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American Born Chinese Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that analyzes how color is used to support a thematic motif in American Born Chinese. Support your ideas with evidence from the book.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that analyzes the use of panel layout to support meaning in one of the chapters of American Born Chinese . Support your ideas with evidence from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that analyzes how both words and images are used to convey the characters' emotion in American Born Chinese . Support your ideas with evidence from the book.

Essay Topic 4

Write an essay that analyzes how images are used to convey tone or mood in American Born Chinese. Support your ideas with evidence from the book.

Essay Topic 5

Write an essay that analyzes how gutter space is used to control pace in one chapter of American Born Chinese . Support your ideas with evidence from the...

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Yang’s American Born Chinese Essay

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The introduction: the fundamentals of a graphic novel

The thesis statement, the body: inward demons of the main characters, the conclusion: the importance of a personal fight, works cited.

American Born Chinese is considered to be famous graphic novel written by an American comic artist Gene Luen Yang. The novel includes three different parts. The main character of the first part is the Monkey King. Another part discloses the life of the main character Jin Wang.

The third part is related to the life of an American boy Danny. Generally, a graphic novel is mostly associated with a comic genre, but in my opinion, the context of the book is rather serious. All the parts disclose the same issue, but in different ways. The main question the author possesses in the tales of the novel is What Are Your Efforts to Succeed ?

The conflict of opposites is recognized to be one of the most important philosophical questions. Especially, if the opposites are considered to be the contradictory sides, the creature consists of. In other words, there is a good side, and the bad one. It depends upon the creature what way to follow. The process of acceptance a good side is rather complicated; however, the victory over inner monsters is important to come to harmony.

To my mind, one of the most interesting and conflicting characters is the Monkey King. The fact, that he had great powers, but couldn’t use them to get what he wanted or to take vengeance on his ill-wishers impressed me best. Thus, the plot is logically developed and really thought-provoking.

In other words, the hidden context has given me a devil of a time trying to come up with the conclusions. When the Monkey King was punished for five hundred years, I’ve asked myself about the time. Why five hundred? Why one hundred is not enough? I was thinking for about one hour, and finally, I’ve realized that it takes so long time to acknowledge the errors; or, on the other hand, to assume responsibility for the past actions.

Moreover, for some creatures, it is extremely difficult to admit wrong actions. The fact that the main character was rescued is rather pleasant; so, I’ve understood that different sins require different terms to be recounted. The demons the Monkey King fights with are in his soul. They are mostly associated with the traits of the character, which are to be eliminated. Finally, in my opinion, the main idea the author highlights is the process of acceptance the main character should experience.

The second story discloses the life of a Chinese American boy Jin Wang. When the boy started to attend a new school (because his family moved to another town), he became “an object of speculation” (Lam 1). For the main character, it is not so easy to communicate with anyone, and he can’t find a friend until the coming of a new student.

In my opinion, Jin Wang is focused on his struggle with the external world. He can’t become the part of the community he lives with; the society rejects him, and finally, he tries to exploit his friend. I suppose it was fate , which punished the main character for his traitorous actions: Jin Wang lost the only friend he had.

The last character is Danny. He also struggles with his own fears; however, his Chinese cousin helps him to realize and understand his hidden identity. It is not so easy for Danny to accept his second side; but finally, he wins…

In my opinion, a graphic novel American Born Chinese shows us that people are to fight with their personal fears, lack of self-confidence, and self-humiliation. Other people can’t accept and respect a person who has low self-esteem. One of the most important struggles, which finally defines who is who, is a personal fight. Eradication of inner contradictions is the most effective road to success.

Lam, LiMin 2007, A Dose of Humor and Reality: American Born Chinese, 2007. Web.

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American Born Chinese

By gene luen yang, american born chinese themes, transformation.

Transformation is perhaps the most prominent theme in American Born Chinese , as the desire to change form and therefore identity is the trait that unites the Monkey King and Jin and shows how their stories work as parallels. Early in the book, the Monkey King trains himself in Kung-Fu and Taoist disciplines in order to transcend his lowly status as a monkey and become a supreme being whose power rivals the creator of the universe. In Jin's storyline, Jin learns as a child that he can grow up to be a transformer—i.e. the shape-shifting toy he likes to play with—if he sacrifices his soul. Later, he makes good on this advice when he escapes his shameful identity as an American-born Chinese boy and adopts the Danny alter-ego. The two storylines collide when Chin-Kee reveals his true form as the Monkey King and teaches Jin that he could have saved himself five hundred years under a pile of rocks if only he accepted that it is good to live as a monkey. With this lesson, Jin accepts his own true form.

Folklore plays an important role in American Born Chinese , as the entire story of the Monkey King is a retelling of the Chinese folktale of Sun Wukong. Though the Sun Wukong character can be traced as far back as the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), Sun Wukong was prominently featured in the 16th-century Chinese epic novel Journey to the West. Yang blends this folklore source material with his semi-autobiographical depiction of Jin, using the Monkey King's desire for transformation and eventual self-acceptance as a parallel to Jin's journey through adolescent self-loathing toward a mature acceptance of his true identity.

Discontent and Acceptance

Discontent that arises from being frustrated with one's circumstances is another of the novel's major themes. For the Monkey King, dissatisfaction festers when he isn't recognized by the heavens as a supreme being. As a punishment and lesson for the vengeance he seeks, the creator of the universe traps the Monkey King under a pile of rubble for five hundred years. Eventually, by releasing his discontent and accepting himself, the Monkey King frees himself from the rocks. As a parallel, Jin's discontent comes from feeling excluded from the mainstream white majority at his school. This leads Jin to fantasize about transforming into Danny, a popular white boy. Adopting this idealized identity, Jin loses touch with his true identity. At the end of the book, the Monkey King imparts his wisdom: that he learned it is good to be a monkey. Through acceptance, Jin overcomes his discontent and meets with Wei-Chen as a symbolic means of reconnecting with Chinese culture and true friendship. Just like the Monkey King, Jin overcomes discontent and finds peace through acceptance.

Racial Discrimination

The theme of racial discrimination surfaces consistently throughout the novel. Discrimination is usually practiced in the form of casually racist comments directed toward Jin, Wei-Chen, or Suzy, though discrimination is sometimes handled in more overtly. Chin-Kee, for instance, embodies every anti-Chinese caricature America has conjured since the late 1800s, and therefore encapsulates discrimination in an absurd package. Discrimination also functions in the novel in more nuanced ways: using euphemistic and indirect language, Greg intervenes to keep Jin from dating Amelia, as Greg believes they aren't suited for each other. Later, he tells Amelia that Jin is a bit of a "geek"; presumably, this is his coded way of socially excluding Jin because he is Chinese.

Identity—particularly the desire to escape one's identity—is another of the novel's major themes. Several characters struggle with their identities. The Monkey King isn't satisfied with his identity as a monkey, and so does everything he can to transform into a being who is bigger and stronger and more invulnerable to attack. Similarly, Jin struggles with identity as an ethnically Chinese American; he wishes to escape this identity by refusing his Chinese heritage and trying to act like a mainstream white American—a struggle that is metaphorically represented in his alter-ego Danny. Wei-Chen also struggles with identity. Though he is the Monkey King's son and has been tasked with the challenge of living a mortal life for forty years while avoiding human vice, Wei-Chen loses faith in humanity and devotes himself to a life of pleasure-seeking.

Assimilation

Even more insidious than the casual racism Jin experiences is the incidental pressure to integrate into and absorb mainstream American culture. Feeling that he is an outsider, Jin wishes to be able to participate in the popular mainstream culture of his school. In a symbolic effort, he curls his naturally straight hair to better resemble Greg. Later, Jin's desire to blend into his social surroundings leads him to dissociate from his Chinese identity through the alter-ego Danny, an embodiment of the conventional white American teenager.

Social Pressure

The theme of social pressure is depicted in the novel through the sometimes–overt, sometimes-unconscious pressure characters feel from their social spheres. The Monkey King feels a social pressure to wear shoes and not to be a monkey, while Jin feels the social pressure to conceal his Chinese cultural background while at school—unless he is comfortable being made an object of humiliation. Jin later wields social pressure against Wei-Chen: in reaction to the way bullies make Jin feel like an outsider whose culture isn't acceptable, Jin tells Wei-Chen to act less like he is "fresh off the boat."

American Born Chinese Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for American Born Chinese is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

American born Chinese chapter 7 quiz

What does the monkey king say to defend his right to be admitted into the donner party?

Do you mean dinner party? He said one last word-DIE-and beat everyone else up.

Yang uses humour to make light of experiences that are not so humorous for the immigrants that experience them. Often when reading we laugh at painful experiences of the characters. Have you or anyone you've known had experiences that were funny to others

This is asking for your personal experience.

Study Guide for American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese study guide contains a biography of Gene Luen Yang, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About American Born Chinese
• American Born Chinese Summary
• Character List

Essays for American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang.

• Racism in "American Born Chinese"
• Gene Luen Yang and Toni Morrison, On the Triumvirate of Identity
• Legends as Guides: Routes to Cultural Discovery in 'Ceremony' and 'American Born Chinese'
• Creating Between Cultural Dichotomies—Cai Guo Qiang, Interpreter of East-West Dialogues

Lesson Plan for American Born Chinese

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to American Born Chinese
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
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American Born Chinese

Gene luen yang.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

The novel begins with the story of the Monkey King , a deity who reigns over monkeys on Flower-Fruit Mountain. One night, smells from a party in Heaven waft down to Flower-Fruit Mountain, and since the Monkey King loves parties, he decides to go. When he gets to the door of the party, the guard denies him entrance since he’s a monkey and isn’t wearing shoes . The Monkey King is embarrassed, so he beats up the other deities at the party. Back home, he’s suddenly aware of his fur’s smell. The next day, he declares that all monkeys in his kingdom must wear shoes, and locks himself in his chambers. After 80 days studying kung-fu in solitude, he achieves the four major disciplines of invulnerability and the four major disciplines of bodily form, which means he can’t die and can shape-shift. The other monkeys are ecstatic when the Monkey King emerges, but they’re puzzled by his appearance: he looks somehow human. One monkey offers his king a scroll from Heaven, which reads that the Monkey King has been sentenced to death for trespassing upon Heaven. The Monkey King says this is a mistake: he’s no longer the Monkey King and is now The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.

The Monkey King storms off to announce his new name. Ao-Kuang , Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, laughs at the Monkey King’s pronouncement and tries to proceed with the execution, but when the Monkey King stomps on him, he accepts the name. The Monkey King goes all around Heaven, brutally forcing everyone to accept his new name. Finally, the gods, goddesses, demons, and spirits go to the emissaries of Tze-Yo-Tzuh (the creator of the world) to report the Monkey King as a menace. A few days later, Tze-Yo-Tzuh interrupts the Monkey King. He explains that he created the Monkey King. Incensed, the Monkey King speeds away through the universe. When he reaches five golden pillars at the end of all that is, he carves his name on one and urinates on it. After he returns to Tze-Yo-Tzuh, Tze-Yo-Tzuh offers the Monkey King his hand: one finger bears the Monkey King’s name and a spot of urine: his fingers were the five pillars. Tze-Yo-Tzuh insists that the Monkey King cannot escape him and is supposed to be a monkey. When the Monkey King insults Tze-Yo-Tzuh again, Tze-Yo-Tzuh collapses a mountain on the Monkey King and traps him inside so he can’t practice kung-fu.

500 years later, Tze-Yo-Tzuh chooses a monk named Wong Lai-Tsao to carry three parcels to the west and explains that the Monkey King will be Wong Lai-Tsao’s first disciple. Wong Lai-Tsao journeys to the Monkey King’s mountain and tries to convince the Monkey King to help him, but the Monkey King is derisive. The Monkey King only begins to reconsider when two demons start to roast Wong Lai-Tsao on a fire—and Wong Lai-Tsao points out that the Monkey King can free himself if he releases kung-fu and returns to his true form. With a sigh, the Monkey King turns back into a monkey and beats up the demons. He agrees to accompany Wong Lai-Tsao and leaves his shoes behind.

At the same time, a young boy named Jin Wang tells his story. Jin’s mother and father immigrated to the U.S. from China and met at school in San Francisco. They lived in Chinatown and Jin was born there. Now, Jin spends his time blissfully playing Transformers with other Chinese boys in the apartment complex. Jin’s mother goes to an herbalist once per week and takes Jin with her. One day, the herbalist’s wife asks Jin what he wants to be when he grows up. Jin says he wants to be a Transformer, but according to his mom, that’s impossible. The herbalist’s wife says it actually is possible—if Jin is willing to forfeit his soul. Not long after this, Jin’s parents move to the suburbs and Jin starts third grade. His teacher, Mrs. Greeder , says his name incorrectly, says he came from China, and tells a concerned classmate named Timmy that Jin stopped eating dogs as soon as he arrived in America. The only other Asian student is a Japanese girl named Suzy Nakamura , and many students believe that Jin and Suzy are related or that they’ll be married when Suzy turns 13. School is lonely for Jin. Boys continue to tease Jin about eating dogs, though one boy, Greg , sometimes stands up for Jin. A bully named Peter becomes Jin’s friend, but their friendship consists mostly of games that hurt or humiliate Jin. Peter moves away when Jin is in fifth grade, and a few weeks later, a boy named Wei-Chen from Taiwan joins Jin’s class. For some reason, Jin wants to beat Wei-Chen up. When Wei-Chen approaches Jin at lunch, Jin rudely tells Wei-Chen to speak English and that they can’t be friends. However, Jin changes his mind about Wei-Chen when Wei-Chen pulls out a Transformer toy, and the two become best friends.

Alongside Jin’s story, the novel takes the format of a sitcom called Everyone Ruvs Chin-Kee . It’s accompanied by a laugh track that indicates laughter or clapping from an audience . The scene opens in a suburban living room, where a white boy named Danny studies chemistry with a girl named Melanie . Danny is aghast when his mother announces that cousin Chin-Kee will be here soon and will accompany Danny to school. Chin-Kee bursts through the door. He’s dressed in traditional Chinese clothes and has yellow skin, buckteeth, and a long queue. Chin-Kee mixes up his r’s and his l’s as he compliments Melanie’s bust and salivates. At school, Chin-Kee embarrasses Danny at every turn. He answers every question in class correctly, eats “crispy-fried cat gizzards with noodle” for lunch, and pees in the Coke can of Steve , an older boy on the basketball team whom Danny admires. Chin-Kee goes to the library after school while Danny attends detention, tries unsuccessfully to ask Melanie out again, and goes to the gym. Steve sits down with Danny and Danny shares that every year when Chin-Kee visits, his classmates start to think of him not as Danny, but just as Chin-Kee’s cousin. Because of this, Danny has switched schools every year since eighth grade. Steve kindly says that kids at this school are nicer than that, as no one teases him for being overweight, and offers to buy Danny a Coke. Danny angrily asks if that’s so he can pee in it, and storms away.

When Jin is in seventh grade, he falls madly in love with a classmate named Amelia . When he confides in Wei-Chen about his crush, Wei-Chen initially teases him for liking a girl at all, but Wei-Chen soon begins dating Suzy. Wei-Chen and Suzy often tease Jin about the fact that he can’t speak or behave normally around Amelia. Despite this, Wei-Chen pushes Jin to volunteer to feed some temporary classroom pets after school when Amelia raises her hand, but his outburst causes the teacher to assign Wei-Chen feeding duties instead. That afternoon, Jin fixates on Greg’s curly hairstyle, since Greg sits next to Amelia in science and she seems to like him. Jin gets a perm so his hair looks like Greg’s, which shocks Suzy and Wei-Chen at school the next morning.

As Wei-Chen and Amelia feed the pets after school, they accidentally get locked in a closet together. While they wait for Jin to figure out what happened, Wei-Chen tells Amelia about how good and kind of a friend Jin is to him. When Jin opens the closet, he feels a jolt of confidence coming from his curly hair and asks Amelia out. She agrees. Since Jin’s parents are extremely strict, he pleads with Wei-Chen to lie to Jin’s parents about where Jin is so he can go on the date. After Wei-Chen grudgingly agrees, Jin and Amelia decide to go to the movies. Since they can’t drive, Jin lets Amelia ride on his handlebars as he bikes up the hill to the theater. By the time they arrive, Jin’s armpits reek—his parents don’t see any reason for Jin to have deodorant. Near the end of the movie, Jin feels a jolt of confidence. Remembering the advice of his cousin Charlie , Jin rushes to the bathroom, scrubs dry soap into his armpits, and returns to the theater to put an arm around Amelia. She leans into him. As they leave the theater, Jin sees with horror that there are soap bubbles coming through his shirt and onto Amelia’s shoulder. Thankfully, Amelia doesn’t notice, and they get milkshakes. Greg sees them as they leave.

At school the next day, as Jin prepares to ask Amelia out again, Greg pulls Jin aside and asks him for a favor: to stay away from Amelia. Greg says that he’s not interested in Amelia, but he’s concerned for her social standing going into high school and doesn’t think Jin is right for her. Confused and hurt, Jin agrees, but he regrets it immediately. His anger simmers until later, he approaches Amelia to try again—but loses his nerve when he sees Greg. Despondent, he joins Suzy outside. She’s close to tears and shares that over the weekend, she went to a party for one of her friends from Japanese school, but realized quickly that the friend didn’t want Suzy to be there. Suzy says she was extremely embarrassed and today, when Timmy called her a “chink” (a racist slur against Asian people) she realized she feels embarrassed like that all the time. Inexplicably, Jin leans over and kisses her. Suzy punches him in the face. Later, Wei-Chen goes to Jin’s house and asks why Jin would do something like that. Jin angrily tells Wei-Chen that Wei-Chen isn’t good enough for Suzy, and Wei-Chen punches Jin in the face. That night, Jin convinces himself that what he told Wei-Chen is true. He dreams of the herbalist’s wife, who says that Jin has finally forfeited his soul. She asks what Jin wants to be. When Jin gets up to use the bathroom, he turns on the light and sees that he’s white. He names his new self Danny.

Back in the sitcom Everyone Ruvs Chin-Kee , Danny (Jin) goes to the library to find Chin-Kee dancing on a table and singing “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin. Mortified, Danny drags Chin-Kee out of the library by his queue, tells him to leave him alone, and punches him again and again. Chin-Kee takes the abuse, but then fights back with kung-fu moves, all of which have names that come from classic Chinese restaurant dishes. After Chin-Kee appears to emerge victorious, Danny throws one final punch at Chin-Kee—and knocks his head off to reveal the Monkey King. The Monkey King returns to his monkey form and then makes Danny revert to his true form as Jin. The Monkey King explains who he is and that Wei-Chen is his son and an emissary of Tze-Yo-Tzuh. Wei-Chen’s test of virtue was to live among humans without vice for 40 years. His test went well for three years, until Wei-Chen lied to Jin’s mother. After that, he told the Monkey King that he was uninterested in serving Tze-Yo-Tzuh and finds humans to be selfish and horrible. When he began refusing the Monkey King’s visits, the Monkey King started visiting Jin instead. The Monkey King says that he didn’t do this to punish Jin; he visited Jin to act “as a signpost to [his] soul.” Jin calls after the retreating Monkey King and asks what he’s supposed to do now. The Monkey King says that he would’ve saved himself years of imprisonment in a mountain had he realized how good it is to be a monkey, and leaves Jin a business card for a Chinese restaurant.

Jin goes to the restaurant and orders pearl milk tea every day after school for the next month. Finally, one night, Wei-Chen pulls up outside in his cool car, blasting loud music and smoking. Jin tells Wei-Chen that he met the Monkey King and invites Wei-Chen inside. He can see the small, scared monkey inside of Wei-Chen. In the restaurant, Jin tells Wei-Chen about the Monkey King’s visit and says that he’s really just trying to apologize. After thinking for a moment, Wei-Chen says he knows where they can go to get better pearl milk tea. The boys talk and laugh together late into the night.

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American Born Chinese

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Character Analysis

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Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Otherness and the Effects of Racism and Discrimination

Jin, Wei-Chen, and Suzy all feel a sense of “otherness” due to their Asian heritage, and that otherness makes them particularly vulnerable to racist attacks on their identity. Otherness is a sense of being different in terms of one’s self-image, and this experience can stem from being a member of a racial minority as well as other cultural identifiers. As young people of Asian heritage, they comprise a minority within the context of their predominantly White student body. The parallel story of the Monkey King, who is introduced as he is rejected from a dinner party for being different from the other deities, demonstrate that otherness and racism can take many different forms; rejection and injustice exists everywhere, not just in the world of young humans.

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American Born Chinese Essay | A Topic on Cultural Identity in Gene Luen Yang Novel American Born Chinese

December 3, 2021 by Prasanna

American Born Chinese Essay: ‘American Born Chinese’ is a famous graphic novel authored by Gene Luen Yang. It has a special type of structure where three different stories are related to each other and finally converge in the end. Each story is based on a central character that feels being judged and tries to fit in. The story features many stereotypical ideas and opinions prevalent in America throughout the twentieth century. The American Born Chinese stories represent a combination of humor and reality. Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese focuses on the life of a typical Chinese boy facing challenges of modern-day stereotyping. It gives readers a flavor of the emotional and creative storyline. The author joins three very separate stories very subtly to illustrate the experience of a Chinese-American boy within an environment that is not always very welcoming to his real and perceived differences.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long Essay on American Born Chinese Essay

The Storyline

The first story is about the monkey king who is deprived of some authority and desperate to prove his superiority over others. He practices martial arts to increase his abilities, and to show off his skills. His feelings of superiority lead him to take certain inappropriate steps. When he was advised that he should be content with what he is, the monkey king refuses. He was punished for his poor choices and freed himself back only after hundreds of years by reducing himself to his original size. After that, the monkey king sends his son Wei-Chen on a journey but takes the disguise of Chin-kee to keep a watch on his son and his activities.

In the second plot, Jin is a young Chinese American who can’t find himself fit with the school environment. He made a friendship with Wei-Chen who is also an immigrant and also develops a relationship with Amelia. Then Amelia’s friend Greg insults Jin, which makes him wish he were white. When he wakes up, he finds himself changed as white, and he renames himself Danny, which leads to the third story.

Danny is in high school but decides to change schools every year following the visit of his cousin Chin-kee who completely embarrasses him by his typical Chinese racial stereotype attitude. Danny becomes angry with Chin-kee’s behavior and hits him in the face. This punch breaks the disguise and brings him back to the original figure of the monkey king. The monkey king also reveals Danny’s actual form by turning him back into Jin. The monkey king explains how Wei-Chen had decided not to live a virtuous life any longer and went away. Jin decided to wait every night until finally one night Wei-Chen returned. The two boys became friends once more.

The Underlying Message

Graphic novels can represent stories much better through most genres, because of the format that uses the power of visualization and lighter mode. This book is also not an exception to that. A sensitive topic like racism that would normally be fairly tough to discuss, is done in a manner that it appeals to the readers. There is an inner flow of message passing through all the stories which say there is nothing like a happy ending and life has a continuous movement. However, the characters find a better way of understanding themselves during interaction with others. Chin-Kee could be viewed as problematic to some readers, but the thought process that accompanies his actions makes it clear that he is meant to be a representation of all the negative traits that westerners view of the Chinese. At first, the reader may find the three stories separate, but when these are merged together at the end it creates an impact that makes this novel really interesting.

Short Essay on American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese is a famous graphic story written by Gene Luen Yang. It has won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2007, National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature in 2006, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album, and Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year.

The novel features strong themes of racial stereotypes, particularly Americans’ perception of the Chinese and other East Asian communities. For example, Monkey King serves as a symbol for minority races particularly those who want to hide their backgrounds to assimilate into the majority culture. He is determined to prove that he is more than just a Monkey and desires to be recognized as powerful as others. The character of Chin-Kee is also an example of a Chinese stereotype who is being discriminated by racial remarks generally used for unskilled Chinese workers.

The Moral of the Story

Anyone who ever felt like they didn’t fit in can relate to the characters of the novel. Jin Wang feels like an outsider at school as he is the only Chinese-American student there. Danny feels embarrassed while dealing with the yearly visit of his cousin Chin-Kee who is a Chinese stereotype. The monkey god finds him inferior in the eyes of the other deities and wants to rise too fast to face recognition from the other gods. But Yung conveys the message in the story that one has to be comfortable with oneself, not to make fun of people due to their communities, and to accept people from all backgrounds as friends. The novel depicts transformations of identity as the theme and the narrative structure helps to establish the characters as the key elements of the way the story is told.

FAQ’s on American Born Chinese Essay

Question 1. How many plots are there in the main novel ‘American Born Chinese’?

Answer: There are three separate stories in the novel that are merged at the conclusion.

Question 2. Who are the protagonists in each of these stories?

Answer: The first story has the monkey god as the leading character, the second story revolves around Jin as the protagonist and the third plot narrates the story of Danny.

Question 3. What is the underlying message in the story ‘American Born Chinese’?

Answer: The message of the story is to be comfortable with who you are, not to bully others due to their ethnicities, and to accept people from all backgrounds in your community.

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American Born Chinese Essay Examples

American born chinese: archetypes and cultural identities in the graphic novel.

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel written by Gene Yang that focuses on the characters Jin Wang, the Monkey King, and Chin-Kee. Throughout the story, the focus switches between these characters after each chapter. Jin has low self-esteem and cares excessively about what others...

American Born Chinese: the Struggle of Understanding and Accepting One's Identity

Moving to a new country can be very challenging since it means going to a new school, living in a new neighborhood, and being surrounded by new and different people. Everyone else is from the same culture while you are the only different one. It...

Just Be Yourself: the Main Idea in the Book American Born Chinese

Every day, people are oppressed for their backgrounds whether they like it or not. In the book American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, this idea is demonstrated through three different stories with a similar message of racial background and self-esteem. The three main characters...

Racism and Racial Identity in the Graphic Novel American Born Chinese

Every leaf that ever falls from the tree is different and unique just like our identity. The difference is what makes everyone beautiful. Everyone is unique because of their values, religion, culture, thoughts, and beliefs. In Kenji Yoshino’s essay, Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our...

Self-acceptance, Racial Stereotypes and Identity in American Born Chinese

American born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, not to mention, is a phenomenal graphic novel touching on the issues of self-hatred gradually leading to self-acceptance, racial stereotyping and identity. The comics is a mix of realistic materials and fiction as it is inspired and developed...

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