Gene Luan Born Chinese Analysis

Richard Rodriguez article, “The Chinese in All of Us (1944)”, argues that many different cultures have contributed to making up the American culture. Rodriguez backs up this claim by sharing

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

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

Many new arrivals still struggle to survive and often Chinese Americans still encounter suspicion and hostility. Chinese Americans have achieved great success and now, like so many others, they are stitching together a new American identity. As Michelle Ling, a young Chinese American, tells Bill Moyers in Program 3, “I get to compose my life one piece at a time, however I feel like it. Not to say that it’s not difficult and that there isn’t challenge all the time, but more than material wealth, you get to choose what you are, who you are.” (www.pbs.org)

In the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang, Jin, an American Chinese, struggles to fit in with society and his environment. Throughout the novel, Jin struggles with being himself in society and ultimately conforms to society's expectations. In the beginning of the novel, Jin learns that he is able to transform to become anything he wants. In the middle of the novel, Jin struggles to fit in with society and has trouble in the way he views himself. He changes himself in order to fit in.

The tale “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luch Wang depicts the story of three characters, Monkey, Jin, and Danny. They all have the problem of fitting into their new environments. Jin Wang has to deal with Asian stereotypes. Danny has to deal with embarrassment of his cousin. Lastly, Monkey has to deal with the fact that there is no position for him in the heavenly ranks. However, over time, these characters have to come together to fit in. Yet the question remains: what exactly about fitting in is the problem? Although Jin Wang takes the form of Danny to reject his Chinese roots, the embarrassment of Chin-Knee shows he cannot hide behind a false American identity, thereby delineating that race is the source of his problem.

A world once filled with Asian friends and neighbors crashes harshly as Jin is left stranded in a white dominated school. Stereotypes and teasing are quickly placed on him from his racial background. Still new to the area, Jin presumes, “The only other Asian in my class was Suzy Nakamura. When the class finally figured out that we weren’t related, rumors began to circulate that Suzy and I were arranged to be married on her thirteenth birthday. We avoided each other as much as possible” (Yang 31). Embarrassment clouds Jin as he realizes that he’s not like the other kids in his class. With distinct features and his native tongue, Jin felt like a reject surrounded by his Caucasian classmates. He was entirely alone amongst his peers, and he didn’t like that one single bit. In this way, it’s clear how both Junior and Jin felt like outcasts in these two oceans of white students and teachers.

Frank Chin has been the most vocal critic of Kingston's who accused her "of reinforcing white fantasies about Chinese Americans" (Chin, 1991) and claimed that writers like Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan and David Henry Hwang who won approval of the American white readers deliberately distorted the image of Chinese American to reinforce stereotypes and cater to the fantasies of American readers about a traditionalist Chinese culture. (Frank Chin, 1991, pp. 3-29)

“Rules of the Game” written by Amy Tan is a short story that focuses on the conflict in identity that Chinese Americans face when growing up with influences from both the cultures. The physical and social settings of “Rules of the Game” create an atmosphere which helps to bring out the true essence of the story. Amy Tan’s “The

To some people this is not be viewed as a stereotype due to the fact it is not instantly perceived as “negative”; for those readers who delve in deeper, this stereotype outlines the educational daily hidden pressure of people from Chinese descent whom do not fit this “positive” stereotype. Every day, especially in American society, classmates look to their Asian counterparts to provide the answers to questions they do not know in every subject they take. Nonetheless, this ridiculous assumption hurts the Asian students that do not feel comfortable with their intellectual abilities. Placing Asian students as the “model student” excludes the students who actually have problems and need help that other classmates are reluctant to give the students simply because their classmates do not view helping their struggling Asian classmates as an actual necessity. By “poking” fun and bringing into light both Asian stereotypes, Yang enforces view that stereotypes are in use today.

     The focus of our group project is on Chinese Americans. We studied various aspects of their lives and the preservation of their culture in America. The Chinese American population is continually growing. In fact, in 1990, they were the largest group of Asians in the United States (Min 58). But living in America and adjusting to a new way of life is not easy. Many Chinese Americans have faced and continue to face much conflict between their Chinese and American identities. But many times, as they adapt to this new life, they are also able to preserve their Chinese culture and identity through various ways. We studied these things through the viewing of a movie called Joy Luck Club,

Donald Duk by Frank Chin illustrates its coming-of- age story about a twelve year old boy who struggles his way to new understanding about his heritage, community, himself as a Chinese- American, and his place in American society. This novel contain explicit and distinct lessons that are driven throughout Donald Duk. Donald explains the heroic aspects of Chinese- American history and it exposes stereotypes, prejudices, and injustices towards the Chinese workers and what they did for the railroad. In this novel, Donald becomes a strong symbol of cultural displacement and prejudice in American society. As Donald Duk progresses, Donald transitions his mindset for devaluing Chinese heritage to accepting his family’s traditions. Donald’s dreams

The stories “American Born Chinese” by Gene Lang, “Linh Lai” by Rebecca Rosenblum and “Tapka” by David Bezmozgis all follow the lives of immigrants and first generation born Canadians/Americans. These stories are diverse both in the ethnicity of the characters and in their experiences. However, they are all summative of the detriment of the immigrant experience, which is a universal struggle. These stories, through their diversity and similarity, give the cumulative theme that assimilation often does more harm than good, and that it widely contributes to isolation, loneliness and loss of identity. American Born Chinese is a graphic novel about the Asian immigrant experience.

The average American teenager faces many obstacles when adhering to the trials and tribulations of high school life. This type of educational commitment requires academic focus, social adaptabilities, and most importantly an eagerness to achieve a self-identity. However, for Jin Wang in the graphic novel American Born Chinese this quest to achieve a self-identity becomes a focal point in the narrative (Yang). Jin is an American born Chinese boy living in the suburbs; he struggles daily with balancing his ethnic identity with his mainstream American identity. In a sense, Jin’s struggle to adapt to his surroundings causes his demeanor to take a shift. He becomes insecure about his heritage, socially isolated by others, and confused about his identity. In the quest to find an identity, in order to fit in, Jin develops unique qualities and characteristic that shapes his personality.

Today, I started reading the first chapter of the memoir called The Accidental Asian by Eric Liu. Reading the first chapter is not just for pleasure or information, but for sympathy and relation. As an international student, I find the story of the author’s dad directly connecting to my life as transiting from Vietnam to the US. His dad boats across the Pacific with the hope for creating the prosper Liu family. Although he wants to maintain Chinese manner, Chao-hua Liu, the author’s father naturally assimilates into American culture.