Rosa Miranda
25 November 2017
Professor Bonser
Culture and Acceptance in Gene Luen Yang’s Graphic Novel “American Born Chinese”
In the young adult literature winning graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, the authors purpose is to encourage young adults to accept themselves for whom they really are. Throughout the story, the main characters are being triggered by the lack of acceptance from the society they are surrounded by and want to fit in. Each main character is extremely affected by the racial and cultural differences and lead them to doing things that are not appropriate for their own good. The graphic novel involves three different stories. These stories start off separately but soon enough merge together with …show more content…
In the story he was struggling with two cultures: American and Chinese. He fell in love with an American girl. But before that happened, at the beginning when he had just started at the new school Jin Wang automatically noticed that there were so many racist stereotypes. One of them being when a student in his class said, “My momma says Chinese people eat dogs.” (Yang, 30). His classmates made fun of his food and Chinese heritage. All the stereotypes really got to him and was tremendously ashamed of being Asian. He did not accept his culture because it seemed too foolish. Just like the Monkey king he did not accept his self as how he really was and changed his appearance. He wanted to fit in, and become an American boy. As a result, he became an American version of himself in High School and believed that it would be much easier to get the girl of his dreams. Eventually that only got him the loss of a good …show more content…
Danny has always tried being an ordinary American boy. His cousin Chin kee is very stereotypical and extremely annoying. The story continues with Danny taking Cousin Chin Kee to school. Chin kee embarrassed Danny with his exaggerating stereotypical personality. For example, Chin kee dressed in traditional Chinese garments and spoke L/R switch. He had braided hair and huge buck teeth. Having this character in the novel makes the readers such as myself feel the shame of racial stereotyping. It makes the readers feel what Danny felt and if by chance imagine how we would neglect our own culture if we were in Danny’s shoes as
25 November 2017
Professor Bonser
Culture and Acceptance in Gene Luen Yang’s Graphic Novel “American Born Chinese”
In the young adult literature winning graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, the authors purpose is to encourage young adults to accept themselves for whom they really are. Throughout the story, the main characters are being triggered by the lack of acceptance from the society they are surrounded by and want to fit in. Each main character is extremely affected by the racial and cultural differences and lead them to doing things that are not appropriate for their own good. The graphic novel involves three different stories. These stories start off separately but soon enough merge together with …show more content…
In the story he was struggling with two cultures: American and Chinese. He fell in love with an American girl. But before that happened, at the beginning when he had just started at the new school Jin Wang automatically noticed that there were so many racist stereotypes. One of them being when a student in his class said, “My momma says Chinese people eat dogs.” (Yang, 30). His classmates made fun of his food and Chinese heritage. All the stereotypes really got to him and was tremendously ashamed of being Asian. He did not accept his culture because it seemed too foolish. Just like the Monkey king he did not accept his self as how he really was and changed his appearance. He wanted to fit in, and become an American boy. As a result, he became an American version of himself in High School and believed that it would be much easier to get the girl of his dreams. Eventually that only got him the loss of a good …show more content…
Danny has always tried being an ordinary American boy. His cousin Chin kee is very stereotypical and extremely annoying. The story continues with Danny taking Cousin Chin Kee to school. Chin kee embarrassed Danny with his exaggerating stereotypical personality. For example, Chin kee dressed in traditional Chinese garments and spoke L/R switch. He had braided hair and huge buck teeth. Having this character in the novel makes the readers such as myself feel the shame of racial stereotyping. It makes the readers feel what Danny felt and if by chance imagine how we would neglect our own culture if we were in Danny’s shoes as