Have you ever felt like nobody understand you and judge you because of how you look or where you from? That is what Jin and The Monkey King experience in American Born Chinese. This is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yong about stereotypes, discrimination and trying to fit in. The Monkey King, a monkey came from a rock, and Jin, an Asian grew up in America, are the main characters in this novel. They both have experienced the unfair because of who they are. In American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yong, the development of the Monkey King and Jin is similar throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, the development of the Monkey King and Jin is similar because they both experienced the prejudice. The Monkey King went to the heaven’s dinner but he got rejected for not wearing shoes and being a monkey. The guard said “Look. You may be a King - you may even be a deity - but you are still a monkey.” (15) Also, Jin attended new school and had a bad welcoming because he is Chinese. One of his classmates said “My momma says Chinese people eat dogs.” (31) This …show more content…
After the dinner, the Monkey King started to hate his monkey smell and locked himself in the inner to studied kung-fu. On page 60, the Monkey King changed his form from short to tall and he wore shoes. He looked like a human than before. Jin, after changing his hair, still wanted to change to someone else. On page 194, Jin suddenly changed. His hair became blonde and he got taller. And he called himself Danny. This reveals that they both tried to fit in their community by changing themselves. The Monkey King changed his form-shape, wore shoes and thought that he is not a monkey. Jin became Danny, a completely different person, and thought people would accept him. Yet they felt helpless because nothing changed. The Monkey King and Jin both tried to be accepted in their
Gene Luen Yang’s writing style in his graphic novel, American Born Chinese, demonstrate great technique of suspense and foreshadowing. Yang grew up with two parents who were an electrical engineer from Taiwan and a programmer who grew up in Hong Kong and Taiwan, both of whom emigrated to the United States. His experiences follow this book’s plot and his writing style follows exactly how he may have felt during that part of his life. His parents helped give him a strong work ethic and reinforced their Asian culture to make sure he was never ashamed of where he came from.
Jin Wang was born in America but is also Chinese. He faces some difficulties with racism and stereotypes as he grows up. He just moved to a new school from San Francisco. The teacher introduces him to the class and says,” Class, I'd like us all to give a warm Mayflower Elementary welcome to your new friend and Classmate Jin Wang...He and his family recently moved to our neighborhood all the way from China!”(30). Jin has this look on his face of annoyance. Like, did she actually say this. She is too ignorant to ask so she just assumed that since he is Chinese, that he must be from China. He was born in America. This just shows how ignorant people are about other cultures. It makes it even harder to fit in if people don't even care where you're from and just make assumptions. Jin now experiences this first hand. He tries so hard to fit in and be normal. He goes as far as changing his hair to match the guys hair that Amelia likes. When he isn't noticed as much he wants to become someone else, someone who will fit in. He wakes up in the morning a new person, as he has transformed into someone he is not, he thinks to himself,”A new face deserved a new name. I decided to call myself...Danny”(198). He changed his race he didn't like his heritage and cultures so much
What this novel does not touch on is the harsh levels of discrimination that some Asian-American families faced during the 20th centuries, some people telling at them to go back to Vietnam, Korea, or wherever they came from, some refusing service, perhaps throwing them out for being different, similarly to how African-Americans were treated during that time, and similar to how some Muslims are being treated today. However, more insidious than moments of outright hostility, and maybe more powerful, are the constant weak reminders that you’re different, that you’re not one of them. The “sign at the Peking Express” (Ng 193), the “little boys on the playground, stretching their eyes to slits with their fingers” (Ng 193), you even “saw it when waitresses and policemen and bus drivers spoke slowly to you, in simple words, as if you might not understand” (Ng 193). All these tiny things, these little reminders that you’re not the same as everyone else around you, may have more impact on the people being discriminated against than blatant in-your-face
Characterization is the first step needed to create develop. Unlike “The Lottery,” “The Monkey’s Paw” has a very limited number of characters. Thankfully, the limited count does not hinder characterization within this story. In fact, it enhances it. “The Lottery” has very little dialogue, This is a mistake. Jacobs shows the proper way to characterize by including more dialogue and giving each character more time in the spotlight For example, there are four characters in the lottery: Mr White. Mrs. White, Sergeant Major Morris, and Herbert White. Characterization is indirectly made just by Mr. and Mrs. White both struggling internally and externally during the story’s climax. “It’s my boy: it’s Herbert!” the woman cried. Meanwhile, Mr. White begs his wife not to “let it
Stories and stereotypes make many people want to change themselves negatively and assimilate just to fit in with society. As time passes, society’s stereotypes for how people of each race should be, which race is more dominant than others, and which race you should be, all play a role in impacting someone’s self-esteem and their insecurities. This is portrayed through Jin Wang, a main character in Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese” when Jin Wang thinks his crush, Amelia, he instantly becomes happy. But then he thinks about Greg and Amelia together and gets mad. He finally zooms into Greg’s blond hair. The next day he goes to school with the same hairstyle. The hair symbolizes Greg’s all American identity because the stereotypical American is portrayed with blond hair and blue eyes. To Jin Wang, this hair symbolizes what he wants to be, so he changed his hair to an “American” hairstyle to get Amelia to like him. Due to stereotypes about how Americans are suppose to look like, Jin Wang feels insecure about himself and wants to change his identity and himself as well to assimilate into American culture and stereotypes. These stereotypes and the Anti-Asian stereotypes impact Jin Wang greatly and make him hate himself as well as his background and where he came from because he believes that in order to be AMerica, you have to be white. Another way that this is portrayed is from a personal experience I had as a kid. Growing up as an Asian kid in America, I didn’t really know
I have really not had the opportunity to read graphic narratives or novels, comic books or anime. It was really interesting to read this week’s chosen book which was a graphic novel titles American Born Chinese. I was really excited to actually see the story of the Monkey King because growing up as a child that was one of the favorite T.V shows that I truly enjoyed from the start to the end of each episode. After reading this book, I have really given much appreciation to the authors of graphic novels or narratives. The story in the book American Born Chinese, is mainly about Jin but has other stories as well within the book. It initially starts with story of the Monkey King, and then it switches to Jin’s story in the second chapter. The story then switches to Danny’s story with a repetition of the same pattern.
While reading through different non-fiction essays, one that left a great impact on my thoughts was “I’m a Banana and Proud of It” by Wayson Choy. Choy gives his story as a North American citizen with a Chinese background. Families pushed for their children to belong in North America, causing children to be labelled as “Bananas” for being “yellow on the outside and white on the inside” (Choy); a term to describe people in Choy’s generation who assimilated very well into the American culture. Many teenagers like him were attracted to the American culture and strayed from their Chinese culture. Although at the same time, they didn’t feel like they belonged as an American due to looking Chinese. People had difficulties placing themselves in one
The tale “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luch Wang depicts the story of three characters, Monkey, Jin, and Danny. They all have the problem of fitting into their new environments. Jin Wang has to deal with Asian stereotypes. Danny has to deal with embarrassment of his cousin. Lastly, Monkey has to deal with the fact that there is no position for him in the heavenly ranks. However, over time, these characters have to come together to fit in. Yet the question remains: what exactly about fitting in is the problem? Although Jin Wang takes the form of Danny to reject his Chinese roots, the embarrassment of Chin-Knee shows he cannot hide behind a false American identity, thereby delineating that race is the source of his problem.
I disagree that in the first half of American Born Chinese, Wei-Chen was Jin Wang’s foil and in the second half, he was Jin Wang’s antagonist. I believe that Wei-Chen is the foil throughout the entire story. This is because Wei-Chen never purposely tries to make things more difficult for Jin, yet still reveals things about him. Wei-Chen is everything Jin is not. He embraces his cultural roots, while Jin tries to block them out entire. Wei-Chen represents “F.O.B.” Asian-Americans, which initially makes Jin not want to be seen with him or associated with him, as he is trying so hard to seem like a normal American. Later in the book, Jin turns into a jerk because Wei-Chen never betrays his trust and does everything in his power to help him. In
Gene Luen Yang, the author who wrote American Born Chinese, hopes to create a sense of belonging for those who have been marginalized in American society by telling his story. During his lecture, he makes a point that “Comics [can] handle sophisticated material in sophisticated ways” which is why he chose to write American Born Chinese in a graphic novel format. American Born Chinese is about a character named Jin Wang and his experience growing up in
THESIS - When evaluating Arnold “Junior” Spirit from Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Jin Wang from Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, similarities radiate in both characters as their disparity in race deem the two of them as outcasts in the entirety of society. In addition to their lack of social interactions, their uniformity in their impulsive decisions cost them each a dear friend. Although Junior and Jin are quite similar, they share differences in the way Junior tries bettering himself by fitting into both his Indian and Reardan culture whereas Jin changes himself in every possible way to become Americanized.
Frank Chin has been the most vocal critic of Kingston's who accused her "of reinforcing white fantasies about Chinese Americans" (Chin, 1991) and claimed that writers like Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan and David Henry Hwang who won approval of the American white readers deliberately distorted the image of Chinese American to reinforce stereotypes and cater to the fantasies of American readers about a traditionalist Chinese culture. (Frank Chin, 1991, pp. 3-29)
At the end of they story the Monkey has a huge change in mind set due to some help.. The Monkey changes when Hsuang-tsang gives him a second chance to prove himself. Hsuang-tsang stays within the same morals and values of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The qualities of forgivenes are in each path to
In the story “Two Kinds”, author Amy Tan, who is a Chinese-American, describes the conflicts in the relationship of a mother and daughter living in California. The protagonist in this story Jing-mei Woo’s mother is born and raised in China, and immigrates to the United States to escape from the Chinese Civil War. For many years she maintained complete Chinese traditional values, and has been abided by it deliberately. This kind of traditional Chinese culture has also affected her daughter profoundly. However, Jing-mei is born and raised in the United States. Despite she has a Chinese mother; she is unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Chinese
The story begins on a rainy evening with Mrs. White, Mr. White, and their son Herbert gathered in the parlor. Mrs. White is sitting in her chair knitting as she looks on as her husband is losing to Herbert in a game of chess. From the inside, Mr. White can hear the footsteps of someone walking along their walkway and onto their porch. Mr. White immediately gets up to answer the door and is happy to see his longtime friend Sergeant-major Morris. Mr. White introduces Sergeant-major Morris to his wife and son and invites him into the parlor where they could have drinks. After a couple of drinks, Sergeant-major Morris begins entertaining the family about his adventures in India, when Mr. White