In American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, the role of the Monkey King narrative
serves as an inspiration for Jin to reidentify himself. The narrative begins
with the Monkey King mastering the “Four Major Heavenly Disciplines,” where he
learns to be an effective fighter (Yang 10-11). These disciplines allow the
monkey king to gang strength and be an effective leader to his monkeys.
However, when the Monkey King attempts to enter a dinner party that turns him
down, after accepting every other leader and even demons, the Monkey King feels
insecure of his identity. The scene closes with the last panel displaying the Monkey
King in pitch black lighting (20), which displays how desolate and alone he
feels in his own skin.
Jin Wang has a similar
crisis with his own identity when his family moves and he begins to attend
Mayflower Elementary School. Jin realizes that he is one of only two Asian
students in his class (31), leaving him to feel excluded from the group, just
as the monkey did at the dinner party. On the first day of recess, panels
display all the white kids at the school having fun playing tether ball, four
square, and tag (32). On a panel just below these kids, Jin sits by himself at
the end of a long picnic table eating dumplings (32). The fact that Jin is
sitting on a long table, meant for a big group, all by himself, demonstrates how
alone he truly is, relating his own feelings to those of the Monkey King.
Because the Monkey King
feels so alone and unworthy as a monkey, he feels as though he needs to change
his identity in order to fit in. As a result, the Monkey King then masters the “Four
Disciplines of Bodily Form,” including shape shifting, a way to actually transform
his outer appearance (58). The Monkey King believes that if he is no longer a
monkey, the gods, goddesses and demons will actually respect him. He even goes
as far as to change his name to “The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven” (60),
enabling him to completely strip himself of his identity as a monkey.
The Monkey King’s
transformation in image and identity provides hope and inspiration for Asian
Americans like Jin, who believe they can change their identity to fit in. As
Jin continues to feel left out from the white kids at his school, he decides he
needs to conform to the appearances of those around him. He decides to change
his hair to curly like Greg’s, hoping that this change will influence his crush,
Amelia, to go out with him (97). However, he realizes that this change is not
drastic enough, as he still feels like
an outcast among the white boys at his school. In particular, Greg, who had
previously stood up for him, asks him to not ask Amelia out again because he
thinks it will ruin her reputation (179). Therefore, just like the Monkey King completely
changes his image and identity, Jin wishes he were a white boy and changes his
name to Danny to complete his transformation (198). This transformation allows Jin
to finally feel as though he belongs, instead of feeling lonely like he and the
Monkey King did before they transformed their identities.
I agree with you that the stories of the Monkey King and Jin share many similarities. I found the parallel between the two characters in how they become motivated to transform their identities to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of American Born Chinese, both Jin and the Monkey King are happy with their lives. The Monkey King lives on Flower-Fruit Mountain, where he is a “deity in his own right,” and he is pictured smiling in the graphic novel (8). He is happy being among his fellow monkeys, and it is not until the Monkey King is insulted and told that there is something wrong with being a monkey that he is upset. After being denied from the heavenly dinner party, he goes back to his home where “the thick smell of monkey fur greeted him. He’d never noticed it before” (20). It is from this moment that he determines to change himself.
Jin, on the other hand, grows up in San Francisco Chinatown. He is surrounded by other Asian-Americans and has no issue befriending them. However, Jin becomes unhappy when he moves homes and attends Mayflower Elementary School. At the new school, Suzy Nakamura is the only other Asian in Jin’s class, and the two “avoided each other as much as possible” (31). Being in an environment that is dominated by white, American culture, Jin is ashamed of his identity and heritage. Similar to the Monkey King, he is unhappy when he becomes envious of his new peers.
I completely see the same parallel. In some regards, there is a parallel between Jin, the Monkey King, Danny, and even Wei-Chen. Each one of these characters undergoes a transformation in the novel as a result of how other characters treat them. Though the Monkey King’s and Jin’s transformations are the most dramatic, each character changes due to ridicule or adversity from other characters in the novel. For example, Danny, who is truly Jin, transforms back into Jin once realizing he cannot escape his true identity, which can be seen in the grotesquely exaggerated and offensive form of Chin-Kee. Though Jin just wants to be an All-American boy, his transformation into Danny removes him so far from his roots that he suddenly thinks that people would think he’s like Chin-Kee if he owned his Asian-American status. Wei-Chen then also separates from his roots and decides to be selfish rather than serve Tze-Yo-Tzuh because he realizes how divisive, “petty” and even “soulless,” people can be (Yang 219). These conflicts clearly parallel the adversity that many Asian-Americans or non-majority people feel when coming to a white-dominated school. Assimilation is a very real, unfair pressure, and this novel perfectly demonstrates the pressure to conform and even hatred that people in the minority feel, even if they are originally born in the United States.
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