American Born Chinese- Textual Analysis

In American Born Chinese, Gene Yang implements parts of the Chinese culture to formulate a story that the average Asian American can relate to. Traditional aspects of the Chinese culture, such as gods and deities from myths and stories, are used in a less orthodox manner (non-traditional) to portray a story of an Asian-American that faces challenges in a predominantly Caucasian society. Characters such as Lao-Tzu, a famous Chinese philosopher, and the monkey king are used in a comedic manner to support Yang’s argument about the tribulations that Asian-Americans face. I think a great way to demonstrate the stereotypes of Asian Americans was his depiction of Chin-Kee, the cousin of one of the characters in the book named Danny. The demonstration was done through Chin-kee’s accent, which Gene Yang achieved by utilizing a caption language that stereotypes the typical “F.O.B.”, a stereotype that is often looked down upon. The character, Chin-Kee, I feel acted as an exaggeration of what Americans perceive Asian Americans as. It creates a misunderstanding of what the Asian American image is, and leads towards the disliking and awkwardness of the Asian American people. The name in itself, Chin-Kee, is a subtle method of implementing racial gestures in the comic strip as well. Besides from the drawings of the people, utilizing slanted eyes, black hair, fair skin color, to distinguish the Asian characters from the rest of the characters, Gene Yang’s most effective methods were in his use of language. By creating titles and phrases such as the “Great Fruit Mountain”, “The Four Great disciplines”, and so on, it creates an ambiance that is East Asian, one that is unique within the East Asian culture.