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The Theme Of Identity Crisis In Gene Luen Yang's 'American Born Chinese'

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Gene Luen Yang's “American Born Chinese” explores the identity crisis and coming-of-age story of Jin, the main character in the story. Jin moves from Chinatown, San Francisco, to the suburbs. When moving schools, the students bully him for being Chinese and tease him because of his identity. In addition, the monkey king is prohibited from attending a party for gods simply because he is a monkey. The monkey king and Jin encounter parallel elements in their stories, as they both learn that they should embrace their identities instead of trying to be someone they're not. First, they both change their appearance to fit in with others around them, later they learn to accept their appearance. Next, they both end up in difficult settings but end up in more …show more content…

The monkey king attends a party for gods, but the guards at the door deny him access because he is a monkey. The guard also teases the monkey king because he is not wearing shoes. On page 60 the monkey king changes his appearance by becoming taller and more human-like to fit in with the gods. In addition, on page 56, he also starts to wear shoes to show he's more human-like. Meanwhile, Jin has a crush on a girl in his class named Amelia. He notices a guy talking to her and can make her laugh and smile. The guy talking to Amelia has a perm and is white. His name is Greg. On page 97, Jin decides to get a perm because Greg has one and that influenced Jin to get one to get closer to Amelia and fit in with his white classmates. In the end, Jin and the monkey king learn to accept their appearance. On page 159, the monkey king frees himself from the pile of rocks he's under by being his true self. This shows that he is finally ready to accept how he looks. On page 214, Jin changes back into his true self instead of his white self (Danny). Therefore, both of the characters end up accepting their true

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In the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, three separate perspectives are told in the same story. The first point of view is about a Monkey King who just wants to fit in with the humans. The next story is about a teenager named Jin Wang who has very few friends, however bonds with a new student named Wei Chen Sun. The final story is about two boys named Danny and Chin Kee. Danny has a love-hate relationship throughout the novel because of Chin Kee’s stereotypes that embarrass him.

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American Born Chinese is a story about Jin, an American with Chinese roots, who struggles with his identity - self-conscious about how he looks, sounds, and acts. Jin divides into three different identities; Jin his overall identity, Danny his typical American side, and Chin-Kee his racist stereotype Chinese side. This book is split into three different stories that represent the three different identities, The Monkey King’s story, Jin’s story, and Danny and Chin-Kee’s story. In the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang uses symbolism and literary elements to illustrate struggling with your identity can lead to a better understanding of who you are and where you came from. Jin is faced with racial discrimination, not fitting

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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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