Review: American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

393 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: American born chinese analysis

This summer I read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. After seeing that the graphic novel was a comic book, I was very excited to read it. I relished how the author decided to tell this story in an unique format. Having pictures really helped myself visualize the story in my mind. The way Gene Luen Yang used language in his story was extremely interesting. Each character spoke slightly different than others based on where their background. In the beginning of the novel, when Wei-Chen Sun he first meets Jing Jang he greets him in a more proper way. “ ‘Sorry to bother you, but you're chinese aren't you?’ ”said Wei-Chen Sun. “ ‘ Your in America, speak English.’ ’’ Jing Jang spoke. “ Yo, you Chinese person?’ ’’ (Yang,37). The author

Show More
Related

  • American Born Chinese Character Analysis

    436 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Immigrant Reality Exposed in Bread Givers

    3301 Words  | 7 Pages

    He, Qiang Shan. "Chinese-American Literature." New Immigrant Literatures in the United States: A Sourcebook to Our Multicultural Literary Heritage. Ed. Alpana Sharma Knippling. WEstport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. 44-65.

    Read More

  • How Eric Liu Presents His Life As A Native Immigrant To Asian Americans?

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Chinese Family In Frank Chinese, By Frank Donald Duk

    1400 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Chinese New year marks a time of celebration, tradition, and new beginnings. The Chinese people celebrate their hard work during this time by resting and enjoying time with family. The tradition to rest, and close businesses is so that luck may come upon them for the upcoming year. In the novel, Donald Duk written by Frank Chin the Duk family takes these traditions very seriously. They are a Chinese family living in America, in the Chinatown district of San Francisco where this novel takes place. The Duk family has immigrated to San Francisco however their children including the protagonist, Donald Duk was born in America. Donald is an eleven-year-old boy who struggles with his overwhelming need to be American and his undeniable Chinese

    Read More

  • China Boy Essay

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gus Lee, who was born in San Francisco in 1946, a pace about his childhood. He wrote a novel named China Boy in 1991 and did a great job in describing a boy who was grow up in San Francisco and the hardships that the little Chinese boy experienced. Based on the history, the push factors that brought the Chinese to America are unemployment, poverty, famine, overpopulation, and political persecution. In another way, the pull factors are the United States has plenty of work opportunities, the idea of the gold mountain, steamboat ads and the illusion of equality. Gus Lee describes Kai Ting as a representative Chinese boy and growing up in the United Sates, and how he overcomes the difficulties that he faced in the United States. The novel shows

    Read More

  • Themes of Language and Racial Identity in Native Speaker, By Chang-Rae Lee

    2640 Words  | 6 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • Rejection

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection,”Henry J.M Houwen once stated. In the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, Jin Wang and the monkey king experiences rejection as they interact with society. In the short story Linh Lai by Rebecca Rosenblum, Linh Lai helplessly suffers rejection as she struggles to meet her uncle and Mr. Koenburg’s expectations. In the short story Tapka by David Bezomozgis, people are rejected because of their differences. Rejection by society exists in Tapka and Linh Lai, whereas American Born Chinese incorporates both rejections by themselves and by society. Stories show that people are rejected by society, people in positions of power, or themselves when they are different from the majority.

    Read More

  • Twinkies

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    While these essays are similar because they focus on the native languages used in America and the struggles of being a Chinese American in America, they differ in both their attitudes toward their mothers and personal reflections of being Chinese American. An individual’s background is where one comes from and how he or she was raised. Tan is a Chinese American. She has a traditional Chinese mother who speaks “broken” English. Tan states that, “It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than ‘broken’, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed[. . . ]”

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chinese Mothers In America

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the four women entered America, which is far from their motherland China, they experience a change of culture, the American culture, which was dominant than the Chinese. The Chinese mothers are faced with a difficult task of how to raise their American-born daughters with an understanding of their heritage. The daughters clearly show a gap in culture between the Chinese culture and American culture. The mothers wanted their daughter to follow the Chinese traditions, but the daughters followed the American traditions and even some of them got married to American men. The mothers tried to tell their daughters the story about the Chinese ancestors but the daughter could not follow them and the daughters thought their mothers were backwards and did not know what they are saying. As much as the mothers tried to show love to their daughters, the daughters usually responded negatively. They often saw their mothers’ attempts to guidance as a failure to understand the American culture. Being Chinese and living in America, both the mothers and the daughters struggle with many issues like identity, language, translation, and others. The mothers try to reconcile their Chinese pasts with their American presents; the daughters try to find a balance between independence and loyalty to their heritage

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Graphic Novel American Born Chinese

    2022 Words  | 5 Pages

    be to classify it as a graphic novel made for young adults to read. Although this predictable

    Read More

  • The Use of Setting in A Pair of Tickets and Everything that Rises Must Converge

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amy Tan's "A Pair of Tickets," especially, explores the relationship of setting to place, heritage, and ethnic identity. Jing-Mei Woo, the main character, has trouble accepting that she is Chinese, despite her heritage. Jing-Mei Woo believed, at fifteen, that she had no Chinese whatsoever below her skin. If anything, she perceives herself as Caucasian; even her Caucasian friends agreed that she "was as Chinese as they were." Her mother, however, told her differently, "It's in your blood, waiting to be let go." This terrified Jing-Mei, making her believe that it would cause her to suddenly change, "I saw myself transforming like a werewolf." Jing-Mei Woo finally realizes that she has never really known what it means to be Chinese because she was born and has lived in America all her life. After her mother's death, Jing-Mei discovers that she has two twin sisters living in China who have been searching for their mother and that s...

    Read More

  • Fong See: Paved the Way For Chinese-Americans

    2599 Words  | 6 Pages

    During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Chinese men began to flock to America. Following stories of the untold wealth and riches that awaited them on the “Gold Mountain” and escaping the stagnant economic position they experienced in China, these sojourners made their way to the United States by any means possible. Often taking money from supportive family members promising them that upon their homecoming they would repay their debts and more with their newly acquired fortunes was the only way to realize their oversea dreams. These men would make the arduous journey by boat to an unfamiliar new land. Upon arriving to their new home it was not riches that they found but a welcome of hostility and conflict consisting of “prejudice, economic discrimination, political disenfranchisement, physical violence, immigration exclusion, social segregation, and incarceration.” Once in the cities where they were to live, these Chinese men were segregated to enclave communities, often known as “Chinatowns”. Despite the hostilities of the Caucasian majority population many people in these enclaves flourished, opening their own businesses and eventually bringing their families to live with them, or simply making new families. This is very similar to the life of Fong See in “On Gold Mountain”. When he came to find his father, he ended up finding an environment in which his natural entrepreneurial ability would let him realize the life of success many men came to find. Fong See’s experience on “Gold Mountain”, however, was different from the daily toil of the “coolie” labour class, as well as the Chinese merchant class of the time as he strived to live by Chinese custom in an untraditional setting. Fong See started and maintained a ...

    Read More

  • Stereotypes in "American Born Chinese"

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • Communication in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

    578 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior By Amy Chua Summary

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, a Yale Law professor. In this excerpt the author explains why Chinese children tend to be more successful in life and expresses her dislike towards Western parenting. The first idea Chua explains is a list of activities her daughters are allowed to do and not do in order to focus solely on academic progress. Second, the author demonstrates the contrast in mindset between Chinese mothers and Western mothers by explaining how Chinese mothers feel differently than Western mothers in regards to academic success and learning. Furthermore, she describes how Chinese mothers can demand things from their children. Finally, they can also say

    Read More

More about Review: American Born Chinese By Gene Luen Yang

Open Document