University of Chicago Lab School- Ms. Jacobs' Page

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Themes in American Born Chinese


Now that you have read over half of American Born Chinese, you should now be able to see certain themes emerging that appear in all three different story lines within the graphic novel. Your assignment is to describe one of those emerging themes and explain, using specific examples from the text, how you see each of the three story lines embodying or developing that theme. Your post should be at least six sentences long. You may choose to write your answer in paragraph form if you wish. If you are unsure on what the definition of "theme" is, consult your literary term glossary at the back of your Humanities reader. Your comment is due by the start of class on Wednesday.

Image Source: http://bookdweeb.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/amchin.jpg?w=510


posted by Charlotte Jacobs at 6:17 AM

36 Comments:

  • A theme that I see that is very consistent in the story is the one about people who son't respect each other. Danny has the cousin Chin-Kee who keeps coming to ruin his life and reputation. Then there is Jin who is unstable with Wei-Chen and the popular boy. Finally there is the Monkey King who is "misunderstood" by the other gods. All of those characters have the same kind of box keeping them inside and holding their true identity.

    ~Elizabeth S.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:36 AM  

  • I think that one theme shown in American Born Chinese is the theme of fitting in. Jin, who is Asian, tries to fit in with all his american classmates. On page 31 it shows Jin starting at his new school. On pages 32 and 33 the other children tease Jin. Danny's cousin Chin-Kee embarrasses him so much at school that he has to switch schools every year. He admits this to Steve on pages 126 and 127. The monkey king learns many arts of kung-fu and is ready to join the gods in heaven, but they won't let him because he's a monkey. On page 15, a guard for a dinner party that the monkey king wants to get into says "Look. You may be a king- you may even be a deity- but you are still a monkey.

    By Blogger Maxinator, at 6:45 AM  

  • One of the themes of American born Chinese that I find apparent is that of personal conflict, which appears in all of the stories. The Monkey King is conflicting with society, attempting to establish that he is not a monkey, but a great sage, showing person vs. society/group conflict. Danny has been having problems with Chin-Kee "ever since the 8th grade". Danny complains that Chin-Kee comes every year, and by the end of each year Danny's life at school is in shambles so he ends up moving somewhere else. Jin is conflicted with himself, feeling that he might not be good enough for Amelia, or perhaps that she would rather go out with Greg instead. Since he has been there a long time, and is not very concerned about people discriminating against his race, he jumps to the conclusion that it must be Greg's hair (pg. 97). The characters this theme concerns also shows the common conflict type of them being ashamed of who they are. The monkey king is ashamed of being a monkey, and denies upon most accounts, and also forces other people to regard him as the "Great Sage, Equal of Heaven" (pg. 68). Danny is ashamed of his heritage (he must be some part Asian, Chin-Kee being his cousin) because he is ashamed of the undue stereotypes that Chin-Kee expresses with his actions. Danny is ashamed of his relationship and connection to Chin-Kee, and his friends make fun of him for it. Jin is afraid that because of his hair, or his race, or because of something else, that Amelia might not like him, while at the same time he is being ridiculed for his race, which could potentially be why he thinks Amelia might not want to be his girlfried.

    By Anonymous Fritz 3-4, at 6:55 AM  

  • In ABC the tree stories all have one thing in common. Fitting in, in the tree stories all of the main characters just want to fit in with there fellow peers. The Monkey King wants to fit in with the gods, Danny wants to fit in at school and Jin also wants to fit in with his school as well. Take Jin for instance he just wants to be an American boy so he's not just that Chinese kid. He wants to be just Jin. Danny's problem is not that he is trying to fit in, his problem is that he just want to be the boy without the weird Chinese cousin.

    Veronica, Jacobs 3/4 period

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:57 AM  

  • In all three stories of American Born Chinese, I notice that they all try to hide one thing or another about themselves. For Example in the Jin part, Jin doesn't want to be Chinese. Jin wants to be an american boy going on a date with an American girl, and live in America, and later have an American job. He tries to hide his true nature by in a way hiding from Suzy Nakamura and Wei Chen, because they are asian, and he feels american. He thinks of Peter the Eater as a friend because he is american, and does not originally think of Wei Chen as a friend because he shares the same race as he is trying to hide. In the Monkey King part, the monkey king attempts to hide his monkey nature by wearing shoes and being tall, and doing Kung Foo etc. The monkey king tries to hide who he is as Jin tries to hide his culture. In the Chin-Kee part, Danny seems to try to hide his family. He is not proud of his Asian roots. Danny also seems to be a lot like Jin's ideal self would be. Not worrying about grades, getting all the girls, being awesome at basket ball and looking american. In all three stories, Danny, Jin, and The Monkey King all try to hide who they are, with a layer of "I'm not asian, who's asian, not me, who's asian?" (Or monkey in some instances). Inside they are all insecure and try to show others what isn't there. I think that is the main theme running through all three stories.
    Syrah 9/27/10 per 3

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:57 AM  

  • One of the many themes in that keeps re-ocurring in different parts of the story is the theme of change. In this story Jin changes his hair and how he behaves so he can date Amelia. The Monkey King decides it is time for him to change his looks and ways so he can be with the gods. In Danny's story he wants to change the fact that every year Chin-Kee has to visit which ruins his life. All of these matters are held together by the guilt of wanting for the characters to change the way they are so that they can get something they want. In the end we all want to change the way we are but sometimes staying the same is a good thing.
    rosiejacobs3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:58 AM  

  • In the three different stories there are different themes. The theme in the monkey story is to try to be your self and not try to be someone else and to believe in your self. the theme in Jin's story is to believe in you self like when Jin asks Amelia out and she says yes he had to have confident in himself to do that. The last stories theme is don't listen to what other people think about you and your life.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:32 AM  

  • A consistent theme that i found through out these chapters. All mainly internal conflict always just person vs. self(but there have been other select sections in which that is not the case). A main one was almost always for Jin's story and relating back to The Monkey Kings story is person vs. society(ideal) because they had both just been trying to fit in. On pg.37 you can see Jin sitting at a table alone and also lonely Wei Chen comes up to him and tries to start a friendship with him. With the Monkey King in his first story between pp. 13 he is being thrown out of the castle by not being accepted from that group. And because of this in his last story we read he turns himself to be know as "The Great Sage" and enhances his physical and mental capabilities.

    (Caleb, Jacobs 3-4)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:32 AM  

  • One common theme in all three stories of American Born Chinese is that all the characters are trying to fit in. In Jin's story, he is one of the few Asian children in his school, causing other people to discriminate against him. He struggles to become an all American boy by first, his personality. Then he changes what he eats and soon after that the way his hair is styled. In the Monkey King's story, he struggles to fit in with the other gods and deities. He tries to do this by mastering all the disciplines of kung-fu, so that he can beat the other gods up until they accept him. In Danny's story, he struggles to stay in one school because every year since 8th grade, Chin Kee ruins Danny's life at school. Then he has to transfer elsewhere. Fitting in, is one common theme in American Born Chinese.

    -Tiffany, Jacobs 8/9

    By Blogger Unknown, at 10:40 AM  

  • A common theme I found was that all the stories had characters that were not accepted by the group they wanted to be a part of. Jin was not accepted because of his race. Instead of getting to know him, they just made fun of his culture. The Monkey King who was as talented as all the other gods because he had mastered Kung Fu, was not allowed into the gods party because he was a monkey. Danny was doing well until Chink-Kee arrived. However people started thinking of Danny as Chink-Kee's cousin. After that people just thought of him as if he were actually Chink-Kee. An example of this is on page 124, Melanie tells him he has buck teeth. She says she has never noticed this before. I think she noticed it because Chink-Kee has buck teeth and now that she connects Danny with Chink-Kee, she only sees what they have in common.
    Julien, Jacobs 8-9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:41 AM  

  • One of the themes that I see in ABC is that there are three stories and each story is about the main character (monkey king, Jin, and Danny) struggling with his identity. Jin does not want to be known as the Chinese kid he wants to fit in. Danny is struggling with Chin-Kee because he does not want to be reminded of his Chinese backround. Then last is Monkey king. He is not happy with being just a monkey he wants to be more than that. He is also misunderstood by the other gods. All of these characters are having the same problem. They all have this box around them not letting them escape from there true identity.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:45 AM  

  • One theme that I see in American Born Chinese is how in all three story lines, the main character of the story line is trying to fit in with another group. Jin tries to fit in with students at his school even though he is Asian. The monkey king tries to fit in with the other gods because he feels like he is less accepted because he is a monkey. Danny also fit in with the rest of his classmates. Though he is not Asian, his cousin, Chin-Kee is and throughout the story effects Danny's social life.

    -Joe, Jacobs, per. 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:19 PM  

  • sarah s
    i think a theme in ABC is acceptance because with monkey king no one will accept him because he is a monkey even though hes not just any monkey people don't realize this. with Jin at first he won't accept Wei-Chen because of what other people will think. with Chin-Kee he can't accept Danny and Dannys reputation he just doesn't care what Danny says or what people say hes going to be what he is even though Danny wished Chin-Kee would just evaporate.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:20 PM  

  • I think one of the themes is changing your self to fit in for someone or other people. The monkey king changes to be like the gods, he changes on pages 55-60. Danny wants to fit in (and wants people to forget about Chin-Kee) to date Melaine, and Jin changes his hair and his lunches to fit in and date Amelia. Changing your self didn't work out for Danny because some of his friends kind of stopped hanging out with him. Wei-Chen thought he should not date before he was 18 but he changed and started dating Suzy to fit in.

    Lizzie Jacobs 8-9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:12 PM  

  • A theme that is very consistent throughout all three stories is the theme of personal conflict. The Monkey King is trying not to be a monkey, Jin is trying to be an American, and Danny is trying to get forget about his Chinese culture (cousin Chin-Kee). The Monkey King doesn't want to be "that smelly monkey", Jin doesn't want to be "that Chinese kid", and Danny doesn't want to be "Chin-Kee's cousin". So they are all being pushed into the same kind of box that shows their true identity, which is something they are trying to change.

    -Nicky Audrain, Jacobs period 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:26 PM  

  • I think the main theme in Jin's story is him getting use to america and fitting in. because he is one of the three Asian's at his school, and even when he is having fun with his friends some other people might just walk by and make fun of them like on page 96. I think getting along with the new environment is the same theme for danny, like on pages 49-51 his cousin embarrasses him so much he leaves one school and moves to the next. Also for the monkey king, because he wouldn't be let into party of heaven, or be let to join the gods.
    -Alex 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:25 AM  

  • I think that a theme in American Born Chinese is to fit in. When Jin is new to the school he tries to be as much like the other kids at the school as possible and when Wei-Chen comes to the school Jin doesn't want to be friends with him because he is Asian and Jin feels like that if he becomes friends with him all the hard work Jin has put to fitting in will be devastated. In the Chin-kee story I think that when Chin-kee is not there Danny is trying to get so many friends so when Chin-kee is there he will have so many friends that even if a few make fun of him he will still have a lot. I think that in the monkey king story the monkey king is trying to fit in by learning the 12 major disciples of Kung fu and by showing every god, goddess, and demon that he is better then them and that he can take them on.

    Joe C. 8-9 Jacobs

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:35 AM  

  • The one main thing I think is the theme of all the stories is that Danny, the Monkey King and Jin all want to fit in and be normal, but all their stories are slightly different. I find it interesting that Danny story is kind of backwards to Jin and the Monkey King's, where as Jin and the Monkey King started not fitting in and are slowly fitting a little more in, Danny we first saw when he did fit in, but with the coming of Chin-Kee, he is fitting in less and less.

    Logan, 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:03 AM  

  • The theme in American Born Chinese I think is having all the characters fit in but they can't because there's something in the way. Like the Monkey King, he wanted to be like one of the gods but the gods said he couldn't because he's a monkey. It doesn't even matter if he's a king because no matter what he will always be a monkey. For Danny his problem is his cousin Chin-Kee because Chin-Kee is constantly embarrassing him even though he doesn't mean to. And Jin's problem is that people make fun of him because he Asian and they're just thinking about the stereotypical things that Asian people do. So all of these characters has like something blocking them from fitting in. It's like their in a box but they can't help it because like the Monkey King can't help being a monkey and Jin can't help being Asian. So it's like an outer force that's keeping them in the box.

    -Helen, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:15 PM  

  • The three stories in american born chinese have one same theme. Trying to fit in. For example in the monkey king story he tries to show that he is not a monkey he is worthy of heaven. This is shown because on page 60 he has changed his for. Again in the Jin story Jin just tries to fit in with all the other americans there so he tried to avoid Wei-Chen Sun. On page 36 in the narration box in the bottom of the panel, it says that "for some reason i want to punch him." But later on it turns out that they become friends. In the Chin-Kee story, Danny just wants to it in by avoiding Chin-Kee as much as he can so that people dont think that he is like Chin-Kee. So that he doesn't have to switch schools again. One example of this is when Danny is in the gym with Steve and he says "Come on kid it ain't gonna go down like that here." So with this it proves that Danny is struggling to fit in with his live. This is one theme in the book american born chinese

    Brad 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:53 PM  

  • A theme that is very apparent in American Born Chinese is the difficulty of trying to fit in. In the Jin story Jin arrives in an all American school, and is made fun of because he is Asian. This makes him upset and he forms his "friendship" with Peter Garbinsky. In the Chin-Kee story Danny moves around every year because his cousin Chin-Kee comes and embarrasses him so much. The kids there also makes fun of Chin-Kee (the steriotype of Asians) for being what he is. In the Monkey King story he is happy where he is, until someone tells him that he isn't good enough to be with the gods and demons only because he is a monkey. This is something he cannot change, yet uses violence to "convince" the gods and demons that he is "the great sage, equal of heaven". The same kind of idea goes around each of the stories: they seemingly cannot fit in with certain people solely because of something they cannot change.

    ~Sarah 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:19 PM  

  • In the three stories of ABC they all have something in common, Fitting in. the Monkey King wants to fit in with the other gods, Danny wants to fit in at school without being embarrassed by his cousin Chin-Kee and Jin want to fit in as an american.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:47 PM  

  • I think that basically what is overall being said in this book is people will almost always want to fit it when they can't. All three of the characters attempt to fit in by stressing out and working too hard to get so little. In Danny's story, Danny becomes friends with a lot of the kids at his school and is well liked by everyone, but when Chin Kee comes it ends up it was all in vain and racists will be racists and no amount of popularity will fix that. In Jin's story, he tries to force Wei Chen out of his old ways but his efforts fall flat when it ends up that Wei Chen is proud of who he is and it's not going to change. Finally, in the Monkey King story, the Monkey King tries extremely hard to be like a human, (he changes shape, size, he even wears shoes) before it becomes clear that a monkey is a monkey is a monkey is a monkey. Nothing will ever change that. All three of these characters want to fit in when it is hardest, but none of them can ever be successful if they stress about it and don't just roll with the punches. That is extremely hard to do in all of these situations, however, and I am interested to see how the story will end.

    Ciara
    Jacobs 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:05 PM  

  • As Joe C. said in his post fitting in is one of the main themes in ABC. I also think as is common in pieces we've read in the identity unit there is at least one box formed by cultural identifiers. One box in ABC is race often paired with nationality/heritage. This box mostly refers to Jin and Wei-Chen because of their eastern Asian heritage and race. I feel badly that Jin is trying to completely escape his heritage. I feel this way because all people of all races have something different and interesting to bring to the table. This is why I believe not putting people in boxes could make this world a better place.

    Andrew, Jacobs 8-9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:32 PM  

  • One major theme in American Born Chinese is fitting in. Throughout the three main story lines each character wants to fit in with the society around them. Like Jin just wants to be a regular American and forget about his Asian heritage. The Monkey King wants to fit in with the gods and goddesses but he is rejected because he is a monkey and he tries to change who he is. In the Chink-Kee story Danny doesn't want to be associated with Chink-Kee because he is scared that Chink-Kee will mess up his reputaion.

    By Blogger Jamie , at 3:43 PM  

  • One major theme that i see emerging in "American born Chinese" is exclusion or racism or stereotypes. In Jin's storyline people are treating him differently because he is Asian. This lead Jin to having few friends. In Danny's storyline, Chinkee is a culmination of all negative Asian stereotypes. He has very yellow skin, narrowed eyes, buck teeth, and is very,very smart. Being Chinkee's cousin makes Danny unpopular instantly. In the Monkey King's storyline the Monkey King is excluded from all of the gods privileges because he is a monkey. He, however, instead of feeling sorry for himself, deals with this issue by using violence and anger. Throughout the story all of the characters are being misjudged and categorized by race.
    -Julius S.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:05 PM  

  • The main theme of all of the stories in American Born Chinese, is that the main character has trouble fitting in. They all to change themselves so that they fit in better. The Monkey King started wearing shoes so that he could be more human. On page 15 the guard says to the Monkey King "You are still a monkey". Later on in the story, when someone called him a monkey he told them he wasn't, because he was ashamed of who he really is. Danny fits in, until his cousin Chin-Kee comes to visit. He has had to change schools three times before, because after his cousin leaves, he is known as "Chin-Kees cousin", not Danny. On page 126, Danny confesses to Steve about this. Jin likes Melanie, and he changes his hair to get her to like him back. He tries and makes it more American, because he feels like he doesn't fit in with his Chinese hair.
    -Anjali 8/9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:17 PM  

  • One of the main themes in American Born Chinese is fitting in. The Monkey King went to a party but could not get in because he was a monkey. So the Monkey King becomes stronger and even changes hes appearance to be more like the other gods. He even makes the other moneys be more like people by having them wear shoes. Jin wants to fit in with the other people at his school by being America and not Asian. He changes his hair and talks more American to try and fit in. Danny does fit in but when he cousin Chin-Kee come he does not fit in as well any more. So he changes schools ever year his cousin comes.

    Ellie8-9Jacobs9-28-10

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:52 PM  

  • One theme i see that is very prominent is that all of the main characters in each storyline just want to fit in. In each of these stories trying to fit in gives the characters problems which they try to avoid and then have to confront later on in the story. In Jin's story he tries to fit in with the "American kids" at his school. They all think of him as Chinese even though he was born in America and feels American. In the Monkey King's story he is not thought of as one of the gods and so he seeks to become a deity in his own right but he goes about it in all the wrong ways. And in Danny's story Danny just wants to fit in with the rest of the kids at his school. But every year when Chinkee comes to visit he embarasses Danny so much that Danny switches school every year. And it's not until he confronts Chinkee that he sets things right.

    Olivia P. Jacobs 8-9

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:03 PM  

  • In American Born Chinese the theme is about finding who you are and figuring out what your identity is. The Monkey King has to come to terms with being a monkey. On pages 68 and 81 he denies the fact that he is a monkey. Jin denies his Chinese culture; he acts like he is American, eating sandwiches on page 89, telling Wei Chen to speak English because he is in America on page 38, and telling Wei-Chen to not be a FOB also on page 89. I like the Wei-Chen character because he embraces the American culture, but he stays true to himself. He is willing to try new things, but he doesn’t deny his identity and his Taiwanese background. Danny doesn’t accept the fact that his cousin is Chinese. Partly he doesn’t like his cousin being Chinese and partly he doesn’t like the way his cousin behaves. He tries to avoided being with Chin-Kee at all times like at the beginning of the school day (page 110), he hides his face (page 113) and says, “ I don’t even know how we’re related!” (page 123). I think that Danny is also insecure because he is embarrassed about being around his cousin, which is a very teenager thing to do.

    Halima, Jacobs, 3-4 period

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:07 PM  

  • I think that the main theme in these three stories is people (or monkeys) trying to fit in. In the monkey king story monkey king tries to be a human by wearing shoes. On page 60 we see monkey king and he is very tall wearing shoes and is standing upright like a human. Danny has the hardest time trying to fit in the crowd in the three stories, and he can't really do anything about it because of chin-kee. On page 126 Danny tells Steve why he can't fit in at any school and Steve tells him that people won't make fun of him at school, which on page 121 we see isn't true. Jin has problems fitting in because he is a chinese person going to a white christian school. His main problem is that people at his school aren't tolerent of him and are really racist to him as displayed on pages 32 and 33.

    Paul, Jacobs 3-4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:09 AM  

  • A theme in American Born Chinese is with Jin or Danny trying to fit in with his other classmates, and how it affects his life. The story of the monkey king goes in with the topic of fitting in too. Monkey king ties in with Jin when the other deities won't let him go to the dinner party. These two topics tie together because Jin and the monkey king both have problems fitting in. And the theme also comes together because it the book shows how Jin and the monkey king try to fix these problems.
    ~Koryn S.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:51 PM  

  • I think that the theme in American Born Chinese is all three characters attempts to fit in with their surroundings. Jin believes that being American will make him fit in, so thats what he wants to be or transform to be. Danny also shuns his chinese heritage and attempts to fit in by trying to get rid of his cousin Chin-Kee. He feels that in order to fit in he needs to be rid of his chinese heritage. Finally, the monkey king wants to fit in in heaven. He feels that if he transforms in to a human he will gain more respect and fit in with the rest of deity. The thing that is holding the monkey king back that he wants to get rid of his the fact that he is a monkey. In there own ways all these characters feel that they need to be someone else in order to fit in.
    - Grace 1, Jacobs 3/4

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:48 AM  

  • One of the themes that I see in ABC is the theme of fitting in so people will respect you. Jin wants to fit in so he won't be made fun of by the other kids, and so he can have amelia as his girlfriend. The monkey king wants to fit in so he can go into heaven, and danny wants to fit in so people don't think of him as Chin-kee's cousin.

    -Henry per. 8 and 9 Jacobs

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:20 AM  

  • I think a consistent theme was trying to be someone else to fit in. Jin gets teased when he is new at school so he tries to be like Greg, with his hair. Also, Danny doesn't like being known as "Chin-Kee's cousin", so he tries to act like they aren't related even though no matter how much he changes they will still be related. Monkey King also tries to change his apperance because he wasn't allowed into the party. He becomes more human by wearing shoes and learning Kung-Fu. This is what I think a consistent theme in American Born Chinese is.

    Leah U. (Jacobs 8-9)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:11 AM  

  • each of the three stories have the theme of respect in them. with chinkee he really doesn't respect dannys life and how hes just trying to fit in. with the monkey king people dont respect him so he gets all mean. and with jin people wouldn't respect him because he was asian and different.
    sarah s

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:03 PM  

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