American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

Hook. Gene Luen Yang's parallel narrative graphic novel American Born Chinese explores the story of a young American boy of Chinese origin, Jin Wang, who struggles to fit in at a new school. In the short story Linh Lai by Rebecca Rosenblum, Linh Lai, a Vietnamese high school student, moves to Toronto to finish school and live with her uncle. There she is given new names by those around her, confusing her about her identity. The short story The Paper Menagerie, written by Ken Lui, follows Jack, a mixed-race boy, half-Chinese and half-white, who refuses to embrace his Chinese heritage distancing himself from his mother. These are all Western stories written about young characters of Asian descent. Throughout their lives the characters follow

When Jin is upset on his way to his new home, he is comforted by an old Chinese parable making him feel closer to his mother. Jin is sitting in the back of his car with a tear running down his face (Yang 23). His mother tells him the story of a Chinese boy whose mother makes him move often but in each place new place he stays he can learn new skills in order to adapt to the environment (24). With the use of their culture, she is able to alleviate his worries about moving. It proves to him that no matter where he goes there are always ways to fit in. That makes him feel more confident in who he is. Jin also feels no shame and is accepting of his Asian background when he lived in San Francisco Chinatown for nine years. In a large panel covering the span of the page, Jin is shown enjoying playing with a group of three friends close to his age (26). He then is seen visiting a Chinese herbalist who he spends hours talking to (27). Through these interactions, it is clear that in Chinatown Jin feels well integrated into society. Since he feels it is somewhere he feels he belongs, he is comfortable being himself around his friends. Overall, when he feels no shame he is able to have healthy relationships with those around him rather than

When she moves from Vietnam to Canada her uncle gives her a new name as a strategy to assimilate her into Western society. He calls her Jinny but she quickly “notices that all white Jinnys have a different sound in their names from the ihh in hers” (Rosenblum 1). In his attempt to make her fit in better with girls in her new school, he instead gives her an unconventional name making her feel even more alienated. The act of calling her Jinnny rather than her real name Linh gives Lihn the impression that she should hide her Vietnamese identity. When she applies for a job at a Vietnamese restaurant her boss gives her another new name to appear more authentic to customers. He chooses the name Xing which turns out to be “not a Vietnamese name [and], not a Canadian name” but what she calls a “no-name” (3). In contrast to her uncle, her boss was now expecting her to act more Vietnamese. Neither of the opposed opinions of how Linh should express herself is her genuine self. This puts pressure on Linh to abide by others' directions as she is ashamed to show her true identity. The shame of not being true to herself put on by others has a negative effect on how she expresses her