American Born Chinese is the only graphic novel in history to be nominated for the prestigious National Book Award to date. The story takes the form of a triptych where three separate stories are connected by interrelated themes about belonging and coming to terms with your identity.
One story follows the monkey king, a powerful master of kung-fu, who rebels against the gods after they won’t let him join their party because he’s a monkey. This experience makes him ashamed of being a monkey, and he struggles against the gods to reject his identity, and prove himself superior to a mere monkey.
The second story follows a second-generation immigrant named Jin Wang who struggles to find an identity in a school where his peers look down on him for being Chinese and the girl of his dreams doesn’t seem interested.
The third story is about a white American boy named Danny, whose Chinese cousin Chin-Kee embodies every possible stereotype about Chinese people imaginable. His cousin visits him each year and ruins his reputation at school with all his stereotypical behavior.
At the very end of the graphic novel we find out that all three stories are really a single story. Danny turns out to be Jin Wang living a fantasy life in which he imagines himself as popular and white, Chin-kee turns out to be the monkey king in disguise trying to help Jin Wang come to terms with his identity, and the monkey king’s story parallels the rejection of his peers found in both Jin and Danny’s stories. The monkey king is a nice mythic riff on the same issues of identity and belonging. After the monkey king fights the other gods in heaven for not allowing him into their party he returns home to Flower-Fruit Mountain and suddenly notices that his royal chamber smells like monkey fur, and that “he’d never noticed it before.” Yang confronts the reader with the pernicious effects of stereotyping, the way it creates a new conscience and causes you to hate your own identity. Jin and his friends constantly suffer from the white kids calling them slurs and claiming they eat dog and other nasty stereotypes. This is what causes Jin to want to be one of the white kids and assume the fantasy identity of Danny, until to be haunted by his Chinese cousin. Chin-kee’s name says it all; his name itself being a slur against people of Chinese descent. He pronounces his “L”s as “R”s and his “R”s as “L”s with ridiculous exaggeration, he tells every woman he meets that he wants to bind their feet and marry them, and brings in cat gizzards with noodles to school. He symbolizes all the negative stereotypes that Jin Wang comes to identify with being Chinese. Jin Wang flees from this identity and these stereotypes when he fantasizes himself as a popular white kid. However, as the graphic novels goes to show Chin-kee follows him everywhere, even as Danny, the popular white kid. Yang’s point seems to be that you can’t run away from your identity, it always follows you wherever you go.
Although, the writer deals directly with Asian American experience as his focal point I found myself strongly identifying with his themes as a Jewish American who has faced his own forms of hurtful stereotypes, discrimination, and identity crisis at times. In a way, these themes are broader than just the Chinese American experience. I believe all people who have ever struggled to maintain their identity against adversity and the majority insulting them will love this graphic novel. But if you don’t believe me, why not listen to Gene Yang himself? I am finding so far that I am really impressed with graphic novels as a medium of artistic expression.
Hello Eric,
That’s interesting that you can relate to Yang’s character experiences as a Jewish American. Though I haven’t read it, based on your review, I think I might be able to relate too as a Mexican American (or whatever you want to call me).
The effects of discrimination are fairly universal it seems.
If so, it does lead one to think why, then, does it happen so often?
I’ve never read a graphic novel, I’ll have to give this one a try.
Thanks for the post.
Oh, not a fan of Chicano as a term? Personally, it shouldn’t matter what I wish to call you, but however you wish to identify yourself should be more important I would think.
Unfortunately, the effects of discrimination are universal. Although I think they take different forms for every group because the stereotypes are different, but I think the same sort of cultural ignorance and urge to dehumanize difference underlies most forms of discrimination. That on some deeper essential level it is the same general impulses that underly all forms of discrimination when you cut it down to its core.
You should try out some graphic novels, especially if you’re a fan of speculative fiction. Although, there are some decent realist novels in graphic form as well. Not only are they quick reads, but I think they can be just as deep and thought-provoking as a “real” novel.