American Born Chinese: Jin Character Analysis

Austin Block
Mr. Ainscough
Block E
9/15/15
Jin’s Identity Goes from Okay to Worst to Okay

Identity is bearing one's personality which does not belong to someone else. Jin's identity is finally established after changing his actions and hearing from the Monkey King. The portions in this book which include Jin start from a young age and approach teenage years. The story begins with him and friends playing with toys prior to moving and starting the third grade in a new school. Eventually, he makes a friend and begins dating Amelia with a new hairdo. This ends in disaster, but Jin accomplishes something worth a better life and earns Wei-Chens friendship back. In American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, Jin's character evolves to become less likable

but in the end he is closer to accepting himself.
Jin's original character is stubborn and lonely.

When he is a young boy, he accompanied his mother to the Chinese Herbalist and sat outside with an old lady: “Sometimes the appointment lasted for what seemed like hours. I would sit in the front room, listening to the herbalist’s wife” (27). Rather than hanging out with friends, Jin spent his day quietly. You can tell he is bored due to the feeling described with long visits and listening to ‘click clack, click.’ This represents Jin as lonely during his younger age. In addition, Jin played with a transformer toy when sitting at the Herbalist’s shop including saying “…I…I want to be a transformer!” (27). This communicates the idea of Jin being lonely because several other dreams are possible. At his new school, Jin is introduced to his class and shortly after goes to recess. He sat alone during lunch where a group of bullies approached him regarding meals in his culture, one saying, “Come one. Let’s leave Bucktooth alone so he can enjoy Lassie” (33). Due to Jin’s race and choice not to play with others, he is lonely. He also does not defend

himself or culture which is being stubborn, not wanting to deal with the stereotypes instead letting the bullies continue. Wei-Chen, a new kid at Jin’s school, is also Chinese and attempted to befriend Jin during recess: “Something made me want to beat him up…I have enough friends” (36-38). In this event, Jin is especially stubborn and rude towards a potential new friend, Wei-Chen. The only way the two become friends is because Wei-Chen brings a transformer to school, which apparently reminds Jin of his younger experience. By doing so, he turns down the only person so far who introduced themselves to Jin and again, he is lonesome after declining. In short, Jin is seen as reclusive and inflexible to others when he sits with the Herbalist’s wife, does not argue with bullies, and declines a new friend.
Rather than being reclusive, Jin becomes more outgoing towards the middle of the story however also becomes quite unpleasant.

Wei-Chen whispers in Jin’s ear and suddenly his head is shown surrounded with lightning bolts prior to him asking out Amelia: “Hang out…With me…Sometime? (105). Not long before asking Amelia out, Jin is extremely worried she does not like him however his conscience and Wei-Chen tells him to go ahead. This action is very outgoing especially considering two grades prior, Jin did not even want to make a friend. While this could be seen as an improvement to his character, he is not his true self. An additional change is Jin’s hair, which is changed to be like Greg’s (97). Amelia and Greg are great friends, which causes Jin to look at how Greg appears. This physical modification is performed as Jin believes Amelia cares more about hair than personality. This definitely moves Jin away from his true self. Suzy, his best friend’s girlfriend displays vulnerability while explaining how she was not invited to a party except by a girls’ mother, when Jin kisses her and she responds angrily, saying, “What’s wrong with you, Jin?” (188). This could be identified as Jin’s second to worst moments. He betrayed three people in reality which can easily be seen as unpleasant. Jin, worst of all, kissed his best friend’s girlfriend and betrayed Amelia, his recent date, as well as Suzy. Wei-Chen arrives at Jin’s house to confront him about previous actions however explains

is it okay before Jin turns on him: “You and I are not alike…Maybe I think she can do better than an F.O.B like you” (191). Jin’s reaction to Wei-Chen came out of nowhere, this is truly his most unpleasant moment. His best friend is simply turned down because Jin assumes he must hang out with more popular people. He does reflect on his actions in a dream that night though. This is the point in American Born Chinese where Jin becomes furthest from himself as presented by him dating Amelia, changing his hair, kissing Suzy, and being rude to Wei-Chen.
Like the previous, Jin is outgoing in the end however is much nicer and closer to his original self. After Jin’s bad day, he lies down with several bruises. Jin dreams of the herbalist’s wife and transforms into Danny, who is fully American (194). Later, this new Danny becomes Jin again upon meeting the Monkey King (214). This action in the story represents the actual change of Jin. It is easiest to see by skipping the Danny part, jumping from the unpleasant Jin to the original. You can see by the hair-changing illustration, the first hair design is back. The Monkey King informs Jin of Wei-Chen’s tasks and how he changed his priorities. The order of events is to, explaining, “You met him during the first week of his test. He spoke very highly of you” (216). Jin understands how he changed since Wei-Chen’s first encounter with him. During this moment, Jin is also able to reflect on what he caused Wei-Chen to do, lie. Contrary to most readers’ predictions, Jin waited at a cafe every day for a month looking to see Wei-Chen again after finding a paper from the Monkey King. When he arrived in a loud car, Jin is not expecting acceptable communication however it occurs anyways: “Then finally, one Friday night, he came…I’ll take you there sometime…That’d be cool” (228-232). In the end, it can be seen, Jin is more outgoing by meeting Wei-Chen after their argument. In addition, he agrees to eat with Wei-Chen in the future-this clearly means previous actions have been put behind. In short, Jin’s authentic character is exposed in the end after he becomes Danny, sees the Monkey King, and visits Wei-Chen.
In conclusion, Jin can be seen far from himself before reversing into an improved original Jin in American Born Chinese. In the beginning, Jin is quite reclusive as seen by rejecting a new friend, sitting with the herbalist’s wife, and not defending himself. During the story’s middle, it can be seen Jin is more outgoing but becomes unpleasant because he asks Amelia out, kisses Suzy, and hurts Wei-Chen’s feelings. Lastly, Jin reverts to his true self by changing physical appearance, reacting nicely to Wei-Chen and reflecting on his old self. This message relates to the common world in many ways. People may start their lives poorly, fall into an unpleasant state, and finish improved compared to how they started.