American Born Chinese
Encyclopedia
American Born Chinese is a graphic novel
by Gene Luen Yang
. Released in 2006
by First Second Books
, it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award
s in the category of Young People's Literature. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award
and the 2007 Eisner Award
for Best Graphic Album: New. It was the first graphic novel recognized by the National Book Foundation
. It was colored by cartoonist Lark Pien
, who received the 2007 Harvey Award
for Best Colorist for her work on the book.
The first tale is the legendary folk tale of The Monkey King
, which is renowned all through China
and in many parts of Asia. This story is from the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West
, but is not the same as the traditional one, it changed some details. This tale includes the Monkey king who is born of stone becoming something that he isn't. While doing this he masters the twelve disciplines of Kung-Fu.
The second tale is the story of a second-generation child of immigrants from China named Jin Wang, who still is heavily influenced by Chinese culture
. The story follows his life through the making of his best friend, to him falling in love with a girl, and many adventures in between.
The third tale follows the story of an American boy named Danny, whose Chinese cousin Chin-Kee comes and visits every year. Chin-Kee is the ultimate Chinese stereotype in terms of accent
, fashion
sense, hairstyle, appearance, and hobbies.
The high school Danny attends is called "Oliphant High School", which Yang has said he named after political cartoonist Pat Oliphant
, in response to a comic he took offense to. Many of Chin-Kee's stereotypical quirks are also lifted from this cartoon.
Jin Wang is an American born Chinese, who seemingly wants one thing; to fit in.
Originally a character from an ancient Chinese legend, the Monkey King is repainted in the novel as the father of a sort of ambassador for Tze-Yo-Tzuh. He wanted respect from other deities, and wanted to be recognized as a real ruler but is not because of his lack of shoes and therefore civilized nature. He is well trained in martial arts.
Tze-Yo-Tzuh
He is the overall ruler that created all deities. His name means “He who is”.
Wong Lai-Tsao
He is a monk sent on a journey for Tze-Yo-Tzuh. He is promised the Monkey King as a disciple.
Jin Wang
Jin is a Chinese American boy, with a fondness of Transformer toys, who wants to fit in at his new school and wants respect from the popular boys in his class. He develops a crush on Amelia Harris, a girl in his class. Jin is uncomfortable with how his family and ethnicity differ from the “American dream” idealism.
Amelia Harris
She is an all American girl that Jin has a crush on. She is not offended by cultural differences like her classmates.
Wei-Chen Sun
A Taiwanese immigrant who slowly becomes Jin's best friend. His girlfriend is Suzy Nakamura.
Suzy Nakamura
A young Japanese American girl in Jin and Wei Chen’s class. She starts dating Wei Chen.
Greg
A boy that disapproves of Jin's relationship with Amelia Harris.
Danny
He is a popular American boy, until his Chinese cousin (Chin Kee) comes and stays with him. Chin Kee quickly ruins Danny’s reputation at his new school, as he had done many times in the past.
Chin-Kee
Chin-Kee is a strong negative Chinese stereotype. His name comes from the derogative term “Chinky”, used to refer to people or things from east Asia. His cousin is Danny, although it’s not clear how they are related.
Melanie
Danny has a crush on Melanie, but she doesn’t return the feeling. Danny blames this on his cousin Chin Kee, despite her protests that it’s not about that.
Steve
Danny’s friend from basketball. He is pushed farther away from Danny by Chin Kee.
Lion, Eagle, Ox, Human (Tze-Yo-Tzuh's messengers):
Barely used in any of the stories, but play sizable roles. Messengers that deliver the message of Tze-Yo-Tzuh to the priest and to the monkey king.
The second story then begins with a Chinese American
boy, Jin Wang, who has moved to a new home. An old woman tells him he can be anything he wants, if he is willing to forfeit his soul. Jin told her he wanted to be a Transformer
. When he goes to school, the teacher mispronounces his name, boys pick on him and rumors arise that he is betrothed to a Japanese
girl named Suzy Nakamura. Two months later, a new student from Taiwan
arrives, named Wei Chen. At first, Jin wants to beat him up (for reasons unknown), but soon after, the two become friends, bonding over Wei Chen's Transformer toy.
The third story is about an American boy named Danny and his Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. Danny is having a study date with a friend, Melanie. When he is about to ask her out, his parents announce that his cousin, Chin-Kee, has come for his annual visit. Danny, who looks scared and surprised, drops his book and starts to worry. Chin-Kee walks into his home and starts to make everyone feel uncomfortable, especially Melanie. Chin-Kee accidentally insults Melanie and causes her to leave in a huff.
The first tale about the Monkey King then resumes. He has decreed that all his subjects wear shoes, then locks himself in his chamber to learn the twelve disciplines of kung-fu, when he is summoned to the underwater kingdom to be executed. He goes around causing havoc, until Tze-Yo-Tzuh ("He who is"), his creator, stops him. As a result, Tze-Yo-Tzuh tells him that he cannot escape the hand of himself. The Monkey King flees into the last place of creation and then he inscribes his name on one of the five pillars of gold that he finds. Afterward, he again meets his creator, who shows him his fingers, which were in reality the five pillars of gold. The Monkey King tries to fight Tze-Yo-Tzuh, but he is then buried in a mountain of rubble. (This is a famous Chinese historical tale.)
The second tale resumes at this point. In the 7th grade, Jin begins to notice a classmate of his (a girl named Amelia Harris) and develops a crush on her. Later on, Wei Chen and Suzy start to date. One day, Wei Chen and Amelia get trapped in a supply closet and, while performing extra credit work for one of their classes, Jin eventually comes to their rescue and, being told by Wei Chen, he asks Amelia out, who eagerly accepts.
The third tale resumes. Chin-Kee answers every question the teachers ask, pees in Danny's friend's drink and even brings a dead cat in his food for lunch (this was meant to be stereotypical for an Asian). Chin-Kee overall embarrasses Danny to the full extent of his power.
The first tale resumes yet again. After many years, the Monkey King is asked by an unworthy monk to release himself from the mountain he is buried under so he can be the monk's disciple. At first, he rejects, but when the monk is injured by two giant monsters, he returns to his true form and uses his disciplines to get rid of the giants. The monk refuses to be taken to the nearest village, so they begin their journey to the west.
The second tale now follows Jin taking Amelia to the movies. Because Jin does not have a car, he has to put Amelia on the front of his bike. In doing so, he works up a sweat and starts to stink a bit. Inside of the movie theater, he realizes that it would be perfect to put his arm around her, but he also realizes that he stinks and that it wouldn't be cool if he did. Before he puts his arm around her, Jin remembers his smelly armpits, so he covers up the scent with soap from the bathroom, thanks to advice from his older cousin. About twenty minutes before the credits, Jin enjoys putting his arm around Amelia. However, after the movie, soap bubbles got onto Amelia's shoulder, but then dried off. After the movies, they go to a little shop and eat and talk. The next day, Jin is asked by Greg not to date her again. Jin ignores Amelia because of Greg's request, but later on, as Jin attempts to date Amelia again, he sort of freezes and the fact that Greg is nearby does not help either. With no other choice left, Jin turns to Suzy and, while she poured her heart out to him about her day, Jin kissed her. Suzy then punches him. Wei Chen does the same later after Jin told him that he doesn't think he deserves her. That night, he dreamed of the herbalist's wife and woke up with his head hurting. When he looked in the mirror, his reflection revealed him to be Danny, the main character from the third tale.
The third tale now resumes, and Jin (now Danny) fights with Chin-Kee after stopping him from singing loudly on a table in the library. Danny punches his head and it flew off, revealing Chin-Kee to be the Monkey King in disguise.
The Monkey King reverts Danny back to Jin and tells him that Wei Chen is his son. He said he visited him often, but after, he was mad about him lying and, therefore, refused his visits. That's why the Monkey King came as Chin-Kee: not to punish Jin, but to serve as his conscience. Afterwords, Jin started visiting a bakery from a business card the monkey king left behind and then saw Wei Chen outside with a car, cigarettes and everything. Jin went out to tell him that he saw his father (the Monkey King) earlier. Jin tells all of this to Wei Chen in an attempt to apologize and Wei Chen accepts his apology.
It is a meaningful book,and this different from other comic books because there are many themes in the book but not just for fun.The monkey king represents justice also it's a helpful person,in the part of "The Monkey King" he protect his master and fight with the bad guys , in the part of "Jin Wang" he change into an other boy come from Taiwan and be friend with jin help jin be more brave and keep him away from stay alone. This world alway has some helpful people around us , this world is not that relentless. In the part two, it obviously find the race relations. Jin wants to be friend with the write but he had no idea to do this His classmate don't believe him , they joke at him. Jin loves a write girl but he has no bravery to tell her because he afraids other people laugh at him. Author pointed out this because he hope this kind of race relations could be gone and also he use his experiences to explain this story.I also find an important theme in the part of "The Monkey King". That is monkey king locked himself deep down in the inner bowels of his royal chamber, where he studied Kung-Fu very fervently because he wants to be strong , that strong enough to protect others. His perseveres unremittingly and it the most important thing that we should learn from him. We should do everything with perseveres unremittingly than we will have chance to be a successful person.
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
by Gene Luen Yang
Gene Yang
Gene Luen Yang is an American comics artist whose graphic novel American Born Chinese was named a 2006 finalist for the National Book Award in the young people's literature category and was awarded the 2007 Members' Choice Award from the Asian American Literary Awards...
. Released in 2006
2006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...
by First Second Books
First Second Books
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism.-History:...
, it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
s in the category of Young People's Literature. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award
Michael L. Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an annual award in the United States for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a school librarian from Topeka, Kansas, who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association...
and the 2007 Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
for Best Graphic Album: New. It was the first graphic novel recognized by the National Book Foundation
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation, founded in 1989, is an American nonprofit literary organization established "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." It achieves this through sponsoring the National Book Award, as well as the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American...
. It was colored by cartoonist Lark Pien
Lark Pien
Lark Pien is an American cartoonist who has created the minicomics Stories from the Ward, Mr. Boombha, and Long Tail Kitty, the last of which won her the Friends of Lulu Kimberly Yale Award for Best New Talent in 2004...
, who received the 2007 Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
for Best Colorist for her work on the book.
Background
The book starts out with three seemingly different tales, and then merges them all together at the climax.The first tale is the legendary folk tale of The Monkey King
Sun Wukong
Sun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...
, which is renowned all through China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and in many parts of Asia. This story is from the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West
Journey to the West
Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It was written by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century. In English-speaking countries, the tale is also often known simply as Monkey. This was one title used for a popular, abridged translation by Arthur Waley...
, but is not the same as the traditional one, it changed some details. This tale includes the Monkey king who is born of stone becoming something that he isn't. While doing this he masters the twelve disciplines of Kung-Fu.
The second tale is the story of a second-generation child of immigrants from China named Jin Wang, who still is heavily influenced by Chinese culture
Culture of China
Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...
. The story follows his life through the making of his best friend, to him falling in love with a girl, and many adventures in between.
The third tale follows the story of an American boy named Danny, whose Chinese cousin Chin-Kee comes and visits every year. Chin-Kee is the ultimate Chinese stereotype in terms of accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
, fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
sense, hairstyle, appearance, and hobbies.
The high school Danny attends is called "Oliphant High School", which Yang has said he named after political cartoonist Pat Oliphant
Pat Oliphant
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Oliphant is the most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world, described by the New York Times as "the most influential cartoonist now working"...
, in response to a comic he took offense to. Many of Chin-Kee's stereotypical quirks are also lifted from this cartoon.
Jin Wang is an American born Chinese, who seemingly wants one thing; to fit in.
Character List
The Monkey KingOriginally a character from an ancient Chinese legend, the Monkey King is repainted in the novel as the father of a sort of ambassador for Tze-Yo-Tzuh. He wanted respect from other deities, and wanted to be recognized as a real ruler but is not because of his lack of shoes and therefore civilized nature. He is well trained in martial arts.
Tze-Yo-Tzuh
He is the overall ruler that created all deities. His name means “He who is”.
Wong Lai-Tsao
He is a monk sent on a journey for Tze-Yo-Tzuh. He is promised the Monkey King as a disciple.
Jin Wang
Jin is a Chinese American boy, with a fondness of Transformer toys, who wants to fit in at his new school and wants respect from the popular boys in his class. He develops a crush on Amelia Harris, a girl in his class. Jin is uncomfortable with how his family and ethnicity differ from the “American dream” idealism.
Amelia Harris
She is an all American girl that Jin has a crush on. She is not offended by cultural differences like her classmates.
Wei-Chen Sun
A Taiwanese immigrant who slowly becomes Jin's best friend. His girlfriend is Suzy Nakamura.
Suzy Nakamura
A young Japanese American girl in Jin and Wei Chen’s class. She starts dating Wei Chen.
Greg
A boy that disapproves of Jin's relationship with Amelia Harris.
Danny
He is a popular American boy, until his Chinese cousin (Chin Kee) comes and stays with him. Chin Kee quickly ruins Danny’s reputation at his new school, as he had done many times in the past.
Chin-Kee
Chin-Kee is a strong negative Chinese stereotype. His name comes from the derogative term “Chinky”, used to refer to people or things from east Asia. His cousin is Danny, although it’s not clear how they are related.
Melanie
Danny has a crush on Melanie, but she doesn’t return the feeling. Danny blames this on his cousin Chin Kee, despite her protests that it’s not about that.
Steve
Danny’s friend from basketball. He is pushed farther away from Danny by Chin Kee.
Lion, Eagle, Ox, Human (Tze-Yo-Tzuh's messengers):
Barely used in any of the stories, but play sizable roles. Messengers that deliver the message of Tze-Yo-Tzuh to the priest and to the monkey king.
Plot
The first tale is about the Monkey King, who is born out of a rock and is ugly. He begins to learn to master the twelve disciplines of kung-fu. After this, he goes to a celestial dinner party, but is denied entrance because he is a monkey and does not wear shoes. The Monkey king becomes angry and, after showing his aggression to the other gods, demons and celestial beings, he goes back to the mountain from which he came to study even harder.The second story then begins with a Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
boy, Jin Wang, who has moved to a new home. An old woman tells him he can be anything he wants, if he is willing to forfeit his soul. Jin told her he wanted to be a Transformer
Transformers (toy line)
The is a line of toys produced by the American toy company Hasbro. The Transformers toyline was created from toy molds mostly produced by Japanese company Takara in the toylines Diaclone and Microman. Other toy molds from other companies such as Bandai were used as well...
. When he goes to school, the teacher mispronounces his name, boys pick on him and rumors arise that he is betrothed to a Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
girl named Suzy Nakamura. Two months later, a new student from Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
arrives, named Wei Chen. At first, Jin wants to beat him up (for reasons unknown), but soon after, the two become friends, bonding over Wei Chen's Transformer toy.
The third story is about an American boy named Danny and his Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. Danny is having a study date with a friend, Melanie. When he is about to ask her out, his parents announce that his cousin, Chin-Kee, has come for his annual visit. Danny, who looks scared and surprised, drops his book and starts to worry. Chin-Kee walks into his home and starts to make everyone feel uncomfortable, especially Melanie. Chin-Kee accidentally insults Melanie and causes her to leave in a huff.
The first tale about the Monkey King then resumes. He has decreed that all his subjects wear shoes, then locks himself in his chamber to learn the twelve disciplines of kung-fu, when he is summoned to the underwater kingdom to be executed. He goes around causing havoc, until Tze-Yo-Tzuh ("He who is"), his creator, stops him. As a result, Tze-Yo-Tzuh tells him that he cannot escape the hand of himself. The Monkey King flees into the last place of creation and then he inscribes his name on one of the five pillars of gold that he finds. Afterward, he again meets his creator, who shows him his fingers, which were in reality the five pillars of gold. The Monkey King tries to fight Tze-Yo-Tzuh, but he is then buried in a mountain of rubble. (This is a famous Chinese historical tale.)
The second tale resumes at this point. In the 7th grade, Jin begins to notice a classmate of his (a girl named Amelia Harris) and develops a crush on her. Later on, Wei Chen and Suzy start to date. One day, Wei Chen and Amelia get trapped in a supply closet and, while performing extra credit work for one of their classes, Jin eventually comes to their rescue and, being told by Wei Chen, he asks Amelia out, who eagerly accepts.
The third tale resumes. Chin-Kee answers every question the teachers ask, pees in Danny's friend's drink and even brings a dead cat in his food for lunch (this was meant to be stereotypical for an Asian). Chin-Kee overall embarrasses Danny to the full extent of his power.
The first tale resumes yet again. After many years, the Monkey King is asked by an unworthy monk to release himself from the mountain he is buried under so he can be the monk's disciple. At first, he rejects, but when the monk is injured by two giant monsters, he returns to his true form and uses his disciplines to get rid of the giants. The monk refuses to be taken to the nearest village, so they begin their journey to the west.
The second tale now follows Jin taking Amelia to the movies. Because Jin does not have a car, he has to put Amelia on the front of his bike. In doing so, he works up a sweat and starts to stink a bit. Inside of the movie theater, he realizes that it would be perfect to put his arm around her, but he also realizes that he stinks and that it wouldn't be cool if he did. Before he puts his arm around her, Jin remembers his smelly armpits, so he covers up the scent with soap from the bathroom, thanks to advice from his older cousin. About twenty minutes before the credits, Jin enjoys putting his arm around Amelia. However, after the movie, soap bubbles got onto Amelia's shoulder, but then dried off. After the movies, they go to a little shop and eat and talk. The next day, Jin is asked by Greg not to date her again. Jin ignores Amelia because of Greg's request, but later on, as Jin attempts to date Amelia again, he sort of freezes and the fact that Greg is nearby does not help either. With no other choice left, Jin turns to Suzy and, while she poured her heart out to him about her day, Jin kissed her. Suzy then punches him. Wei Chen does the same later after Jin told him that he doesn't think he deserves her. That night, he dreamed of the herbalist's wife and woke up with his head hurting. When he looked in the mirror, his reflection revealed him to be Danny, the main character from the third tale.
The third tale now resumes, and Jin (now Danny) fights with Chin-Kee after stopping him from singing loudly on a table in the library. Danny punches his head and it flew off, revealing Chin-Kee to be the Monkey King in disguise.
The Monkey King reverts Danny back to Jin and tells him that Wei Chen is his son. He said he visited him often, but after, he was mad about him lying and, therefore, refused his visits. That's why the Monkey King came as Chin-Kee: not to punish Jin, but to serve as his conscience. Afterwords, Jin started visiting a bakery from a business card the monkey king left behind and then saw Wei Chen outside with a car, cigarettes and everything. Jin went out to tell him that he saw his father (the Monkey King) earlier. Jin tells all of this to Wei Chen in an attempt to apologize and Wei Chen accepts his apology.
It is a meaningful book,and this different from other comic books because there are many themes in the book but not just for fun.The monkey king represents justice also it's a helpful person,in the part of "The Monkey King" he protect his master and fight with the bad guys , in the part of "Jin Wang" he change into an other boy come from Taiwan and be friend with jin help jin be more brave and keep him away from stay alone. This world alway has some helpful people around us , this world is not that relentless. In the part two, it obviously find the race relations. Jin wants to be friend with the write but he had no idea to do this His classmate don't believe him , they joke at him. Jin loves a write girl but he has no bravery to tell her because he afraids other people laugh at him. Author pointed out this because he hope this kind of race relations could be gone and also he use his experiences to explain this story.I also find an important theme in the part of "The Monkey King". That is monkey king locked himself deep down in the inner bowels of his royal chamber, where he studied Kung-Fu very fervently because he wants to be strong , that strong enough to protect others. His perseveres unremittingly and it the most important thing that we should learn from him. We should do everything with perseveres unremittingly than we will have chance to be a successful person.
Themes
The theme of the book is to fit in. The characters in these three stories all are ashamed of themselves and try to be someone who aren't real them. They wanted to fit in the environment. The monkey king is ashamed of being a monkey, so he tries to act like a man, wearing human clothes and shoes. He wants to fit in the god and doesn't want to be a monkey.Jin asks wei-cheng to speak English and he eats sandwich as lunch, because he wants to like an American and wants to fit in. He changes his hair style because he thinks Amelia, the girl he has a crush on likes this kind of hair. He tries to fit in her favor. Danny, who was actually Jin after he trying to fit in tells Steve the truth why he changes schools every year. Because he is ashamed of having Chi-Kin as cousin. He wants to fit in and be famous. So he starts a new life in different school every year.External links
- First Second - Creators - Gene Yang - Blog, essay on the book by author Gene Yang