Stereotypes In American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

Stereotypes are ridiculously inaccurate and even so they are the cause of many misconceptions, especially about race. In the book American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang a Chinese character named Chin-Kee comes to stay with his cousin Danny in San Francisco. Danny is thoroughly embarrassed by Chin-Kee and doesn't want to be associated with him. Chin-Kee is the manifestation of many stereotypes other people have about people in the Asian community. When Chin-Kee comes to Danny's predominantly white school he’s judged and mocked by the other students. The illustrations that Yang utilizes in the book add to how unnatural Chin-Kee is, something that words alone could not accomplish. Gene Luen Yang, the author of American Born Chinese, draws focus

When we first meet Chin-Kee he’s depicted as larger than life bursting into Danny’s home. Chin-Kee is drawn wearing traditional Chinese clothing. He has his hands tucked in his sleeves and his luggage is Chinese food takeout boxes(48). The clothing he wears is not the type most people of Asian descent wear every day, it’s worn to certain events or on special occasions. By making it Chin-Kee’s only outfit the author made it seem like his only personality trait is being Asian and he doesn't exist as anything else. Additionally, he wears his hair slicked back in a long braid. His teeth are huge and buck out and to top it all off has extremely slanted eyes which look like they’re closed(48). These unnatural proportions of his facial features make Chin-Kee seem inhuman, further perpetuating the stereotype Asian people aren't human, but a separate race entirely. Yang was wise when they decided to make American Born Chinese a graphic novel because Chin-Kee wouldn’t have as much of an impact if he was just words on a page. All in all when Gene Luen Yang was deciding how to depict Chin-Kee he chose to make him look like an exaggerated stereotype of how people think Asian people look

When Chin-Kee and Danny are eating lunch in the cafeteria many of their peers are disgusted by Chin-Kee’s lunch. Chin-Kee is depicted to be eating cat gizzards. “Would cousin Da-Nee rike to tly Chin-Kee’s clispy field cat gizzards wiff noodle?”(114). Chin-Kee eating fried cat gizzards mirrors the stereotype of Asian people having strange, disgusting, and outlandish food just because they sometimes eat a different type of food than people in other places do. By choosing to have him eat cat gizzards Gene Luen Yang exaggerated the stereotype so people could see how ridiculous and unrealistic it seems in real life. It also furthers Chin-Kee’s stereotypically Asian speech patterns. Moreover later in the story when Chin-Kee and Danny get into a fight Chin-Kee is seen to fight back using a method that's heavily associated with Asian culture. He attacks Danny using some kind of martial arts. He stands and strikes like he’s from an action movie (207). Martial arts originated thousands of years ago in various Asian countries and have evolved over time. However nowadays martial arts have become associated with Asian culture and Asian people. It is known as a part of Asian culture, but some people assume that just because a person is of Asian origin they know some kind of martial arts. Therefore Chin-Kee who is essentially a living stereotype does know martial arts, furthering