Gene Luen Yang reinforces the struggles caused by negative cultural stereotypes that ultimately influences Jin to reject his own culture, as shown by the excerpt (p. 193-194) from his graphic novel American Born Chinese.Jin is a young Chinese boy struggling in American society and wants to change every unique trait associated with the Chinese culture, in order to rid himself of the stereotypes and become, in his eyes, a normal American teenager. The significance of this excerpt is to show how Jin believes that by physical changes, one can rid of a race, an ethnicity, and even an Identity. This scene focuses on the plot of graphic novel, in discovering the American Identity while achieving the American Dream. Jin is depicted to as a yellow skin, black eyes, curly black hair, and flat nose Chinese American, who really does not want to identify himself as being Chinese. In the link to Jessie J’s “Who You Are” song, she sings about staying true to who you are because that is a unique identity associated with race and ethnicity. She sings “the more I try the less it’s working” because it is hard for Jin to be someone he’s not especially when he cannot hide his cousin Chin-Kee’ during his annual visit. Her lyrics include not losing “who you are in the blur” and “seeing is deceiving”. Jin needs to embrace who he is rather than cover his identity up, because he is only deceiving himself. Furthermore, “brushing my hair, do I look perfect?” reflects on how Jin wanted to have curly hair to resemble an American boy named Greg (97). This song illustrates how race and ethnicity can influence an individual’s identity, which is what Jin struggles to realize until the end of the novel. Overnight, Jin transforms to Danny, a white skin, blonde spiky hair, tall nose, blue eyes all-American teenager who plays basketball (194). The link is an interview of a Chinese – American Rapper named Jin and his album “ABC”. ABC has two definitions. One is a compliment for Chinese people who are very knowledgeable about America's culture, and the other is an insult to those Chinese who have lost their cultural pride. Jin (rapper) says in the interview, “At any given moment, I’m both… Both of those are part of my Identity”. Jin is referring to being Chinese and American at the same time because it’s impossible to separate the two. In the song, he admits to knowing all about America, while still knowing a lot about his cultural background. Especially through the video’s visual aids, such as his father, Chinese architecture, and Chinese lanterns (a very big symbol used all over China), Danny can learn from this and express himself as the combination of both cultures, as depicted by the middle person (the 4th drawing of Jin’s transition). The significance of this is to show that culture is not singular. Cultures can combined to build an Identity, so that no culture is forgotten. The reason why Jin transforms is because the Herbalist’s wife told him, “<Now what would you like to become>, which is a link that refers back to an instance (p. 29) in the graphic novel. In this link, she completes the sentence by saying, “<so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul>”. Jin befriends Wei-Chen, his closest friend and someone who was extremely important to Jin, thereby forfeiting his soul. The link is to the movie, “Ghost Rider” a 2007 film that shows a man named Johnny signing a deal with the “devil”. Johnny forfeits his soul in order to achieve his American Dream of becoming the best motorcyclist, similar to how Jin forfeits his soul to become an American boy. The movie link illuminates the graphic excerpt by featuring real-life people and scenes, representing how the American Dream can cause individuals to lose sight of what they are doing. In the end, Johnny is depicted to having a new, fire burning skeleton face, the face of the devil, notably similar to how Jin has the new face of an American boy. The Herbalist’s wife has her own particular stance in the graphic novel; she symbolizes the devil. Gene Yang illustrates her in a large panel, depicting that she is very important to this scene. She is linked to a vodka full martini glass with chili peppers representing the devil’s horns and the lemon chaser holding the devil’s pitchfork. The significance of the Herbalist’s wife is to present Jin the option of achieving his “American Dream” by forfeiting his soul. This scene implicitly illustrates that Jin has signed off his soul to the devil, and therefore he is able to transform into Danny. A martini devil was used because alcohol drinks are usually taken after a not-so-pleasant event, illuminating how Jin craves to become an American boy because he is tired of getting bullied. The abacus, although a not so dominant image, belongs to the Herbalist’s wife, as if it is being used to calculate “how much” it’s worth for Jin to become an American boy. The Dodge Charger commercial was used because a vast majority of the beginning shows how much the men are willing to give up to ride in the Dodge Charger, symbolizing how much Jin has to give up. Also, the Dodge Charger is an American brand car, symbolizing what the American men in the commercial and what Jin wants. This commercial irradiates the image of an abacus, asking Jin if it is worth forfeiting his soul for the American Dream (Dodge Charger). Lastly, the Asian character “change” is drawn in the background, representing the change within Jin. The link associated with this is an image of Gene Yang in the Monkey King costume, as if he used to feel ashamed of his race, just like the Monkey King. In an interview about the graphic novel, he states, “No, I’m still trying to figure out what it means to be Asian American. I think I’ve progressively gotten away from shame in my own culture, although it’s still there.” This shows that Gene Yang has the personal experience of struggling to balance two cultures, without letting one dominate the other. Therefore, he irradiates the word “change” in the novel because he is constantly changing his perspectives to balance the two cultures. In the interview he also says, “There’s a principle in cartooning where you try to capture the essence of something with the fewest number of lines,” showing that change is consistent and is in the hands of the individual. Through the illuminated excerpt from American Born Chinese, it is shown that the American Identity can interfere with the American Dream. In this graphic novel, Jin is finally able to learn that a balance of two cultures can preserve his race, ethnicity identity and dream.
Discussion Question:
How does the Herbalist’s wife know about forfeiting a soul to become anything Jin may want? Do you think she has forfeited her soul for something?
Why do you think Gene Yang tells his story through 3 different stories? Is there a significance to chopping the story into 3 segments, or do you think it's just a way to entertain the reader?
Pages
193 - 194
LINKS
Race, Ethnicity
Jin (on the bottom left of the second image)
Jessie J: Who You Are Song & Lyric
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bCVkbzMfUM&feature=related
American Identity
Danny (image all the way on the bottom right):
Jin: Rapper with Album ABC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8bdNX9RBPg (start at 3:30)
Chinese Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3nfrDlPwZA
English Translated Lyrics: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/364237-new-jin-video-premieres-raps-in-cantonese/
Quote: <Now what would you like the become>
Reference back to American Born Chinese (page 29)
https://plus.google.com/photos/100260360799940236413/albums/5699542852225398897/5699542849861706562?hl=en
American Dream
Quote: <Forfeit your soul>
Ghost Rider: Trailer to Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAa375C_FOA
Herbalist's wife (counting on the abacus on right side of the first image)
The Devil: image
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.459687!/img/httpImage/image.jpg
Gender
Abacus
Dodge Charger Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RyPamyWotM&feature=relmfu
Race, Ethnicity
變(character in Chinese)
Image and quotes by Gene Luen Yang
http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/images/portraits/geneYang350.jpg
Interview with Gene Yang: http://www.kartikareview.com/issue1/1gene.html
Gene Luen Yang reinforces the struggles caused by negative cultural stereotypes that ultimately influences Jin to reject his own culture, as shown by the excerpt (p. 193-194) from his graphic novel American Born Chinese.Jin is a young Chinese boy struggling in American society and wants to change every unique trait associated with the Chinese culture, in order to rid himself of the stereotypes and become, in his eyes, a normal American teenager. The significance of this excerpt is to show how Jin believes that by physical changes, one can rid of a race, an ethnicity, and even an Identity. This scene focuses on the plot of graphic novel, in discovering the American Identity while achieving the American Dream.
Jin is depicted to as a yellow skin, black eyes, curly black hair, and flat nose Chinese American, who really does not want to identify himself as being Chinese. In the link to Jessie J’s “Who You Are” song, she sings about staying true to who you are because that is a unique identity associated with race and ethnicity. She sings “the more I try the less it’s working” because it is hard for Jin to be someone he’s not especially when he cannot hide his cousin Chin-Kee’ during his annual visit. Her lyrics include not losing “who you are in the blur” and “seeing is deceiving”. Jin needs to embrace who he is rather than cover his identity up, because he is only deceiving himself. Furthermore, “brushing my hair, do I look perfect?” reflects on how Jin wanted to have curly hair to resemble an American boy named Greg (97). This song illustrates how race and ethnicity can influence an individual’s identity, which is what Jin struggles to realize until the end of the novel.
Overnight, Jin transforms to Danny, a white skin, blonde spiky hair, tall nose, blue eyes all-American teenager who plays basketball (194). The link is an interview of a Chinese – American Rapper named Jin and his album “ABC”. ABC has two definitions. One is a compliment for Chinese people who are very knowledgeable about America's culture, and the other is an insult to those Chinese who have lost their cultural pride. Jin (rapper) says in the interview, “At any given moment, I’m both… Both of those are part of my Identity”. Jin is referring to being Chinese and American at the same time because it’s impossible to separate the two. In the song, he admits to knowing all about America, while still knowing a lot about his cultural background. Especially through the video’s visual aids, such as his father, Chinese architecture, and Chinese lanterns (a very big symbol used all over China), Danny can learn from this and express himself as the combination of both cultures, as depicted by the middle person (the 4th drawing of Jin’s transition). The significance of this is to show that culture is not singular. Cultures can combined to build an Identity, so that no culture is forgotten.
The reason why Jin transforms is because the Herbalist’s wife told him, “<Now what would you like to become>, which is a link that refers back to an instance (p. 29) in the graphic novel. In this link, she completes the sentence by saying, “<so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul>”. Jin befriends Wei-Chen, his closest friend and someone who was extremely important to Jin, thereby forfeiting his soul. The link is to the movie, “Ghost Rider” a 2007 film that shows a man named Johnny signing a deal with the “devil”. Johnny forfeits his soul in order to achieve his American Dream of becoming the best motorcyclist, similar to how Jin forfeits his soul to become an American boy. The movie link illuminates the graphic excerpt by featuring real-life people and scenes, representing how the American Dream can cause individuals to lose sight of what they are doing. In the end, Johnny is depicted to having a new, fire burning skeleton face, the face of the devil, notably similar to how Jin has the new face of an American boy.
The Herbalist’s wife has her own particular stance in the graphic novel; she symbolizes the devil. Gene Yang illustrates her in a large panel, depicting that she is very important to this scene. She is linked to a vodka full martini glass with chili peppers representing the devil’s horns and the lemon chaser holding the devil’s pitchfork. The significance of the Herbalist’s wife is to present Jin the option of achieving his “American Dream” by forfeiting his soul. This scene implicitly illustrates that Jin has signed off his soul to the devil, and therefore he is able to transform into Danny. A martini devil was used because alcohol drinks are usually taken after a not-so-pleasant event, illuminating how Jin craves to become an American boy because he is tired of getting bullied.
The abacus, although a not so dominant image, belongs to the Herbalist’s wife, as if it is being used to calculate “how much” it’s worth for Jin to become an American boy. The Dodge Charger commercial was used because a vast majority of the beginning shows how much the men are willing to give up to ride in the Dodge Charger, symbolizing how much Jin has to give up. Also, the Dodge Charger is an American brand car, symbolizing what the American men in the commercial and what Jin wants. This commercial irradiates the image of an abacus, asking Jin if it is worth forfeiting his soul for the American Dream (Dodge Charger).
Lastly, the Asian character “change” is drawn in the background, representing the change within Jin. The link associated with this is an image of Gene Yang in the Monkey King costume, as if he used to feel ashamed of his race, just like the Monkey King. In an interview about the graphic novel, he states, “No, I’m still trying to figure out what it means to be Asian American. I think I’ve progressively gotten away from shame in my own culture, although it’s still there.” This shows that Gene Yang has the personal experience of struggling to balance two cultures, without letting one dominate the other. Therefore, he irradiates the word “change” in the novel because he is constantly changing his perspectives to balance the two cultures. In the interview he also says, “There’s a principle in cartooning where you try to capture the essence of something with the fewest number of lines,” showing that change is consistent and is in the hands of the individual.
Through the illuminated excerpt from American Born Chinese, it is shown that the American Identity can interfere with the American Dream. In this graphic novel, Jin is finally able to learn that a balance of two cultures can preserve his race, ethnicity identity and dream.
Discussion Question:
How does the Herbalist’s wife know about forfeiting a soul to become anything Jin may want? Do you think she has forfeited her soul for something?
Why do you think Gene Yang tells his story through 3 different stories? Is there a significance to chopping the story into 3 segments, or do you think it's just a way to entertain the reader?