American Born Chinese
1. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Yang takes his first understandings of life from his childhood and preserves those initial impressions through a graphic novel. As we mature, we tend to let go, even forget, what we once knew or saw as young adults. But Yang develops those memories in order to stay as close to the impressionable nature of youth as possible. He awakens the innocence of our past, particularly through his second storyline with Jin Wang, whose sweet sorrow is evident when the mother relays a parable about a boy who conformed according to the places his mother would move them to. Yang gives us this sense of a child who is trying to figure out who he is and what he should do. I don’t think his novel is limiting because regardless of your sex or race, we have all dealt with the bully, the stuttering student and the ignorant teacher. If anything, Yang enhances the YA genre with his contribution of exposing the deepest truths of his own identity.
The dialogue with the herbalist further addresses the dreams of children and that trite question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Jin responds, “A Transformer!”. This panel speaks to the inherent dreams of the young adult, the sometimes naïve understanding of what they can do as adults. The herbalist’s reaction that he would have to essentially sell his soul is harsh as is Ms. Greeder’s ignorant remark to Timmy that Jin “probably” doesn’t eat dogs anymore. Both instances expound on the cultural identity crisis that many children deal with—those “knowing” adults who either shut down your dreams or speak out of touch with the truth of who you are because they simply don’t know.
Yang’s humorous style handles the angst of these years and puts these difficult moments through the lens of true young adult pain: the teacher misnaming him “Jing Jang” and assuming he comes from China—Jin corrects her. Jin could be crushed, completely give up who he is, but his wit, much like Sherman Alexie’s, though seemingly darker, enables him to hold onto those dreams anyway as we see when he befriends Wei-Chen Sun who, too, likes robots. This is the true test: to be who you are even when no one understands you or even when they don’t like you. In Yang’s own words: “Christianity, you see, lies at the very center of my identity as an Asian-American.” (“Origins of ABC”).
