How does Jin Wang change throughout the graphic novel American Born Chinese? Why does he change, and what is his motivation for change? Jin wang is a young, Asian male who, at the beginning of the novel, is absolutely okay with his personality and race. But, as he and his parents move to a different location and he enrolls into a new school, his idea of being himself was completely distraught. He wanted to be like the other kids who attended his school: “American”. So, he goes through many changes throughout the novel, from changing his hair to even losing his best friend. But, what are the deeper motivations behind all of his actions? And what happens when he finally is comfortable with himself? What can we take away from his story? Well, …show more content…
He changes his hair because the girl he likes was talking to a boy that has curly hair, he stops being friends with Wei Chen because he’s Asian, and he get’s a short term girlfriend. Jin is confronted with multiple conflicts throughout the story. One such conflict is when he likes Amelia, a fellow student at his school, and wants to ask her out. He eventually asks her out when he discovers Wei Chen and she were locked in the janitorial supplies room, relieving the conflict. Another instance of conflict is the moment when he and Amelia were at the movies, and he realized he wasn’t wearing deodorant. His parents didn’t buy it for him since they didn’t use it when they lived in Asia, another instance of Jin regretting he was Asian, adding to Jin’s hatred of his culture. Jin then essentially creates his own conflict when he perms his hair and accuses Amelia, his girlfriend at the time, of liking Greg, a stereotypical “American” kid who is our antagonist in the story and friend of Amelia. They broke up after this ordeal. So, after …show more content…
This pretty much mixes into a fantastic combination of internal and external conflicts that create a perfect balance and amazing character Development. At the end of Jin’s character arch, we see him being transformed into an “all-American kid” by the herbalist’s wife from the beginning of the story. This then transitions into the story of “Danny and Chin-Kee”, which follows a kid whose stereotypical cousin from China visits him every year and causes havoc at his school, causing him to transfer schools every year. At the end of the “Danny and Chin-Kee” story, we see that Chin-Kee is actually the Monkey King. We then discover that Wei Chen Sun was actually the Monkey KIng’s son, sent to Earth to live and learn with the humans. But, after Wei Chen was no longer friends with Jin, he went on to live a selfish human life. Danny eventually transforms back into Jin after discovering this, and meets up with Wei Chen at a local Asian restaurant. Jin, at the end of the story learns that being yourself is always the best way to be yourself. He learns to never change to fit in, that you should always be proud of yourself, and to never change to fit other people’s