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Character Analysis: American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

725 Words3 Pages

“We are not defined by the family into which we are born, but the one we choose and create. We are not born, we become.”― Tori Spelling. In the novel American Born Chinese: By Gene Luen Yang, a novel about self insecurities and finding an identity. The colliding cultures that the Monkey King, Jin Wang, Danny and Wei Chen have all have something in common, they want to fit in. Wei Chen changes from a happy and loyal person to a heartbroken self , revealing the importance of self-acceptance. First, Wei Chen aspired to follow his father's, the Monkey King, steps and become an emissary, this would make him a human. The Monkey king reveals the rules to Wei Chen, “Emissaries of Tze-yo-tzuh serve him and all that he loves” (Yang 218), which were humans. They are his “pinnacle of his creation”(Yang 219). Without a …show more content…

An instance where Wei Chen covered Jin Wang when he went on a date with Amiela, he had to lie to Jin's mother about where he was at. In Wei Chen's usual visits to the Monkey King, he told him, “ I told a lie, father. To the mother of one of my classmates…” (Yang 218) The Monkey King answered, “WEI-CHEN you know the parameters of your test strictly forbid such behavior! Why would you do such a thing?” (Yang 218). The simple lie shattered Wei Chen. On top of that he decided to not be an emissary anymore. “All that he loves… that includes humans…..even more so than emissaries… Tze-yo-tzuh is a fool. I no longer wish to be his emissary. ( Yang 218-19). Thus Wei Chen was confused and downhearted. Wei Chen said, “I've found humans to be petty, soulless creatures. The thought of serving them sickens me”(Yang 219). On page 229 the panel shows Wei Chen his car with a side by side of the monkey Wei Chen and the human form of himself. Consequently Wei Chen was sad in his seat, his face was grim and then in the next panel showed Wei Chen smoking and

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