Dreaming to become a transformer (pg 27) is more than just the wishes of a 9 year old; it is the inevitable path everyone must follow. When Jin was a little boy, his mother took him to a Chinese herbalist shop and one day the herbalist’s wife turned to Jin and said, “It's easy to become anything you wish . . . so long as you're willing to forfeit your soul.” (pg 29). At first he did not understand what she meant, however he quickly learned his lesson by the end of the novel. In American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang, the story of the Monkey King is an allegory to the literal and figurative changes that Jin undergoes. The Monkey King’s road of transformation led him down the path of self-absorption and arrogance. When the Monkey King first began …show more content…
to learn Kung-Fu, it is implied that he does so out of genuine interest in his path towards immortality, as seen in panels 1 and 2, on page 10,where the narrator said “The Monkey King ruled with a firm but gentle hand.” and then Yang illustrated the Monkey King’s smile. This, however, changed completely after the Monkey King was denied entrance to the party in Heaven due to him being a shoeless monkey. This infuriated the Monkey King resulting in him beating everyone in the party up and then contemplating what he could do to become less like a monkey (pg 14-20). In order to rid himself of his monkeyness, he begins to learn 8 more disciplines of Kung-Fu, 4 of which: Giant Form, Miniature Form, Hair-into-Clones, and Shape Shift involve him physically transforming himself. His newfound power allowed him to beat 4 deities without breaking a sweat and even challenge Tze-Yo-Tzuh (god) to a fight. Ultimately his ego caused him to become trapped underneath a pile of rocks where his only escape method is to accept his true self. After 500 years, a little encouragement, and some teasing, the Monkey finally humbled himself and became kind and selfless, enough to help Lai-Tsao in his mission, "Master [Wong Lao-Tsai], let me help you to your feet" (158). The path the Monkey King not only allowed him to change his physical appearance, but it changed how he viewed himself and his origin. A similar path of transformation of perception and appearance can be found in Jin’s storyline.
Jin Wang led an ordinary life as a Chinese-American in San Francisco’s Chinatown, alongside thousands of other Chinese-Americans. This ‘ordinary’ life changed when his family decided to move to the suburbs. In this move, the otherwise happy and childlike boy is faced with the prejudice of a white-dominated society. In his first year in the suburbs, as a third grader, Jin is picked on by the kids in his class due to the preexisting stereotypes of Asian-Americans. He is ostracized to a point where he not only has to change his lunch food from dumplings (pg 32) to a sandwich (pg 34) and is forced to befriend a 5th grade bully who was never truly a friend. This initial encounter with the suburbs caused some of this hate to rub off on Jin, and initiate his attempted assimilation, when he criticizes Wei-Chen for speaking Chinese and repeatedly denies his friendship on the basis that he is Chinese (pg 37-38). A few years into his suburban education, Jin decides that, in order to fit in and succeed in dating Amelia, he must resemble a Caucasian American-- in this case Greg-- by copying his hairstyle (pg 97). After Jin undergoes this transformation he attempts to lose anything related to his Chinese heritage. He begins by attempting to date Amelia and by going against his mother’s wishes (pg 163). This inevitably leads him to not become more American, but more self-absorbed and selfish, …show more content…
especially when he lashes out at Wei-Chen, his trusted friend since 3rd grade, "'Maybe I just don't think you're right for [Suzy], all right? Maybe I don't think you're worthy of her. Maybe I think she can do better than an F.O.B. like you'" (pg 191). Soon after, Jin dreams of the herbalist’s wife and her forewarning, as he sees himself transform into Danny, a white boy who is terrorized by his Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. This dream, transitioned into a scene where Jin learns that Chin-Kee is the Monkey King and that Wei-Chen is his son who decided to go rogue. As the Monkey King was going back up to the heavens, he drops a note with the address of a bakery, where Jin goes every night for over a month until he meets Wei-Chen. During their reunion, it is clear that Jin has humbled and transformed himself back into the original Jin with the old hairstyle and more humble personality. Jin’s transformation, similar to that of the Monkey King, show that Jin’s change in appearance and personality were undesirable and needed to be reversed. The road the Monkey King chose to follow is exactly that of Jin’s path: starting humble, gaining arrogance and ego, then concluding in a regretful and humbled life.
When the story of the Monkey King is broken down to its essentials, it can be interpreted that, allegorically speaking, every aspect of the Monkey King’s journey is the same as Jin’s, from learning Kung-Fu to fighting Tze-Yo-Tzuh. In an initial break down of the fable, the Monkey King starts off as a monkey who enjoys to take part in normal events, especially parties. This is reflected in Jin’s story as Jin came from being accepted everywhere in his neighborhood (Chinatown/Flower-Fruit Mountain) to being ostracized for being different (Suburbs/Heaven). This caused Jin to attempt to fix this abnormality by changing himself and becoming less Chinese, the Monkey King did the same by attempting to remove his Monkey-ness. In the story of the Monkey King, he learns 8 other disciplines of Kung-Fu to master all of them and changes his name to The Great Sage Equal of Heaven. Jin does the same by changing his hair and personality and, in his dream, names himself Danny. After a long fight with Tze-Yo-Tzuh, the Monkey King gets trapped under the mountain of rocks only to be freed by Lao-Tsai. Similarly, Danny (Jin), after a long fight with, Chin-Kee (the Monkey King) gets turned back into Jin and is told about Wei-Chen’s life and the Monkey King’s journey and its implied that he must accept his Chinese heritage in order to
truly be accepting of himself. Jin then has to wait in the bakery for over a month to right his wrongs with Wei-Chen, and the Monkey King has to help Lao-Tsai in his journey to right his wrongs with Tze-Yo-Tzuh. These similarities in plot and structure make the Monkey King’s story exactly the same as Jin’s and ultimately an allegory to Jin Wang’s life from 3rd through 7th grade (11th if you count Danny’s storyline). In every possible way, the story of the Monkey King’s literal and figurative transformations is allegorical to the transformation of Jin throughout his adaptation to the suburbs. Jin and the Monkey King both started out as accepted by everyone in their community, but as soon as they were exposed to the outside world they thought change was their only way to adapt and become a part of the foreign community. However, as they were soon to find out, transforming oneself to the ideals of another is not the best way to handle criticism and other’s perceptions. Instead, they learned, that the most important thing is to be comfortable with yourself and others will be comfortable with you.
Imagine feeling and looking different from all those around you. Imagine if you weren’t understood the same way as the majority. In the book “American Born Chinese”, two characters, Jin and Monkey King who went through the same situations, but in different societies. The Monkey King insight into the impact of society on Jin as they both face social exclusion through experiencing internalized racism. Further as Monkey King transforms into another character, Chin-Kee, which Jin sees as an embarrassing Chinese culture.
Although his parents had no previous knowledge of America’s society, they were able to learn from watching films and reading books. When Liu was born, they decided it was a good idea for him to adapt to this new environment that may benefit his life with better opportunities that the culture provides. Some of these opportunities involved independence and a luxurious lifestyle that they thought was different than the Chinese culture. Liu took pride in believing that he was considered an Asian American when he perceives himself as a unique individual coming from two different cultures. He learns about the daily lives of white people and eventually made friends who were able to support and teach him to fit in with the society. During his life in America, Liu faced struggles and tries to overcome them by learning how to get along with white people, using the social-class to help him make connections with other white people, and getting involved with his internship which provided a good career opportunity while becoming an upper class person. Overall, Liu’s success in achieving his goals of individuality, career opportunities, and lifestyle as well as understanding himself about his Asian American
In analyzing these two stories, it is first notable to mention how differing their experiences truly are. Sammy is a late adolescent store clerk who, in his first job, is discontent with the normal workings of society and the bureaucratic nature of the store at which he works. He feels oppressed by the very fabric and nature of aging, out-of date rules, and, at the end of this story, climaxes with exposing his true feelings and quits his jobs in a display of nonconformity and rebellion. Jing-Mei, on the other hand, is a younger Asian American whose life and every waking moment is guided by the pressures of her mother, whose idealistic word-view aids in trying to mold her into something decent by both the double standards Asian society and their newly acquired American culture. In contrasting these two perspectives, we see that while ...
Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker expresses prominent themes of language and racial identity. Chang-Rae Lee focuses on the struggles that Asian Americans have to face and endure in American society. He illustrates and shows readers throughout the novel of what it really means to be native of America; that true nativity of a person does not simply entail the fact that they are from a certain place, but rather, the fluency of a language verifies one’s defense of where they are native. What is meant by possessing nativity of America would be one’s citizenship and legality of the country. Native Speaker suggests that if one looks different or has the slightest indication that one should have an accent, they will be viewed not as a native of America, but instead as an alien, outsider, and the like. Therefore, Asian Americans and other immigrants feel the need to mask their true identity and imitate the native language as an attempt to fit into the mold that makes up what people would define how a native of America is like. Throughout the novel, Henry Park attempts to mask his Korean accent in hopes to blend in as an American native. Chang-Rae Lee suggests that a person who appears to have an accent is automatically marked as someone who is not native to America. Language directly reveals where a person is native of and people can immediately identify one as an alien, immigrant, or simply, one who is not American. Asian Americans as well as other immigrants feel the need to try and hide their cultural identity in order to be deemed as a native of America in the eyes of others. Since one’s language gives away the place where one is native to, immigrants feel the need to attempt to mask their accents in hopes that they sound fluent ...
...s more and more irritated by Chin-Kee. It comes to a point where he has a fight with Chin-Kee (207). At the end of the fight, Danny manages to knock off Chin-Kee's mask, which reveals his true identity as the Monkey King (212). Danny is transformed back to Jin Wang. Jin realizes he should be happy with whom he really is and that transformations are not necessary. Through these back and forth transformations, Jin finally is at peace with his true identity and who he should continue to be.
All women are too sensitive! All Mexicans are illegal immigrants! If you’re from the South, then you are ignorant! Most people have heard at least one of these stereotypes pertaining to a certain group. Some people believe them whilst others do not. American Born Chinese illustrates three stories depicting the custom of stereotypes surrounding society: “The Monkey King”, the story of Monkey King’s thirst for infinite power, and his quest for atonement; “Jin Wang”, the story an awkward boy who tries to “fit in” the community around from but constantly fails; and “Danny”, the story about a high schooler who feels uncomfortable by his stereotypically negative Chinese cousin Chin-Kee. In this day-and-age, stereotypes are what bring people together, and stereotypes are what set people apart. To be ignorant of stereotypes would be a disastrous event as one would consequentially be ignorant to the prejudices engulfing them daily. Even though this causes problems throughout different communities, the way some individuals choose to address stereotypes is through laughter. From start to finish the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang purposefully satirizes Asian stereotypes in hopes that the reader opens up to the fact that stereotypes are indeed existent in today’s society.
“The minute our train leaves the Hong Kong border and enters Shenzhen, China, I feel different. I can feel the skin on my forehead tingling, my blood rushing through a new course, my bones aching with a familiar old pain. And I think, my mother was right. I am becoming Chinese. (179). In the story A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan, the protagonist character, Jing-mei, finds herself in several difficult situations due to how her social and cultural upbringing has shaped her. She finds herself pulled between her Chinese DNA and her American background. While she was raised being told that she was Chinese and “it’s in her blood”, she does not identify as such, because she grew up in America and only sees herself as an American. After her mother’s passing,
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
In the end, Bao-yu does experience a transformation. After another experience in the Land of Illusion, Bao-yu is changed, and decides to rehabilitate the house’s reputation. He succeeds in this effort, and leaves thereafter to become a monk. With this revelation, the effect of Taoism on Bao-yu’s character is obvious. The Story of the Stone is one of spiritual awakening, not of success through filiality. Though Bao-yu realizes his efforts by completing traditionally Confucian tasks, he does so only after a compelling spiritual experience in the Land of Illusion. Throughout his life, Bao-yu was forced to remove himself from the trappings of the failing material world he was born into, and only through transcendence of these factors was he finally able to restore honor to the house of Jia.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
Mao’s Cultural Revolution was an attempt to create a new culture for China. Through education reforms and readjustments, Mao hoped to create a new generation of Chinese people - a generation of mindless Communists. By eliminating intellectuals via the Down to the Countryside movement, Mao hoped to eliminate elements of traditional Chinese culture and create a new form Chinese culture. He knew that dumbing down the masses would give him more power so his regime would be more stable. This dramatic reform affected youth especially as they were targeted by Mao’s propaganda and influence. Drawing from his experiences as an Educated Youth who was sent down to the countryside Down to the Countryside movement, Ah Cheng wrote The King of Children to show the effects of the Cultural Revolution on education, and how they affected the meaning people found in education. In The King of Children, it is shown that the Cultural Revolution destroyed the traditional incentives for pursuing an education, and instead people found moral and ethical meaning in pursuing an education.
As Maxine Hong Kingston plays after school with the silent Chinese girl, their innocent games turn to vindictive bullying as Maxine aims to physically force the girl to speak. Finally, “sounds did come out of her mouth, sobs, chokes, noises that were almost words” (178). The word “almost” implies an in between area, something that is neither this nor that. For the author, this lack of distinction symbolises her own ambiguity in terms of her place in two separate communities, and consequently also embodies her search for a resolution to the duality of her identity. The clash of customs that controls her, ultimately causes a violent response portrayed through the tormenting of the quintessential Asian girl. The harassment of the silent girl reflects the surfacing of Maxine’s internalized rejection of the hold both cultures have on her. For the author, the other girl epitomizes all that she abhors about Chinese culture; the way the Chinese appreciate the silence, and the secrecy that it maintains. Not only that, her softer, quieter peer also delineates all that she resents about herself, especially her inability to conform to what she believes to be, the more powerful American society, despite her best efforts at speaking louder. Susan Cain corroborates the narrator’s needing to adapt without the obstruction of “a double consciousness- part Asian and part American- with each side calling the other into question” (Cain 198). Maxine Hong Kingston’s desire to satisfy the warring sides of her personality manifests in the attack on the mute girl, revealing that the weight of a collective’s standards ultimately culminates in a direct challenge of the restraints placed on
In essence, he was shunned” (Hongo 4) by the white people who could not believe that he would attack their superior American ways. According to writers such as Frank Chin and the rest of the “Aiiieeeee!” group, the Americans have dictated Asian culture and created a perception as “nice and quiet” (Chin 1972, 18), “mama’s boys and crybabies” without “a man in all [the] males.” (Chin 1972, 24). This has become the belief of the preceding generations of Asian Americans and therefore manifested these stereotypes. Those authors who contest these “American made” stereotypes are said to betray the American culture and white power around them, and to be “rocking the boat” in a seemingly decent living situation.
Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong, which is a main character in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West. Monkey King can be found in many stories and adaptions. The novel Journey to the West or Monkey King tells of a simian’s revolt against Heaven, of its defeat by the Buddha, and of its later being recruited as pilgrim to protect the monk Tripitaka on its quest for scriptures in India (Lai, 1994). So far, Monkey King has become one of the most enduring Chinese literary characters, it has a colorful cultural history and varied background. Monkey King is also considered by some scholars to be influenced by both the Hindu deity Hanuman from the Ramayana and elements of Chinese folklore (Subbaraman, 2002). The original Chinese novel Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It published in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng’en (Babara S, 1994). The achievement of the novel has drawn widespread attention, various reasons support its popularity. This easy will analyse the varied background, cultural history, social environment of Monkey King, the novel Journey to the West and its author Wu Cheng’en. Furthermore why this novel for many years by the world's attention. It is obvious that the historical reasons of this extraordinary achievement are diverse.
I will just take it home and see what this fake thing can do.” The man went back to his house and sat down on the chair in the dining room staring at the monkey’s paw. He told his wife and daughter about how the old fakir gave him the monkey’s paw and how it granted wishes. The man said to the monkey’s paw “I wish for a million dollars.”