The graphic novel, American Born Chinese, is a story divided into 3 distinct storylines that blend into one final story that uses both realistic and fantastical ideas. The graphic novel begins with Jin, a Chinese-American boy, struggling to fit in, the ‘Monkey King’, a fantasy-like deity with some similarities to Chinese traditional fables, and Danny, a caucasian alter-ego to Jin. After moving to a new city, Jin is ostracized because of his race, and begins to hate other Asians out of fear of losing his already minimal popularity. In the second storyline, the caucasian Danny, later revealed to be Jin’s fantastical alter-ego, struggles to maintain his popular status as his cousin Chin, a racist caricature of Asian men, moves in with him. Finally, the Monkey King character serves as a test of character for Jin and helps affirm his identity as a Chinese American.
Overall, this graphic novel depicts struggles with identity. Jin struggles with his Asian identity throughout the novel, even forcing himself to create a white alter-ego to himself. This internalized hate causes him to despise other Asian Americans in an effort of self-preservation. The text also highlights the complexity of the Asian American experience, as the Taiwanese-born Wei-Chen and the American-born Jin struggle to understand the other’s identity in contrast to their own. This has similarities to Lisa Ko’s The Leavers, as both Jin and Deming, Asian boys in the US, struggle to balance their identities as American and Chinese. In the way Daniel rebels against his white adopted parents and explores his Chinese heritage by travelling to Fuzhou, Jin learns to accept his Asian identity and forfeit his caucasian alter-ego, both reaching an understanding of their complex identities.
Regarding power dynamics and injustice, Asian Americans are “Othered” as a white student forces Jin to not date a white girl, teachers intentionally mispronounce and mock Asian names, and Asians are repeated victims of racist remarks from other students. Also, Asian culture, including language and cuisine, are seen as ‘weird’ by white students. In this way, white students are assumed to be the ‘default’, while Asian students are bullied through the above methods into accepting the lie of their cultural ‘inferiority’. De Beauvoir defines “Othering” as the ‘One’ being the default, forcing the ‘Other’ to view themselves as inferior, in a similar way to this graphic novel.
Overall, I believe the author wants the reader to contemplate how Americans view Asian culture, the “Othering” of Asians in power dynamics, and how Asian Americans develop a sense of identity. How can we understand the identities of Asian Americans and immigrants? Which ethnicities have access to power in the US, and which do not? How can the US minimize injustice and racism? These questions are prompted by this complex work.
(Yang and Pien)
Works Cited
“American Born Chinese.” Macmillan, 20 July 2021, https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384487/americanbornchinese.
De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Vintage Classic, 2015.
Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Little, Brown, 2018.
Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. First Second, 2021.