The End of American Born Chinese was a journey. It started
out with multiple stories living in their own separate universes. It felt like
each story was a fragment of what it means to love where you came from, but was
one focused on a single identity. The Monkey King strived to be more than a
monkey so that he almost completely lost his past, Chin-Kee gave us a character
named Danny who seemed to be dragged down by a part of him he deemed unworthy
of what he desired his life to be, and Jin Wang’s story explored what it means
to accept himself as a person. The end of the story reminded me of film. The
three tales had been intertwined all along and they all converged into one
final scene in the restaurant where Jin Wang and his best friend found
acceptance for themselves. If this were a film, the climax would be Jin Wang
waking up and seeing in the mirror that he was a new person. The flush of realization
to the audience is what makes this story so amazing. Were you expecting the
story to unravel in this way? Were there any obvious hints? Do you think that
this story would of worked the same way if we simply saw each tale end on their
own accord instead of having them all converge into one final scene? (The
monkey king walking off with his new master for example- fade to black)
Seeing the Monkey King trapped underneath the weight of the
mountain, I realized that Danny and the Monkey King were both in the same
situation. To Danny, Chin-Kee was like the mountain. He was what was holding
him down all these years and it made him ungrateful for anything in life. The
Monkey’s constant desire to be more made him seem less of a person than when he
began his journey. It wasn’t until he was saved from the mountain that he could
finally see what he truly was meant to be. Oui? Finding out that the Monkey
King was actually Chin-kee and Danny was Jin Wang, the story was opening up to
many more possibilities. What was it that led Jin Wang to becoming Danny? Was
it really the moment when Timmy told him that he wasn’t good enough for Amelia
when this personality arose or had it always been inside him? With the
knowledge that Danny was sort of an “avatar” for Jin Wang, what parts of
Danny’s life were reflections of Jin Wang’s real life? Do you think that this
was his internal image of normalcy?
American Born Chinese was probably my favorite among the
novels we have read. The interwoven storylines kept it at a fast pace and it’s
use of color and caricatures were refreshing compared to what we had seen with
Shortcomings and Persepolis. Jin Wang’s situation of acceptance is one we all
need to understand for ourselves and the stories coming of age tale made me
understand life through my own youth. For my final question, because of American
Born Chinese’s lighter tone, did it express the idea of identity and acceptance
as well as Shortcomings did with a more serious one?
I am having issues getting anything posted on blogger. Here are my questions for the other portion of this discussion.
ReplyDeletehttp://imgur.com/r5RpgLC
I really liked the way this story wrapped up, short and sweet, ending on a powerful note. Not too much room for closure but it certainly gives the audience the feeling they'll be friends forever.
1.Did you expect the reveal on page 216? What emotional impact if any did it have on you?
2. How did your' feelings of Wei-Chen Sun evolve at the end of the story after his identity was shown?
3. They are very clearly 2 different stories, drawn 2 different ways. How did American Born Chinese "feel" different from Shortcomings in relation to the art style?
4. What do you think about the Monkey kings ability to practice kung-fu after reverting to a monkey again?
5. What "surface" messages of acceptance and relation between the characters can be drawn by the ending of the book?
6. What overall underlying message about this story shines through? Acceptance, nepotism, racism, prejudice.
6. Acceptance of ourselves and others. ...without question.
Delete1. I was totally blown away by the idea that Jin and Danny were one and the same. But I liked that the Monkey King had evolved into the kind of person that could help others and see beyond just himself. Everyone grew, and there was forgiveness and a happy ending...my type of book. :)
1. I was not at all expecting Jin Wang to be Danny. I was even more surprised that Chin Kee was actually the money king. I expected Chin Kee to be the embodiment of Danny own life. Things in his life that he deemed weird and different. Though it wasn’t what I expected, Chin Kee still was someone that Danny saw as odd and something he didn’t want in his life. Finally connecting all the stories together into one tale was interesting. I really enjoyed learning about the extent of Jin Wang’s personality.
Delete2. When I found out that Wei-Chen was actually a child of The Monkey King, I felt like he was the same as everyone else. All characters from Danny to Jin Wang to The Monkey King all had identity issues and from the beginning, I saw Wei-Chen as the perfect embodiment of acceptance. Knowing he was having his own issues, I saw him more as a real person.
3. Shortcomings was drawn much more realistically than that of American Born Chinese. It was more serious and was less of a comic story than anything else we have read so far. The use of Caricatures in American Born Chinese were more important in this tale than if there were caricatures in Shortcomings. There are many ways to tell a story differently.
4. For a long time, The Monkey King was trapped in his new form. The form of a man that he deemed better than his monkey self. Now that he was reverted back to his original state, he may feel at home once again, but everything he learned along the wasn’t gone, it was all there just focused in a specific way.
6. The overlying message this story is trying to tell is one of growing up and accepting yourself no matter what. All the main characters in this tale were fighting for who they were and by the end of the story, they reached a point where they could accept themselves as people, not as caricatures of a specific origin.
Something that both Shortcomings and American Born Chinese both get at is actually quite sad in some ways. Race and writing one’s own identity over a cultural definition of what one should be based on their race is a struggle that is both apparent, visible, and something we can’t really negotiate with. In American Born Chinese, the issue of prejudice isn’t really solved; Jin Wang learns to appreciate Wei-Chen for who he is, but by then Wei-Chen has already changed out of pressure. Jin Wang similarly must navigate how he expresses himself due to societal pressure that he cannot rewrite. In a way, race cannot be hidden as easily as one might superficially change, say, their socioeconomic style. I suppose this is the significance of the monkey, who even when wearing shoes, has a difference from the other gods that is visible and non-negotiable.
DeleteIn Shortcomings, it’s actually a little too late. Ben lived in a world in which race was “invisible” so when he was transported to a space where race was visible and had implications, his internalized insecurities based on his race were confirmed, and he became more depressed and angry. I think something missing from these works that we kind of tend to want to see in works regarding race is the idea that there will be some accepting person of an opposite race that will contradict patterns of prejudice. Yet besides Miko’s boyfriend, there kind of isn’t anyone. Even Amelia doesn’t stand up for Jin Wang.
When it comes to an overall message I think both these stories seek to accomplish a similar goal: start a conversation. These authors are on the forefront of racial identity in contemporary America and just because they have written down and pointed out problematic point of views still harbored by white americans and Asians that does not, by any means, leave it to them to come up with a solution. Comic Books are literature, and people often ask what is the point of literature? What is the point of these comics? I say they are expressing the burden of neo-racism in America. They are showing the world where it still has work left to do.
DeleteOverall this book was amazing. Seeing everything come full circle the way it did made my heart warm, on a very corny note. I loved the way that the Monkey King was really Chin-Kee and he gave Jin the confidence to reach out and try to mend his relationship with Wei-Chen. I don't think the story would have been as enjoyable because having everything come together strengthens the messages patience, equality, love and various others.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jin became Danny when he was shut down by Amelia and his "friend" with the same hair as him, caused him to change. That made him question his friendships, his culture, and himself. He wanted so desperately to be removed from his situation and he thought that no one was going through similar issues. Getting beat up by Chin-Kee/The Monkey King showed how similar Danny's insecurities and Jin's were. Both were very cautious of being embarrassed and timid about their Chinese relatives. Both were creating situations in their own heads that seperated them from reality. We all create our own world's and attitudes, so Jin and Danny did just that. They lost what really matters in life.
This story compared to Shortcomings did a better job of expressing the ideal of being proud of your identity. That definitely has to do with the final panels because Shortcomings just showed him repeating his moping cycle. In American Born Chinese there is hope for anyone who has struggled with these problems.
To respond to your last question first, I felt that this book was far more compelling in it's tone. While it is supposed to be a book for youth and teens it also speaks to the youth inside all of us. Everyone has wanted to be part of the "in" crowd. Even those part of that culture, like Danny, were constantly trying to prove their worth to stay there. We have all wanted to change something about ourselves in order to be what we feel our friends want us to be. So while I cannot claim to understand what it means to be Chinese, Korean, or any other race - I could understand what motivated Jin to make the choices he made. I could also understand the Monkey King's desire to be accepted into the presence of the other Gods and their dinner party.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the use of a more caricature style of drawing allows the reader to becoming a traveler in the story. We may not be part of the story...we might not be Jin, but we are that person in the room with Jin. The drawing of Persepolis and Shortcomings exclude the reader, Persepolis because it is a memoir and it's use of such harsh black and white box the reader out; Shortcomings because of it's use of realistic drawings let the reader know that Ben or Alice is NOT us but them.
And to answer your first musing, I did not see the end coming - which is good. I liked it and it was a surprise. I also felt that the stories could have been left separate and it would have still worked. I was disappointment that Jin's best friend had become his opposite's stereotype. I felt that the point of the story was to become someone beyond the stereotype.
I really liked the end of American Born Chinese, where all three plots came together, although it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Also, I thought it ended too soon, but that was just because I enjoyed reading it so much. The overall theme of accepting yourself was a great message as well. I found it interesting that neither Jin Wang or the Monkey King had any trouble accepting themselves and didn’t even really stop to think about it, until they were confronted with prejudice. For the Monkey King, it wasn’t until he tried to get into the dinner party in heaven and for Jin Wang when he faced people’s biases in school and it didn’t work out with the girl he liked because Timmy told him he wasn’t good enough for Amelia. Both of these characters tried to change themselves to fit in and be accepted - the Monkey King changed his form and told all of the monkeys to wear shoes and Jin Wang turned into Danny. This brings back the theme of Transformers and what the lady told Jin at the Chinese herbalist - that he could become anything he wanted if he was willing to sacrifice his soul. I’m glad that the Monkey King and Jin Wang overcame the prejudice they faced and accepted themselves the way they were, and I thought this was a good way to bring those story lines together.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was really funny that Chin-Kee turned out to be the Monkey King in disguise and that Danny turned out to be Jin Wang, because I wouldn’t have guessed this ending at all. No matter how much Danny tried to deny who he was, Chin-Kee would show up and ruin his plans, acting as his conscious and forcing him to deal with how he felt instead of running away from it.
Comparing American Born Chinese and Shortcomings is hard, because even though they deal with some similar issues, they go about it in completely different ways. I thought that American Born Chinese probably had a clearer and more positive message overall - Shortcomings seemed to be more about grappling with issues of race, relationships and identity whereas American Born Chinese focuses on a message of embracing who you are. Even though American Born Chinese is deceptively simple and light, I think it is just as successful as a story like Shortcomings and it can also appeal to more age groups.
I interpreted it as Jin Wang becoming Danny more so because of his relationship with his friend Wei-Chen Sun. In a way, this crude stereotype was internalized through his early experience in transitioning to a school outside of Chinatown—he became othered and was struggling to make meaningful friendships at his new school. Jin Wang’s obstacle was Chin-Kee’s presence as he writes how the Asian is seen to the white students—much because of media culture. Since Jin Wang was deemed inadequate to date the girl he was interested in, I think this really hit his insecurities (kind of like we saw in Shortcomings.)
ReplyDeleteHe lashes out at Wei-Chen because in his eyes, Wei-Chen is the problem. His personality has more in common with traditional Asian stereotypes, and it is because of him, of Chin-Kee that he struggles.
Even though this text was lighter, I felt like it was actually heavier with themes of identity and belonging. I think it is because there were such strong, embodied metaphors for these struggles (the two parallel frame stories). I think we as readers almost expect things to work out a little smoother with the style and colors. We expect a sort of Disney Channel narrative that ties up together nicely, so it’s jarring to see such a crude character as Chin-Kee, or to see Jin Wang be barred from Amelia, or to see Wei-Chen choose to make such a drastic change to a more Western image at the end of the text.
I really enjoyed your last question. I took that as you asking without the self deprecating of Shortcomings was a struggle for identity still portrayed? And I think yes. I think American Born Chinese shows wisdom in its craft and lightness. There is no way Ben would have spent time meditating on old stories like The Monkey King because he was so self centered and cynical. Shortcomings showed us a character devoid of identity and unwilling to search one out having rejected both his cultural heritage and and the culture he had made for himself through his friends. It was very interesting to read these back to back because I think they both accomplish a lot for Asian Americans. These are two voices that needed to be expressed and I'm glad they both found a way of coming out. Personally, I favored American Born Chinese because I enjoyed the different plots and the caricature and the bright, vibrant illustrations, but I read Shortcomings in one sitting unable to put the book down. With Shortcomings, I was very aware of how American the voice was. Like Ben, it was almost more American than Japanese. There was hardly any Eastern influence that stuck out to me. In ABC, I felt it worked to enlighten the reader more than Shortcomings did so the ending is reminiscent of reaching a nirvana like state with the character. Like a koan, possibly. Either way, I am grateful to have ingested these works and never would have had it not been for this class.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Born Chinese definitely had the best pacing out of all of the stories we have read so far. I loved how the three narratives came together at the end. Seeing the story of the monkey king, changing to be accepted amongst the other immortals linked Jin's struggle to be accepted by his classmates. The transformers analogy was set up in the beginning of the novel and continued to evolve in a brilliant fashion. Watching the trapped monkey king, and Danny trapped not only by his cousin Chin-Kee but his own new-found social status, started to weave the narrative that was going to unfold. Jin's transformation happened gradually throughout the story, instead of having just one moment for his change. The biggest catalyst for his desire to change was when Timmy said he wasn't good enough, but that was just the final push. Jin's betrayal of his friend was a more telling part of the transformation.
ReplyDeleteDanny was Jin's internal persona, and the image he wanted to show the world. Same as the monkey king's transformation into a human-like monkey.
The lightness of American Born Chinese portrayed the message of identity, acceptance, and discrimination even better than Shortcomings did. The characters we saw were more approachable and understandable. It was easier to come to Jin's perspective and defense than that of Ben. Jin was discriminated against and we see this in the various characters that are shown. We do not know exactly why Ben acted the way he did.
I felt surprised by the ending, but pleasantly so. It wasn't until the stories had converged that I began to think about the larger significance of each of the characters. Each of them- Chin-Kee, Danny, and the Monkey King- represent different aspects of Jin's struggle with his Asian identity. Chin-Kee is a hyperbolic representation of Asian stereotypes and tropes in Western culture and the Monkey King is a good example of the kind of traditional storytelling Western audiences associate with traditionally Asian media. Danny is Jin's desire to fit in, to not be reduced to one of these two stereotypes. He would rather have no culture than an embarrassing one. The obvious message here is to stay true to your own identity and to not be ashamed. As embarrassing as it may be, there's no escaping who you are.
ReplyDeleteI think that by using a lighter tone and a art direction that can appeal more to a younger crowd, Yang is able to take the reader by surprise with the messages and meanings of the work. The more realistic art style and serious tone of Shortcomings signaled to readers right away that this is a book for adults about adult problems, not a children's story. There are aspects of American Born Chinese that readers of any age can enjoy and relate to. When the ending happens and the three stories are pulled together, it made me want to go back and reread the book. I started out reading it with perhaps not a fully open mind, not taking it as seriously because of the art. This is a serious example of “don't judge a book by its cover.”
I was completely astonished by the stories converging. It was a pleasant surprise but, nonetheless I was blind-sided. I don't think there were any hints. Dannys story was set in high school so it would have been impossible to guess it was Jin's future since the storylines were being told simultaneously and they were clearly different people, and there was no indication that the spirit world was part of either of those worlds. I guess the transformer Wei-chin brought to that day at school was a very subtle hint. Another hint would be the whole incongruence with how Danny had an Asian cousin and was completely white himself. I think the converging of the storylines was good and meaningful, and fun, but I don't think it was necessary. All of those plots could have been resolved without converging, but the convergence really tied up the book and made it a complete story instead of three separate ones.
ReplyDeleteI think when Jin essentially cut ties with Suzy and Wei-chin he was able to fully assimilate into the white culture. I am not sure if in the world of the story Jin actually became white, because it seems he had the same parents, or if that was his own image of himself, but either way Danny was white for all intents and purposes. I think when Timmy said he didn't think Jin should ask Amelia out again, that is when Jin really decided he could not continue to be Asian, and then great panel with the old herbalist lady!
This also might be my personal favorite so far. It was very deep and got really serious while on a surface level still remaining "for kids." It sort of contrasts Shortcomings in that Shortcomings doesn't end with the clear idea that it is better to accept yourself and reject internalized racism, it is more mature in that way in not being able to see everything in black and white (even though it is in black and white and this is the book that's in color). This conveyed those ideas much more clearly, and I'm assuming that is a result of its intended audience being younger and more impressionable, whereas Shortcomings was more of a discussion than a lesson.
My feelings about ABC are still a little mixed. I just don't think there's enough "meat" to justify a novel-length work. The storylines are all interesting in their own ways, but I don't think any of them are given enough narrative time to develop and I also don't think any one of them reach a satisfying conclusion. I also don't think they make as much of a "statement" as they are meant to. The Monkey King's story is the most interesting -- I'm a fan of Journey to the West -- and the other too are almost as interesting. Unfortunately when they tied-together, it just felt shallow and forced to me. Like the author was trying too hard to be clever. I would have liked this a lot more if the author followed a more traditional narrative path. I think it would have worked a lot better for what should have been a fairly straight-forward work of art. Just a matter of personal taste, but I just found how hard the novel tried to pull these three stories together a little groan-inducing. It's emotionally cheap. It doesn't put any faith in the stories themselves to get the message across. I don't like stories that do that, but again that's personal taste.
ReplyDeleteOther than the issues I've outlined above, I think the art and tone of the graphic novel were awesome and I think they come really close to being as potent as Shortcomings was for me. Unfortunately, the story's held back by it's own cleverness and it comes off as superficial. It gets really close to touching on an important issue, but never quite gets there. It's full of kinetic energy, but never quite goes anywhere with it.
I really liked the Monkey king's story. Actually, even though I enjoyed American Born Chinese overall, I would love to read an entire comic book about the Monkey King, where the plot is more fleshed out and his time being a disciple of Lai-Tsao is explored further. I think we see the beginnings of him (the monkey king) changing his views when he transforms into his original form and agrees to help Lai-Tsao, but I would really like to see more of this.
Delete1) Well I did see it all converging in one way or another and I honestly wanted it to happen but I don't know if I really prefer that over them ending in their own right like you mention here. It certainly wouldn't have worked out the same way and because of that I guess I prefer the convergence. I guess I don't like how we have to assume that the very real life style story had to so forcefully converge with the sitcom. The monkey story actually didn't make me cringe nearly as much. It's like fiction can meet real life, but real life with no fourth wall can't seriously meet real life with a fourth wall.
ReplyDelete2) Though I don't know anything about the creator's personal life, I can only assume due to how fluid he tells his story that he's basing it off his own life which is a very welcome thing to see. With that out of the way I think Jin became Danny out of the anger he built up from what Timmy told him about leaving Amelia alone. But how this merges into the other stories is where I get a bit confused. Mainly because I got attached to the story based in reality and to hear that this world was so incredibly fictitious was kind of upsetting to me. I think this was just his image change to be what Amelia wanted to see. Nothing about race.
3) Honestly since I didn't care much for Shortcomings I don't agree that it expressed identity or acceptance well so in that sense yes ABC did a better job. The only thing that was weird in ABC was how I could take each story seriously until they converged and the oddities mixed in odd and uncomfortable ways.
Wow, never saw that ending coming. The question is, am I dumb for not seeing it before? I'm hoping we weren't suppose to see that ending coming. My comments from the first have of the book are all about how similarly related the 3 stories are to each other.
ReplyDeleteMy direct quote from a previous post, "When you sandwhich them all together and read between the lines you get Yang's perspective on being an American born Chinese.” This was my conclusion while reading these little stories. I had no idea that they are actually all related.
Since I'm not finding closer in this ending it makes me doubt it's real. Is this actually Jin's dream after being smacked around by his 2 friends that day? Is his subconscious connecting these stories with his life at the moment?
It’s an interesting thought about changing the way we were told these stories. The author purposefully told the stories in the fragmented parts to specifically correlate with each other in that specific way. I almost think I would have STILL understood the correlation if they just told us the full 3 stories separately. But maybe it was more effective they way it was written. It’s hard to tell.
Comparing this to Shortcomings, I think it was actually just as effective of addressing race and self doubt. Shortcoming felt like the grown up version and American Born Chinese felt like the child one. Even looking at his designated demographics of each book, it seemed to accomplish their designated target areas. Both our main characters in both books were struggling with that self placement. They want to find where they belong and it all revolved around race. How does their race fit into their society. American Born Chinese takes place in a young child’s perspective, while Shortcomings comes for a more experienced, older, young adult. They both try to find their place but have to go through a tough hardship to understand more about themselves.
I didn't see the ending coming either (at all), but I agree that all three stories go well together to show different aspects of being an American Born Chinese. I also think it's a really interesting point to say that American Born Chinese and Shortcomings have similar messages but for different age groups. It's funny that, at least to me, American Born Chinese seems to have a simpler and clearer message, whereas many things were unresolved in Shortcomings. Then again, I guess things are sometimes simpler for children and people complicated issues as they get older.
DeleteThe happiness of the end of the story, along with the culmination of the three lesser stories, was the greatest reason for the impression it left. This was an effective way to balance ideas in both contrast and comparison within the design of the storytelling. Both the illustration and writing worked well together to help create this balance of separate and concurring stories.
ReplyDeleteJin became Danny because he felt weak about allowing his anger to consume him and acting as the bullies that Jin and Wei's friendship had overcome. The happiness of the conclusion, comes from moments of perspective gained from Danny understanding who Wei and others were or weren't. Jin or Danny's cousin could be a third part of the same personality; Jin being the friend of Wei the Monkey King's son, Danny being Jin's anger, and Chin-Kee being Jin's hatred or more specifically, his self-loathing.
1. Yang’s usage of interweaving and unreliable narratives is exemplary. While many other stories employ similar forms of narrative juggling, American Born Chinese pulls its story off with such smoothness that it has become one of my favorite books from this class. As opposed to setting up some kind of big reveal for the converging of these three stories, Yang seems to ease the reader into the idea of interconnected stories only revealing exactly how they meet near the end. After all, at any age, it’s generally safe to assume that when a work has three seemingly different stories going on separately, chances are they’re related in some way.
ReplyDelete2. The relationship between Jin Wang, Danny, and Chin-kee is the crux of American Born Chinese’s conflict. On the one hand, we have Danny, the all-American boy who’s just trying to fit in. On the other hand is Chin-kee, who is… Chin-kee. Caught between the two of them is Jin Wang, uncertain about his place in school, and uncertain of himself. I think that Jin Wang’s need to be Danny had always existed in him, and that only when his desire to assimilate was at its highest, i.e. his date with Amelia, did he feel the need to cross over. It’s interesting to think of Danny and his story as Jin Wang’s sense of what normality is. Although lacking the mythical nature of the monkey king’s narrative, the sitcom feel of Danny’s story makes it feel far from realistic.
3. Both Shortcomings and American Born Chinese do a good job of depicting the issue of race and identity in America. However, while Shortcomings’ story is sharp and crisp in its presentation, American Born Chinese is vastly more approachable and enjoyable. It is difficult to decide which piece of art is more “effective” in its attempt at portraying the issues of prejudice and self-loathing. I think that Shortcomings deals with the topic in a more head on manner, but its narrative is too narrow in its appeal for it to really communicate to readers. To answer the question more generally, I would say that the tone of a work does not necessarily have an impact on its depth. Just because a work has a veneer of realism or grimness to it does not give it artistic supremacy over a work that makes me laugh.