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Review: American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

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Journey of self-discovery “When I moved here to America, I was afraid nobody wanted to be my friend. I come from a different place. Much, much different than that. a. The number of a. This fear is essential to the novel, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang because it exhibits the terror of alienation faced by the Asian characters. Set in the 1980s and 1990s, the novel combines three different storylines that face racism to educate readers on the severe issue of social exclusion. This graphic novel, published in 2006, explores Chinese American identity, anti-Asian racism, and assimilation. American Born Chinese follows the stories of the Monkey King, a character who grapples with his pride and ignorance; Jin Wang, a Chinese American student …show more content…

Jin, a young Chinese American boy, begins his journey at a predominantly White school. He notices drastic differences in his new environment and tries to assimilate into American culture. On Jin’s first day of school, he brings out dumplings for lunch while he sits alone and feels hurt. The White American boys make fun of him and tell Jin to “stay away from my dog” (33). With this stereotype, Jin feels ashamed and embarrassed of his culture causing him to feel ashamed of his identity. His experiences of being bullied and marginalized lower his self-esteem and confidence while feeling uncertain about himself. Gradually, Jin Wang experiences the challenges of assimilating into American culture, ultimately seeking acceptance from his peers. After Jin faces issues such as racism, stereotyping, and being bullied by his classmates, he feels the pressure to assimilate the people that surround him. Simultaneously, Jin struggles to balance his Chinese heritage and his desire to conform to American customs. One day, Jin arrives at school with curly, permed hair, instead of his usual straight hair as he tries to discover his physical identity

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At school Deming is viewed as a white student: “Being surrounded by other Chinese people had become so strange. In high school, kids said they never thought of him as Asian or Roland as Mexican, like it was a compliment” (20). His peers see him as a model minority, someone who fits Asian-American stereotypes of always doing well academically. However, Deming doesn’t fit the cultural expectations and instead struggles with motivation in school. There is an internal conflict between Deming’s racial difference and his identity.

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A student walks to lunch with a homemade meal, excited to eat his food. He feels alienated as others walk by and comment about his food and Asian identity. It makes it hard for him to fit in, he feels embarrassed and thinks he needs to change. Jin Wang struggles with his own identity in the book American born Chinese. While searching for a way to fit in he meets others and navigates through school to find his true self.

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Faced with stereotypes in America, Lee is also tormented in China for his American nationality and lack of modern cultural awareness. Both communities view Lee and Chinese-Americans as “others”, refusing to fully accept them culturally or socially. Lee is foreign everywhere, since he is not a white American or a Chinese citizen. Only able to find solidarity in the community of “othered” Chinese-Americans, Lee feels more accepted in America than in China. However, those that only see Lee for his ethnicity and not for his inner person are racist against him because he does not fit the mold of what a “perfect” American is supposed to look and sound like.

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Jin Wang has an idea to change his hair. The next morning at school he has an interaction between his friends. Suzy says,” Jin?... Wei Chin jumps in,” why is your hair… MMPH.”... Suzy intervenes,” Nothing nice perm.”

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Did you know that two-thirds of the young population feel pressured to look a certain way? American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel about Jin Wang, an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his home life. By using character and composition, Yang emphasizes transformation through the change in Jin’s actions and determination, indicating he feels pressured to assimilate to feel socially accepted. Through character development, Yang depicts Jin’s transformation through his actions as in American-born Chinese.

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In the novel “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang (2006), it talks about three different people’s stories. The author starts off with telling a story about a monkey called the Monkey King, who lives in the jungle, seeking for higher power to become considered a god in the book. The author also tells a story about an American born Chinese boy named Jin Wang, who moves from San Francisco and struggles with fitting in at a new school. The last story the author tells is about a boy named Danny who has his cousin Chin-Kee from China visit every year. Danny ends up struggling to keep his reputation in adequate shape at school after his cousin visits causing him to switch schools often.

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Jin is faced with being one of the very few Asians at his Junior High School, while everyone else is American. Of course Jin is going to feel out of sorts, especially when his teacher introduces him to the class as “Jin Jang”, and saying “He and his family moved to our neighborhood all the way from China”, when Jin’s real name is Jin Wang and his family moved from San Francisco (30). Gene Luen Yang uses this humility to display that it takes a considerable amount of open

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However, it still exists in our community and we see it everywhere. American Born Chinese by Luen Yang is a graphic novel that has a large idea behind the book which Transformation and understanding identity. American Born Chinese consists of three different storylines and each storyline has a different character that tries to fit into society and also be able to transfer back to his culture. The three main characters are ashamed of who they are. According

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In conclusion, American Born Chinese successfully uses plot elements to have multiple effects on readers. All three stories use parallel plots because they are different perspectives and stories put together to create a bigger story. Jin-Wang’s story uses foreshadowing by having details that relate to the Monkey King. Lastly, the Monkey King’s story uses conflict and keeps the readers wanting to know how the conflict is dealt with. All three plot elements were successfully used to create emotions within the

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