Character Analysis: American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

Jin Wang was born in America but is also Chinese. He faces some difficulties with racism and stereotypes as he grows up. He just moved to a new school from San Francisco. The teacher introduces him to the class and says,” Class, I'd like us all to give a warm Mayflower Elementary welcome to your new friend and Classmate Jin Wang...He and his family recently moved to our neighborhood all the way from China!”(30). Jin has this look on his face of annoyance. Like, did she actually say this. She is too ignorant to ask so she just assumed that since he is Chinese, that he must be from China. He was born in America. This just shows how ignorant people are about other cultures. It makes it even harder to fit in if people don't even care where you're from and just make assumptions. Jin now experiences this first hand. He tries so hard to fit in and be normal. He goes as far as changing his hair to match the guys hair that Amelia likes. When he isn't noticed as much he wants to become someone else, someone who will fit in. He wakes up in the morning a new person, as he has transformed into someone he is not, he thinks to himself,”A new face deserved a new name. I decided to call myself...Danny”(198). He changed his race he didn't like his heritage and cultures so much

After solving the Sphinx’s riddle, he becomes the king and marries Jocasta, his mother. Again, we note that his action was unintentional. This was one of the reasons he should not have deserved what he got.

Stories and stereotypes make many people want to change themselves negatively and assimilate just to fit in with society. As time passes, society’s stereotypes for how people of each race should be, which race is more dominant than others, and which race you should be, all play a role in impacting someone’s self-esteem and their insecurities. This is portrayed through Jin Wang, a main character in Gene Luen Yang’s “American Born Chinese” when Jin Wang thinks his crush, Amelia, he instantly becomes happy. But then he thinks about Greg and Amelia together and gets mad. He finally zooms into Greg’s blond hair. The next day he goes to school with the same hairstyle. The hair symbolizes Greg’s all American identity because the stereotypical American is portrayed with blond hair and blue eyes. To Jin Wang, this hair symbolizes what he wants to be, so he changed his hair to an “American” hairstyle to get Amelia to like him. Due to stereotypes about how Americans are suppose to look like, Jin Wang feels insecure about himself and wants to change his identity and himself as well to assimilate into American culture and stereotypes. These stereotypes and the Anti-Asian stereotypes impact Jin Wang greatly and make him hate himself as well as his background and where he came from because he believes that in order to be AMerica, you have to be white. Another way that this is portrayed is from a personal experience I had as a kid. Growing up as an Asian kid in America, I didn’t really know

On the way, he comes across the Patriarch Subodhi and his disciples. Although Monkey gives the Patriarch a hard time, he eventually recites a poem for Monkey avoiding for the Three Calamities. The Patriarch recites a secret formula that will enable Monkey to undergo seventy-two bodily transformations, while granting him with other talents, like the ability to soar through clouds at high speeds. While in Heaven, Monkey demands to be called Great Sage of Heaven. In order to gain immortality, he steals and eats from the Immortal Peach Garden and drinks elixir. Consequently, Monkey’s punishment is to be put to death in the alchemical crucible. As a result, the fire makes him stronger and indestructible. For example, Monkey uses his powers to rob, deceive, and battle monstrous

For instance, Jin is alienated due to the sole fact of his appearance, which happens to be different from the rest of the class. Moreover, Jin’s roots create assumptions, or stereotypes, rather. As stated earlier, his classmates thought he ate digs because he was Asian, resulting because of his appearance. When acting as Danny, he was not suspected for being Asian, because he looked like the typical American kid, but when Chin-Knee came he detailed Chinese stereotypes so humorously that Danny was made fun of because of his cousin, another form of racism. For example, Danny had to switch schools because he was made fun of so much, and he stated, “By the time he leaves, no one thinks of me as Danny anymore. I’m Chin-Knee’s cousin”(127). This statement shows how bad Chin-Knee has an effect on Danny and his social life. He is constantly degraded with guffaws about China and his cousin, and despite Danny’s American roots, he is faced with racism because of his cousin. Therefore, race really is the problem, for Danny is ostracized about Chinese culture, and Jin is ostracized because of his

He abandons his principles, lies to his parents, and betrays his best friend to become just like the people who had tormented him throughout his life. Wei-Chen tells him, “Now you’ve broken my heart more completely than Suzy ever could” (Yang, 190). He abandons the principles of loyalty and honesty so he will not be harassed. Later Jin then realizes that his transformation is not worth abandoning his principles, and he goes to make amends with Wei-Chen. The Monkey King says, “I came to serve as your conscience as a signpost to your soul” (Yang, 221). This shows that deep down in his conscience at his very core, Jin knows that this is not right.

Through the interaction between Wong Lai-Tsao and the Monkey King, Yang portrays the message that characters are trying to avoid being themselves. The novel focuses on character’s identities. The Monkey king deals with being stuck under a mountain for 500 years because he tried to be someone else. When the monkey king is stuck under the rocks, Wong Lai-Tsao visits the monkey king and states: “The form you have taken is not truly your own, return to your true form and you shall be freed” (Yang 145). Furthermore, Wong Lai-Tsao is alerting the Monkey king that he is not being his true form, which is what is causing him to suffer. Additionally the Monkey King’s response is extremely surprising. In panels five and 6, the Monkey king has an

It was his way of showing the people that he did not want to be treated as a king.

Monkey then continues his journey to the dragons and takes their treasures in an ungrateful manner. He uses immoral and threatening actions to obtain his goals, which are clearly looked down upon. At this time the Monkey is beginning to upset a lot of people, and even the Jade Emperor of Heaven is becoming upset. Monkey totally disgregards everyones feelings and continues to act in such a rude and immoral manner. Monkey still has a desire for more so he eats the immortal fruits, drinks the immortal wine, and he even takes Lao Tzu's special pills. At this point heaven is becoming even more angry over the Monkeys actions. The Monkey returns home and Heaven implements another attack on him. This attack was successful, Heaven defeated the monkey with the help of Buddha and Lao Tzu. In conclusion Monkey is imprisoned for 500 years.

After he became king he becomes crazy and

In Journey to the West, the Handsome Monkey King was lost and wanted to find enlightenment. He lived in a perfectly harmonious world of immortality, but found that something was missing. He felt as if he had no purpose, so he left his ideal life to go find his meaning. On his journey, he came across several disputes and found that he was not as clever as he thought to be. The Monkey King came across several dicipals and battled his way to find the meaning of true enlightenment. When he finally found his way to enlightenment, he felt as if he achieved his purpose but never returned home. The Monkey King continued to travel around the world with his friend and continued adventuring off to different islands and facing different problems; that was his true propose. Life for him was not meant to be perfect nor easy. At one, point in the book the monkey king states "________________" (pg__)

the traits of a “good king”. He was a warrior with extraordinary abilities which made him seem

that he's got a chance of becoming the new King. But how can he become

Even a king who is superior in status has challenges that he must face. Facing obstacles, helps one's character to develop ultimately rendering one to be a stronger individual. Conjointly, without those irksome experiences life will seem boring. In fact,

Tai Shan is not just the mountain home of the Gods, for example, Mt. Olympus in Greece or Mt. Sinai in Egypt; it is viewed as a divinity itself and has been adored by the Chinese as their most hallowed crest since in any event the third millennium BC. The rulers of antiquated China viewed Tai Shan as the real child of the Emperor of Heaven, from whom they got their own power to run the general population. The mountain worked as a God who took care of the undertakings of people and who additionally went about as a correspondence channel for people to identify with God. Seventy-two incredible rulers are said to have come to Tai Shan, yet the first known proof dates from a stone cutting left on the mountain in 219 BC by Emperor Shih-huang who