Saturday, September 28, 2013

American Born Chinese

   I just finished the book American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. This book has three main characters; Jin, Chin-Kee, and the Monkey King. I noticed that all three of these characters had one thing in common. They are trying to fit in.
   Jin a Chinese boy who came to America. He is the only Chinese-American student in his school. Until a boy from Taiwan, Wei-Chen, joins his class. Jin tries to ignore him so he wouldn't be associated with another Asian. Jin tries to be an All-American boy to date an All-American girl, Amelia, so he gets a perm. Wei-Chen and Amelia bond by talking about Jin and Jin finally gets the confidence to ask Amelia out. By gaining confidence and asking Amelia out he begins to fit in and not be "the Asian anymore."
   Chin-Kee is Danny's cousin. Danny an All-American boy. An excellent basketball player and popular with the ladies. But when Chin-Kee comes to visit it ruins Danny's reputation. Chin-Kee pees in peoples soda, shoves his crispy cat guts with noodles in peoples faces. And that only leaves him one choice, transfer schools. Not all things end with a positive note.When Chin-Kee comes to America he tries to fit but with that he ruins Danny's  reputation.
   The Monkey King was born out of a rock. He heard of a party up in the heavens and decides to go. He waited on lines for hours and hours until he finally reached the doors. He was not permitted in because he was a monkey and he had no shoes. The monkey king decided the he would learn the art of kung-fu and the heavenly disciplines. With that he gained great power and beat up all the gods. Tze-Yo-Tzuh the "hight of the heavens and the depths of the underworld" shows the monkey king that with great power comes great responsibility. He also shows him the mastering the art of kung-fu and the heavenly disciplines got him no where.
   When I finished reading this book the three main characters taught me three different thing. I shouldn't change who I am for something I desire most. I shouldn't be embarrassed of my little brother. And fitting in isn't as important  as I thought it was. These are all thing that we should think about even if they seem super important.

2 comments:

  1. This was really good.
    You did a good job of finding the ideas and character traits in a graphic novel

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  2. I really like this. You gave background information so i understood what you were talking about even though I didn't read the book. Overall good response.

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