American Born Chinese: The Struggle of Understanding and Accepting One's Identity
Moving to a new country can be very challenging since it means going to a new school, living in a new neighborhood, and being surrounded by new and different people. Everyone else is from the same culture while you are the only different one. It can become difficult to understand your own identity because you want to fit in to not feel judged while still being yourself. This struggle can be seen in the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang through the lives of the three characters, the monkey king, Jin Wang a Chinese-American young boy, and Danny a white American boy. These characters all seem to have their own unique stories but they share one thing in common and that is, trying to fit.
Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese reveals that ethnic experiences in the United States for some Chinese and East-Asian American immigrants or communities consist of internal conflict that causes them to undergo a “transformation” since they struggle to understand their own identity while fitting into a new culture with stereotypes. This can be seen with Jin, a Chinese-American boy who “transforms” into Danny, a white boy in order to fit in but eventually ends up accepting himself with the help of the monkey king who serves as a guide and symbol of acceptance.
The monkey king is the first character introduced in the book as he is the most important. He has his own story of understanding his identity since he struggled to accept himself as a monkey. His only wish was to become a God and hang out with them in heaven but he was restricted from doing so basically because he was a monkey and not human. He was told, “...you may be a king- you may even be a deity- but you are still a monkey” and “you haven’t any shoes”. This caused him to no longer want to be himself and instead become someone he would be accepted as. He decided to master many disciplines in order to demonstrate that he was better than a monkey. He renamed himself “The Great Sage” since he “...mastered twelve major disciplines of kung-fu…” which he thought would enhance his identity. However, he was still a monkey and Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the creator of the universe told him “...a monkey I intended you to be, a monkey you are…please accept this and stop your foolishness”. The monkey still denied this causing him to suffer punishment by being buried under a mountain of rock for five hundred years. Wong Lai-Tsao, a monk also tells him “...return your true form and you shall be freed”. Since he had converted himself into someone he wasn’t for the desire of being a God, he had no freedom. He eventually ended up accepting himself and got out of the rock mountain even taking his shoes off which was something he desired back then. The monkey king later returns in the story disguised as other characters to help with this struggle of identity.
To begin, this internal conflict can be seen with the Chinese-American child of immigrants Jin as he moves to a new white American school where he doesn’t fit in. He faces the struggle of trying to understand his own identity since he is the only Asian among white kids who bring many stereotypes upon him. There is no one else like him except one other Japanese-American girl, Suzy Nakamura. However, this doesn’t ease him since rumors spread that they would be “...arranged to be married on her thirteenth birthday” which actually caused them to avoid each other. One student in his class says “My momma says Chinese people eat dogs” and the teacher responds with “Jin’s family probably stopped that sort of thing as soon as they came to the United States”. Even as he eats his traditional food dumplings, a kid tells him, “...stay away from my dog”. This raises a feeling of insecurity in Jin since now both Chinese stereotypes of arranged marriage and eating dogs are brought upon him, creating a certain perception of him. He feels as though he doesn’t belong because he is the only one who does these things. He can’t even eat his traditional foods like dumplings because others judge him by it. This feeling of judgment causes him to struggle between being Asian in American culture because he wants to fit in and be accepted. Wei-Chen Sun, a Taiwanese immigrant arrives as a new student and Jin tells him “I have enough friends” since he now wants white friends, not Asians. He even begins to like Amelia Harris, a white American girl because he doesn’t want to be in a relationship with Asians. He ends up getting a perm on his hair so that he could be accepted and liked by this white girl. He eventually asks her out even though he “...was forbidden to date until...at least a masters degree” but his desire to date a white girl got to him. Another Chinese stereotype can be seen here that Asians are really smart and care about education. One of Amelia’s white friend Greg tells Jin “I want to make sure she makes good choices, you know…she has to start paying attention to who she hangs out with” because he thinks an Asian isn’t a right fit for her. Internal conflict arises since he can’t be Chinese and both American at once. He even ends up kissing Suzy, the other Asian because he is baffled between his identity. Later he says “I finally believed myself” which is where the next character Danny comes in.
Danny is the next character introduced who is a white American boy that plays basketball and is popular in school. Danny seems fully American but actually has a Chinese cousin named Chin-Kee who is a representation of many Chinese stereotypes. The idea of Chin-Kee coming to visit doesn’t delight Danny because he will come to make his life miserable and bring him embarrassment. Chin-Kee arrives speaking like “Rong time no see” and “Such pletty Amellican girl wiff bountiful Amellican bosom…”. He mixes up his Ls and Rs showing that this is the way Asians speak. His skin tone is also yellow and his teeth are poking out portraying the stereotype that this is the appearance of Asians. The fact that Chin-Kee is the smartest one in every class represents the stereotype that Asians are the smartest out of everyone in every situation. Danny says “I’m nothing like him! I don’t even know how we’re related!”. He feels judged and embarrassed because now he is not viewed as himself but rather the cousin of a Chinese. Melanie, a blonde girl in his school even points out his teeth, “...your teeth kind of buck out a little”. He feels as if Chin-Kee is the cause of all his problems because he follows him “...talking his stupid talk and eating his stupid food”. His “American” life is all interrupted and ruined when Chin-Kee arrives because he brings along many Chinese stereotypes that embarrass and portray Danny as who he isn’t. All of this enrages Danny because he can no longer be himself around these stereotypes.
At the beginning of the book it seems as though the three stories are unrelated but all the characters are essentially one person. Danny was actually a transformation of Jin to deal with an identity crisis and the monkey king had disguised himself into Chin-Kee and was actually the father of Wei-Chen. The monkey king did this in order to act as a guide to help the characters, specifically Jin and Danny who are the same person accept their own identities. The monkey king sends his son Wei-Chen to Jin’s school to help him understand that it is okay to be Asian in all American culture. Wei-Chen dates Suzy, the other Asian girl to teach Jin that it is not necessary to date white girls in order to fit in. Wei-Chen also tells Jin “we’re brothers, Jin we’re blood” to remind him about where he comes from since he had gotten to the point where he was no longer embracing his culture in order to be accepted. Chin-Kee reveals himself as the monkey king to Danny when Danny punches him out of engagement for all the embarrassment he has brought him. Chin-Kee now the monkey king, tells Danny, “Now that I’ve revealed my true form, perhaps its time to reveal yours…Jin Wang”. The monkey king tells Jin, the now transformed Danny, “I came to serve as your conscience as a signpost to your soul”. He makes it clear to him that all this embarrassment in school was not meant to ruin his life but rather to teach him a lesson. He should be true to himself and not change for anyone or anything because it could lead to unwanted situations like those. He also leaves him with a lesson by saying “I would have saved myself from five hundred years’ imprisonment…had I only realized how good it is to be a monkey”. Jin finally ends up accepting himself for who he is because he realizes all the “punishment” he went through with his cousin Chin-Kee when he was Danny and that it was a miserable time. Jin and his first friend Wei-Chen who had now become a “Chinese gangster” end up reuniting and befriending once again while accepting each other for who they are.
Overall, the monkey king is an important symbol as he is the one who acts as a guide and exemplar for the struggle of understanding and accepting one’s identity. Without him disguised as Chin-Kee and his son being Wei-Chen, Jin and Danny, who are the same person wouldn’t have been able to embrace their cultures and accept themselves for who they are.
