Review 11( Extra Credit) American Born Chinese

Yang, Gene Luen., and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.

Citation:

Three stories weave together to tell a complete story about finding ones true self and learning to live with ones identity.  The first story is the history of the Monkey King and his exploits to prove himself a true deity.  The second story is about Jin Wang whose family moves from San Francisco to a new neighborhood where Jin is a true outsider.  Jin tries to figure out his place in the new culture that he lives in.  The third story is about Danny a teenager who has to deal with visits from his Chin-Kee, a living breathing Chinese stereotype.  There will be a revelation for all three characters and their fates will become intertwined.  

Justification for Nomination:

It would be easy to dismiss American Born Chinese as a comic book, and that would be a mistake.  For a graphic novel American Born Chinese deals deftly with issues of selfhood and racial identity.  All three of the main characters deal with trying to figure out who they are and where they fit into their respective communities and societies.  Stereotyping and alienation play a large role in all three stories.  The Monkey King resorts to violence to try and prove that he is who he thinks he is: who he wants to be.  Jin Wang is simply confused and alienated and unsure of how to become his culturally approved self.  He tries to navigate his world where he is a very noticeable outsider because he is Chinese and the majority of the kids in his school are white.  Danny is white but has to deal with his cousin Chin-Kee who is every negative Chinese stereotype all rolled up into one character.  Danny tries his best to avoid Chin-Kee and distance himself from the stereotypes being acted out in front of him and to distance himself from Chin-Kee and what is his cultural heritage; Chin-Kee is in fact his cousin.  The way that Gene Luen Yang tells these stories is through the visual medium of the graphic novel, but the message is not list and is in fact intensified when one can actually see hoe stereotypical Chin-Kee is.  When the stories merge at the end it is clear  that the message of American Born Chinese is really about finding out who you are, accepting that and going on to create a culturally approved self that you can live with.

Genre:

Graphic Novel, Multicultural