids at school bully and stereotype him, calling him slurs and accusing him of eating cats and dogs. As a result, he has a very poor opinion of himself and gets defensive about anything related to his heritage. When Wei-Chun arrives, Jin is very skeptical of him at first and tries to make him speak English. Essentially, he treats Wei-Chun the way that white kids treat him. This does a lot to show how racist stereotypes really affect the people that they are inflicted on. Jin is so insecure about his identity that he takes it out on someone who, by all accounts, he should be able to empathize with. Jin being able to put aside his perceptions and fears in order to befriend Wei-Chun.
The part of the novel depicting the story of Danny and Chin-Kee also goes a long way to prove that racist stereotypes are prevalent and how people often cope with them by reinventing themselves. Jin perms his hair and tries to act like he doesn't have any ties to his culture because he's so scared of how people will treat him if he doesn't conform. "Danny" is very embarrassed by Chin-Kee and all that he represents, not to mention how he doesn't seem to understand the cultural norms that Danny wants him to. Chin-Kee represents the part of Jin's identity that he's ashamed of and wants to leave behind.
The biggest change comes when it is revealed that Chin-Kee is part of Danny all along and that their story is a metaphor for how Jin feels. He can try to change himself as much as he wants, but he will never feel better until he accepts the part of him that he dislikes and that others made fun of. Jin dismantles his own stereotypes of how he believes he's supposed to act by accepting the reality of who he is and the fact that it doesn't make him worth anything different than others.
I agree that identity is a prevalent issue within the graphic novel, but Jin’s identity could be further examined. Jin feels like an outsider because he is the minority in his school. I believe that Jin perms his hair because he is scared of how people will treat him. He does so because he is tired of how people treat him. The past times he was bullied for being Asian, he never expressed that he was scared of being treated that way. The facial expressions he shows, before deciding to come to school the next day with permed hair, was seen in being filled with anger, annoyance, and determination. The push for this appearance change was due to the bullies making a racist remark, “You’re right! I’m gettin’ gook bumps” (Yang 96). When Jin decides to perm his hair, he does so in the hopes of looking like the blonde, curly-haired white guy that Amelia is friends with. His insecurities get the best of him, and he starts second-guessing the physical features that make him look significantly different from Amelia’s friend. The artwork on page 97 proves that he desires to look like the guy. Jin already feels embarrassed and insecure from what he said to Amelia when they were in science class, but he feels even more insecure from the racist statement the kids walking by made. It proves that one statement can make a large impact on an individual and especially when it targets an individual’s identity.
ReplyDeleteYang’s novel does a fantastic job demonstrating how its characters attempt to run away from their origins, but I feel his novel does an even better job at showing how running away is impossible. When the Monkey King encounters Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the creator of all life, he realizes the hard way that he can never escape Tze-Yo-Tzuh’s grasp. The Monkey King discovers this truth after fleeing from Tze-Yo-Tzuh and finding five golden pillars, which the Monkey King learns are Tze-Yo-Tzuh’s fingers after he vandalizes one of the pillars (Yang 78). Tze-Yo-Tzuh proceeds to explain to the Monkey King, “I do not make mistakes, little monkey. A monkey I intended you to be. A monkey you are” (Yang 81).
ReplyDeleteThe impossibility of running from one’s origins is further developed through Danny and Jin (who turn out to be the same character). Danny constantly feels embarrassment over his “cousin” Chin-kee. He blames Chin-kee (who represents the truth Jin tries to run away from) for always ruining his life. Danny explains, “He comes for a week or two…talking his stupid talk and eating his stupid food. Embarrassing the crap out of me. By the time he leaves, no one thinks of me as Danny anymore. I’m Chin-kee’s cousin. It gets so bad by the end of the school year that I have to switch schools” (Yang 127). Jin learns that despite transforming into Danny and changing schools, the truth always follows. Jin learns that rather than being feared, the truth must be embraced.