American Born Chinese Tone of Funny
American Born Chinese
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Publisher: First Second Books
Publishing date: 2006
Awards:Michael L. Printz Award (2007); Eisner Award (2007)
The Idea
Three storylines focus on the prideful Monkey King of Chinese mythology; Jin Wang, a middle-school Chinese-American who just wants to fit in; and Danny, a high school sports star embarrassed by his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee.
The Blurb
American Born Chinese is an excellent novel that delivers superb content within an appealing, amusing format. The graphic novel form of the story is very effective in securing an audience and then presenting that audience with pertinent topics and lessons the audience should consider, such as overwhelming crushes, unintentional bullying, intentional bullying, arguing with friends, and insecurities about where one comes from.
Recommended read?
Totally
Recommended for analysis?
Totally
Bookshelf Rating?
Read an explanation of the Bookshelf Rating system here.
Warning! Spoilers beyond this point.
The Story
American Born Chinese follows three separate storylines that alternate and eventually tie together. The first storyline follows the Monkey King and takes place in a Chinese mythological setting. The Monkey King is a deity in his own right and is the master of many disciplines, but when he is kicked out of a party in Heaven for not wearing shoes, he becomes dissatisfied with his life as a monkey. He starts trying to prove himself to the gods and goddesses, but they all say he is still a monkey. The Monkey King becomes angry and begins to bully the other gods so they won't treat him like a monkey, and the gods call upon the Supreme God (Tze-Yo-Tzuh, or "He Who Is") to solve the problem. Tze-Yo-Tzuh tries to explain to the Monkey King that he created him a monkey on purpose and he shouldn't try to be anything else. When the Monkey King refuses to listen, Tze-Yo-Tzuh sadly buries the Monkey King beneath a mountain of rock for centuries. Eventually, Tze-Yo-Tzuh commissions a monk to carry out a task and tells him to enlist the Monkey King as his disciple. At first the Monkey King refuses, but then he embraces himself as a monkey and is freed. He becomes the monk's disciple, and his story eventually intertwines with the other stories at the end of the book.
The second storyline follows Jin Wang, the middle-school age American-born son of Chinese immigrants. He starts going to a new school and tries desperately to fit in. He makes friends with Wei-Chen Sun, a Taiwanese immigrant, and the two boys deal with what all boys deal with in middle school: girls. Jin Wang is infatuated with a girl named Amelia, but he thinks she likes a boy named Greg. Jin Wang perms his hair to look like Greg's curly blonde hair, and eventually scores a date with Amelia (with Wei-Chen's help). When Greg afterwards approaches Jin Wang and says he shouldn't hang out with Amelia because it jeopardizes her reputation (because of Jin Wang's race), Jin Wang is crushed. He essentially spirals out of control, kisses Wei-Chen's girlfriend, and insults Wei-Chen for being an immigrant. They are no longer friends, and Jin Wang's story connects with the other two in the end. (Most complicated summary yet…)
The third and final storyline follows Danny, a high school sports star with an incredibly annoying and "stereotypical" Chinese cousin named Chin-Kee. Danny dreads Chin-Kee's annual Fall visits as he acts so "Chinese" and embarrasses him throughout his school. Danny has transferred schools every year since 8th grade because he doesn't want people to associate him with Chin-Kee, and he has finally had enough of his cousin. He gets angry and starts to beat Chin-Kee up, and this is where things get a little weird.
Chin-Kee turns out to be the Monkey King in disguise. Danny is actually Jin Wang imagining himself as a "normal American teenager." Wei-Chen is the Monkey King's son, who was sent to Earth to live with humans as a test of virtue. After Jin Wang's betrayal, though, Wei-Chen abandoned his mission and has become wild. The Monkey King began masquerading as Chin-Kee to help Jin Wang through his insecurities about being Chinese. In the end, Jin Wang finds Wei-Chen, apologizes, and begins their friendship anew.
The Evaluation
American Born Chinese is an excellent novel that delivers superb content within an appealing, amusing format.
American Born Chinese is an excellent novel that delivers superb content within an appealing, amusing format. This book would be extremely attractive to teenagers for many reasons. Firstly, the presence of pictures is an automatic draw since our culture is so visually stimulated. Secondly, the novel actually takes very little time to read and is very easy to understand; this appeals to middle- and high-school students because they often cite lack of time as a reason they do not read. Thirdly, the novel is funny, especially the pictures. Physical comedy doesn't often come through in a text-based novel, but it can in a graphic novel. The bra on Jin Wang's head on page 35, the Monkey King peeing on the Golden Pillars on page 75, and the many times the Monkey King gets his head harmlessly cut off are just a few examples of the visual comic appeal of this novel.
Physical comedy doesn't often come through in a text-based novel, but it can in a graphic novel.
All these elements will attract teenagers to read this book, and then they will find very relevant issues: overwhelming crushes, unintentional bullying, intentional bullying, arguing with friends, and insecurities about where one comes from. The form of the novel is very effective in securing an audience and then presenting that audience with pertinent topics and lessons the audience should consider.
T he Analysis
Character Development
Jin-Wang's insecure character is very well developed in this novel. As one reads through the three separate stories, one may wonder why there are these three stories in one book. At the end, we realize Danny doesn't actually exist; or rather, he is who Jin-Wang wishes he could be. The reader doesn't understand this until very near the end when "Jin-Wang's" story climaxes badly and "Danny's" story climaxes…strangely. Then the reader understands so much more about Danny's story and why this twist actually works. Throughout the novel, the reader is given clues that Jin-Wang and Danny are actually the same person. For one thing, Danny and Jin-Wang drool in the same way (in the way they are drawn) and at the same stimuli (pretty girl). For another, Danny looks a lot like the boy Jin-Wang envies (Greg). For another thing, Danny gets extremely defensive when Chin-Kee comes to school with him because he doesn't want people to think they are "the same." This makes more sense when one realizes that "Danny" actually looks a lot more like Chin-Kee than he wants to admit. The Chin-Kee character adds depth to Jin-Wang's character as well, for Chin-Kee represents all of Jin-Wang's insecurities. He thinks of himself and his "Chinese-ness" as Chin-Kee, who acts like a weird and horrible human being—he acts like a cartoon and looks like a cartoon as well. He isn't a "real person," but an embodiment of how Jin-Wang feels. When a reader puts all these things together, the reader is able to see into the heart of Jin-Wang's character and his insecurities even though he never says outright "I'm insecure about being American-born Chinese". The images, threads, and twists in the story help to develop this aspect of Jin-Wang's character.
Discussion
The Monkey King storyline is steeped in Chinese mythology, including the presence of gods, goddesses, demons, spirits, and monks. However, Gene Luen Yang puts almost straight Scripture into the mouth of Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the Supreme God. Yang also have the Monkey King visit the Baby Jesus at a Nativity scene. Since we are a Christian community, how do you feel about this mixing of the two spiritual customs? How did you respond to the words of God coming from a "pagan god's" mouth? If Christian parents responded negatively to this, how would you respond to those parents? How do you respond given that Gene Luen Yang is a Christian (I believe he is Catholic)?
Source: https://theopenbookshelf.com/2018/01/18/long-review-american-born-chinese-gene-luen-yang/
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