nwasianweekly.com
Sept. 16, 2006

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang. Published by First Second, 2006.

Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese consists of three distinct storylines that eventually become intertwined. Story-wise, their unifying links may be dubious. Yet the combination offers painful truths about the cost of assimilation.

The book begins by retelling the legend of the Monkey King’s efforts to transcend his identity as a monkey. Then it jumps to a slice-of-life tale about Jin Wang’s attempts to become socially accepted at what’s essentially an all-white school. Finally, in the “sitcom,” “Everyone Ruvs Chin-kee,” high school student Danny endures a very embarrassing visit from cousin Chin-kee. The cousin unashamedly embodies the worst racial slurs regarding Chinese people.

A toy Transformer robot becomes the key to understanding the three storylines’ common theme. That robot’s ability to easily change into a truck ironically mocks each lead character’s attempts to seamlessly blend into his environment. The Monkey King believes learning great martial-arts skills will cause the heavenly gods to treat him as an equal. Jin Wang wants his classmates to accept him without noticing that he’s of a different race. Danny sees cousin Chin-kee’s visits as a permanent barrier to social acceptance.

Yang inventively turns the familiar Monkey King legend into a primal myth about assimilation’s shortcomings. The Monkey King may learn martial-arts skills that enable him to grow to human height, yet he does not see he’s just become a very tall monkey. Does that legendary character’s blindness differ from one who believes academic accomplishments permanently erase racial stereotyping?

Jin Wang’s and Danny’s stories expand on the emotional traps that lend assimilation its dangerously seductive appeal. Wang’s desire to escape his socially isolated minority status leads him to both accept emotional abuse and inflict it on his fellow Asian students. In Danny’s story, Chin-kee negatively caricatures the parts of Chinese culture that can’t be absorbed into American culture.

Is American Born Chinese ultimately an understated but provocative assault on assimilation? If assimilation means joining the studio audience in laughing at Chin-kee’s antics, then Yang’s answer is obvious.

Peter Wong can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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