"Everyone Ruvs Chin-Kee"

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is not a book I would normally read. Truthfully, I am not fond of the graphic novel format – I feel distracted and disconnected trying to follow along.  This book was easier to follow than other graphic novels I’ve read in the past; I did not feel so overwhelmed by words and action while reading.  From the start, it is clear that Jin lives on the fringe of both cultures – American and Chinese.  He is the only child of highly educated professional Chinese immigrants.  Jin lives first nine years in an apartment on the edge of Chinatown in San Francisco, a place where most people look like him and come from similar backgrounds.  On Saturday mornings all the boys in his building come to his house to watch American Cartoons and dream American dreams of what they will be when they grow up.  His parents are firmly rooted in tradition and expose him to those aspects of Chinatown also.  At age 10, he moves to the suburbs, and for the first time is different than everyone else, which leads to teasing and bullying.  This move, and subsequent mistreatment, set him on a journey of self-discovery.  I do not feel that Jin is very dynamic.  His story seems very “expected”.  He goes on a journey to discovery himself, which leads to a “happily ever after” type of resolution; He is reunited with his culture, his best friend, and generally seems to be ok with himself.  However, his story is rather expected, and the book ends in a very expected way.

With all of that said, the book does unfurl to becoming a parable of sorts, addressing two old adages, be careful what you wish for and don’t selling your soul to the devil.  In the first part of the book, Jin is visiting an ancient Chinese healer with his mother.  She imparts this sage piece of advice (or perhaps warning) to Jin: “It’s easy to become anything you wish, so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul” (29).  

                          

In the story of the Monkey King, we clearly see the result of this.  He feels that he has transcended himself, becoming a deity so powerful that he is greater than Tze-Yo-Tzun (essentially the equivalent to the Christian God).  He loses his soul to become powerful, only to find out that he can never truly escape who he is, the monkey he was created to be.  Ultimately, he realizes this truth in the final part of the book, and shares with Jin: “I only realized how good it is to be a monkey” (223).  This advice rings true in may situations – be who you are, pretending to be someone else, never works out.

The biggest take away from this book comes from the afterward section.  Yang discusses how the book came to fruition, and what he has learned growing up as a boy very much like Jin, here is what he shared: “What I’ve found is that the outsider’s experience is nearly universal.  Almost all of us have a story about not fitting in…The outsider’s experience can be [is] our common ground” (236).

Works Cited

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. First Second Books. 2006.