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Introduction
American Born Chinese
American Born Chinese (ABC) (2006) Uses three stories to create an American born Chinese story. The three stories are of Jin Wang, The Monkey King, and of Chin-Kee. Gene Luen Yang included the story of the Monkey King to illustrate two different aspects of a search for identity as well as a guide to Jin Wangs search for his identity.
The Search for Identity.
Yang included the story of the Monkey King to show two different characters on their search for identity. Both Jin and the Monkey King undergoes a series of conflict and resolution before finding their true self. For instsce, the part of the story when the Monkey King issues a decree that all monkey were obliged to wear shoes. Jin, on the other hand, is obsessed with being a blond with blue eyes. In this instance, the Monkey King is having a crisis of identity because monkeys do not wear shoes (55). Yang uses this scenario to paint a picture on the nature of the journey to self-realization and identification. This journey is not easy for the characters who in the end should accept themselves and realize they are complete as they are without aping others. Using the external dialogue between Dannie and Mellanie (123), Yang also shows the audience that being a stereotypical American does not mean you get what you want.
The process of conflict resolution is complicated but not impossible. Yang uses different characters with conflict and their resolution approach to building the theme of self-acceptance. Yang asserts that the means or resolving conflicts is not by any means aping others but by self-acceptance. As earlier mentioned, Yang needed to offer a guide to Jin in his process of self-identification through the inclusion of the Monkey King in his story. According to Yang, the Monkey King possessed the Nong-Lai-Tsao’s guidance. Wong-Lai-Tsao’s, in his conversation with the Monkey King, asked him this fundamental question, ” Is your identity the eternal prisoner of the rock?” The Monkey King was so lost in becoming “the great sage equal of heaven” that he was willing to undergo a five hundred years imprisonment (149). Yang used Wong-Lai-Tsao’s guidelines to give the monkey a push towards self-acceptance as a monkey. Now, the Monkey King.
Yang’s story also shows that a person can always do with an extra push from a trusted friend towards self-acceptance. The monkey King uses his example to give a push to Jin (223). He says “I would have saved myself from five hundred years imprisonment beneath a mountain of rock, had I realized how good it is to be a monkey” The audience can see how Yang juxtaposes the Monkey King before and after self-acceptance, the significant change in attitude that affects Jin into accepting himself. Jin’s facial expression as shows he truly understood the message from the Monkey King. This scenario depicts the relevance of Monkey King in the story by Yang.
Conclusion
By the end of the story, both the characters have undergone a long journey to find their identity, only to realize that the only requirement is to accept yourself and not to ape others. As a foreign student, in an international school, I identify with this story because as Gene Luen Yang says throughout his book, the American Born Chinese (ABC) (2006), “the Asian American community is on the verge of self-identification and acceptance. The community has tried to be white and also to be black, maybe its time to come up with something of our own.” It is a truly remarkable work by Gene Luen Yang. He uses two different characters with two different scenarios, and with the help of other characters creates a journey of search for self-identity wherein the end, its best to simply accept yourself.
Work Cited
Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. First Second, 2006.