Stereotypes In American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

The outcome of the recent 2016 presidential election has sparked fear about the future in those who aren’t white, male, and Christian. As a result of this fear, a lot of the people who don’t fit in with this group are trying to change who they are to avoid confirming the negative stereotypes some Americans believe about other cultures. In American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, the character Jin, a Chinese-American boy, struggles to distance himself from the stereotypes pushed on him by the students and teachers at his new school. Out of fear that he many confirm the stereotypes, Jin attempts to change himself to fit in with what he believes to be the ideal, a white American boy. In Jin's attempt to fit into the mold set out

The looks of confusion and disgust on their faces combined with the reaction they have to something as simple as dumplings makes Jin feel like his culture is weird and unacceptable. This interaction provoked a change in Jin. On the next page, he is pictured again at lunch, but this time he is pictured eating a sandwich. This change may seem small, but it says a lot about how desperate Jin is to fit in. Even though he knows that he’s not eating dog and he knows that it's not weird to eat dumplings for lunch, Jin doesn’t want to be seen as different, so he changes everything that could make him seem more Asian, including the food he

Greg’s smiling face, which is pictured as being physically above Jin, who looks dull and sad, represents how Jin views American culture compared to Chinese culture. He sees Greg, who symbolizes American culture, as better than him while he sees himself, the Chinese boy, as inferior to him. To make himself seem more American and less like a foreigner, Jin begins wearing his hair in the same style as Greg. Even though Jin still looks Chinese, his new hair becomes a source of confidence for