You are who you are

Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese is quite an interesting comics to read. The opening is pretty surprising because it made fun of the Chinese myth and gods. The story of Monkey King is different from what I known. From what I read, Monkey King is arrogant and never questioning his own identity. However, in this comics, the Monkey King felt somehow self-contemptuous to who he is and what he is. The Monkey King was thoroughly embarrassed in public. The gatekeeper made fun of the Monkey King’s identity by saying to Monkey King that he doesn’t even have any shoes. Also, the Monkey King was somehow felt ashamed of what he is (being a monkey). “When the Monkey King entered his royal chamber, the think smell of monkey fur greeted him”. “He stayed awake for the rest of the night thinking of ways to get rid of it”.

In American Born Chinese, Jin Wang shared the same difficulties too. First, Jin Wang disliked his own identity of being an American born Chinese because people made fun of his Chinese background by saying Chinese people eat dogs. Also, Jin Wang’s classmates were isolating and teasing him. They also made a nickname for him as “bucktooth”. Sadly, Jin Wang is actually an American, but people just overlooked that fact and mocking on his outlook and culture. Same as the Monkey King, Jin Wang felt somehow ashamed for having a Chinese descent. This made him out of favor to find Asian friends such as his classmate Suzy Nakamura and Wei Chen.

Danny is a pretty interesting character in this story because he is actually a blond hair American. His nightmare started when his cousin, Chin Kee, visited the family and enrolled in the same school as Danny. Danny’s social status was jeopardized by his embarrassing, yet stereotyped Chinese cousin.

Race is something that comes with us and can never be changed. People, especially in the past, like to made fun of Asian for their unique cultures such as the kind of food they eat; the way they speak English; and so on. That had put a lot of pressure on American Born Chinese because they cannot get rid of their race, yet they were raised with both American and Chinese cultures. They may have tried hard to get rid of the Chinese identity, but would that means people will consider them as a true or pure American?

It may be possible to grow up Asian in America; however, bearing multicultural background is not a bad thing. Indeed, it may help you in various ways due to the rapid expansion of globalization. I think it is more important to know who you are and what you can do with your advantages instead of dwelling in the race problem of where you from and how people is going to judge you. Always to be who you are and do not try to be someone that you are not because it is not helping at all. According to sociologists, culture is taken for granted. So, we should appreciate all types of culture and be proud of who we are.



I don't know how to upload a video here, but the following two links are the animation for "Journey to the West" where the Monkey King felt humiliated and decided to revenge the gods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajt2k8gGKpU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm6KBP_Gkw0&feature=related

Hope you guys will like it.

Who Am I?

Hi, my name is Arvin Ting! I am a Senior in Miami University. My majors are Accounting and Finance. I am very friendly so feel free to leave me your comments.