American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese

Written and Illustrated by Gene Luen Yang

Image Accessed 12/04/2013 http://geneyang.com/american-born-chinese

Summary

Jin was born in America to Chinese immigrant parents. When Jin’s family moves away from San Francisco, Jin finds himself the only Chinese American boy in his school - a lonely and isolating experience. One day a boy from Taiwan enters his class, and while Jin is embarrassed by Wei-Chen’s immigrant ways, they become best friends – until Jin betrays him in a fit of frustration and embarrassment. The Monkey King justly rules all the monkeys and reins over the lovely Flower Fruit Mountain. One night, the Monkey King gets wind of a dinner party of the gods and decides to attend, but upon arrival the Monkey King is humiliated by the party’s doorman and is not allowed in because he is not a human. Angry, the Monkey King leaps into the party, and using his phenomenal Kung Fu, beats everyone up. The Monkey King returns to his mountain and does everything he can to improve himself and prove to the other gods his own worth – but in the process he tries to stop being a monkey. Danny is a white-bread American boy who just wants to fit in, but every time he settles into a new school, his over-the-top Chinese cousin Cin-Kee (who embodies every Asian stereotype) comes to visit and ruins everything. All three stories struggle with identity and all three stories are connected – weaving together to show that being who you are is better than anything you could fake.

Critical Analysis

Its not easy being different, but in American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang weaves three separate stories that struggle with identity together to resolve with one beautiful ending that shows that accepting yourself will bring infinitely more happiness than trying to be something you are not.

            Yang’s style is fresh and full of stories within stories – filled with parables that hint at the plot twists to come! Yang’s characters embody traits that every person, from every nationality can relate to. Jin, Danny and the Monkey King all struggle against their true identity with the mistaken notion that they will not find acceptance if they are truly themselves. Jin, Danny and the Monkey King all end up hurting the people they care for as well as themselves in this struggle to fit in and end up pushing people away as they push their natural identity deeper and deeper inside themselves.

            Set in the fantastical world of mythical China as well as modern America, Yang uses his settings to show that fitting in is difficult across the board. The colorful illustrations are clean and clear allowing the message of the story to be carried by the characters expressions and words. Yang’s illustrations also reflect his own unique style – neither overtly manga influenced nor based on classic American comic book style, Yang’s illustrations are wholly his own.

            As readers follow Jin, Danny and the Monkey King on their own individual quests to become their own misguided ideal, the characters reach a moment when they are faced with who they truly are – and that’s when the masks come off. The humble monk Wong Lai-Tsao offers the Monkey King a piece of advice that set him free from his self imposed prison. Wong Lai-Tsao said that “to find your true identity is the highest of all freedoms" (Yang, 2006) and that is exactly what each character does. In the end, the Monkey King learns the freedom and pleasure of being a monkey; Jin casts off his alter ego Danny and takes the advice of “Cin-Kee” and sets about to make amends to his old friend Wei-Chen.

Connections

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is an ideal bookend for American Born Chinese, in that it too is centered on race and self-acceptance. Junior, a Spokane Indian, decides to leave the reservation school in the effort to improve himself by attending the wealthy white school where the only other Indian is the school’s mascot. Reflective of American Born Chinese, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is an illustrated humorous, heartbreaking story of identity and acceptance.

Awards

National Book Award Finalist

Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award

Eisner Award Winner

Reviews

School Library Journal - “Like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Laurence Yep’s Dragonwings, this novel explores the impact of the American dream on those outside the dominant culture in a finely wrought story that is an effective combination of humor and drama.”— Starred Review

Booklist - “Each of the characters is flawed but familiar, and, in a clever postmodern twist, all share a deep, unforeseen connection. Yang helps the humor shine by using his art to exaggerate or oppose the words, creating a synthesis that marks an accomplished graphic storyteller. The stories have a simple, engaging sweep to them, but their weighty subjects––shame, racism, and friendship––receive thoughtful, powerful examination.”

Publishers Weekly - “Yang accomplishes the remarkable feat of practicing what he preaches with this book: accept who you are and you'll already have reached out to others.”

References

Alexie, Sherman. 2007. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. New York, NY: Little Brown. ISBN 9780316013680

Publishers Weekly 06/12/2006 pg. 36 (EAN 9781596431522, Paperback)

School Library Journal 09/01/2006 pg. 240 (EAN 9781596431522, Paperback) - *Starred Review

Booklist 09/01/2006 pg. 114 (EAN 9781596431522, Paperback)

Yang, Gene Luen. 2006. American Born Chinese. New York, NY: First Second. ISBN 9781596431522