The Issue of Identity in America

The issue of identity is one of many sensitive topics in regards to the American society. The struggle of an unfamiliar background as well as wanting to 'fit in" can be a problem that many people face. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel that revolves around three different stories which are eventually linked together by three different characters: The Monkey King, Jin Wang, and Danny. The Monkey King is a legendary monkey who rules over the monkey kingdom while Jin Wang is a Chinese American who struggles to fit in with the American culture and Danny is an all-American boy that has a Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee, who visits him annually and eventually destroys his reputation at school each time he visits. As the novel progresses, the three stories are switched between each other and Yang relates them towards the issue of identity.

The usage of a variety of formal and thematic elements can be seen throughout the novel. The two main themes include the search for one's identity and the exploration of self-acceptance. As far as other elements go, the design of the panel layouts is different than most graphic novels and the usage of colors further defines the story told.

The search for identity, the theme that is one of the main driving forces within the graphic novel is what each character is trying to accomplish as each one is desperate in an attempt to shed a part of themselves for the sake of how others see them. For example, the Monkey King, who is proclaimed a deity/god searches for his identity amongst other deities as he believes he is on the 'same level" as them and therefore wanted to be treated equally. In the story, he invites himself to a dinner party one day and just as he enters it, is stopped by a guard. Frustrated by the situation he states, 'I too am a deity!" (Yang 14). This shows that the Monkey King believes he has the right to attend the party because he was a deity like the others. The remarks as he drags him out that 'You may be a king-you may even be a deity-but you are still a monkey" (Yang 15) while the rest of the guests laugh at him. The remark signifies that even though the Monkey King was a deity, he still wasn't on an equal level as the other heavenly beings as he was just a monkey after all and therefore denied entry. This results in the beginning of his plan to escape his identity as a monkey and become a better deity.

The next story begins with Jin Wang who has a conflict between maintaining his current and past culture. Due to his ethnicity, Jin struggles to come to terms with his Chinese background and American culture at the same time. He tries to fit in with the American students at school but is always reminded of his Chinese culture and its stereotypes starting even from the very first day of his arrival. This can be seen when one of his classmates states while in the presence of Jin that 'My momma says Chinese people eat dogs" (Yang 31), which was quickly interrupted by the teacher who states, 'Now be nice, Timmy! I'm sure Jin doesn't do that!" (Yang 31). The student's statement can be referenced to that stereotypical fact that mentions that Chinese people eat dogs. A few pages ahead we see in the last panel of page 36 that Jin is seated with a group of white classmates staring blankly at the arrival of their new Chinese classmate, Wei Chin. His reaction is questionable as he states that 'something made me want to beat him up" (Yang 36). Jin's desire to fit in with the normal culture a t his school was being threatened by the mere presence of his new classmate. We can tell that by purposely aligning and positioning Jin with his classmates, Yang wanted us to think that he was 'fitting in." He eventually befriends Wei Chin only to struggle even more to the point that he tries to act 'American" by changing the style of his hair as well as dating Amelia, an American girl, thus changing his identity to reflect more of the American culture.

Speaking of the American culture, Danny, an all-American boy has this problem as well. Athletic and popular at Oliphant High School, his identity was about to be threatened by the presence of his cousin, Chin-Kee who works against the identity he had already established at school. It threatens him so that he is distanced off from other classmates including Melanie (who he had a crush on) when she is asked to see a movie with him to which she replies that 'I actually wanted to talk to you about that Danny. We're good friends, and I really like being friends. I don't want to do anything to mess that up." (Yang 123) Danny replies back stating, 'I'm not like him Melanie" (Yang 123). He interprets her response as a comparison of himself to his cousin and that his 'identity" was similar to Chin-Kee and for that reason she was distancing herself from him. We in fact know that Danny isn't American but is actually Chinese when the stories started to connect with each other in the middle of the novel. Jin Wang's story begins to intertwine with Danny's when he dreams about the herbalist's wife who states, 'So, little friend, you've done it. Now what would you like to become?" (Yang 193-194) In that moment, Jin's body changes to his new identity of Danny.

Yang also incorporates the theme of identity into the panel layouts throughout the novel. Most comic books and graphic novels use an entire page, but Yang only use two-thirds of a page for his panel layout. You can notice that the overall size isn't that of a rectangle (like the usual styles for comic books/graphic novels) but of a square representing stability and symmetry which meant it was equal. This could be seen on pages 84 and 106 using single panels. The multi-panels displaying the three stories would then fit within the panel layout to go along with Yang's theme of identity and 'fitting in." Yang's idea to purposely use a squared layout relates to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics in the fourth step: Structure (out of a total of six steps) where McCloud states that it involves 'putting it all together...What to include, What to leave out...How to arrange , How to compose the Work" (McCloud 170). This meant that by arranging the layout design to be squared, it allowed Yang to incorporate the main theme into the novel.

Once the novel was drawn, Yang could have left it black and white (which we would usually associate the two with graphic novels such as Art Spiegelman's Maus and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home), he instead uses colors (flat colors to be exact) to fill in the drawings. By using flat colors Scott McCloud states in his book, Understanding Comics that 'another property of flat colors is their tendency to emphasize the shape of objects, both animate and inanimate...These colors objectify their subjects. We become more aware of the physical form of objects then in black and white" (McCloud 188-189). So, by using colors, Yang is able to more accurately convey his message throughout the novel incorporating many action-to-action transitions to relay the story.

The final theme to discuss is self-acceptance. This played another large role throughout the novel as each character, once reached their new identities, came to realize who they really were. For the Monkey King, by escaping his identity of being a monkey, he changes his identity to that of a deity instead, only to be met by his creator, Tze-Yo-Tzuh who punishes him for his misbehaved actions (by sealing him under a mountain of rocks). He eventually frees himself after given advice from Buddhist monk Jiang Tiao who states that 'To find your true identity...within the will of Tze-Yo-Tzuh...that Is the highest of all freedoms" (Yang 149). This meant that by accepting the fact the Monkey King he himself was just a monkey could he only then free himself from the imprisonment. To compare this with Jin and Danny's perspective of self-acceptance, they both realize it near the end of the novel when the stories finally connect together where Danny finally confronts Chin-Kee who is revealed to be the Monkey King himself sent down from the heavens to teach Danny a similar lesson. He explains to him, 'You know, Jin, I would have saved myself from five hundred years' imprisonment beneath a mountain of rocks had I only realized how good it is to be a monkey" (Yang 223). This meant that by accepting who he really was coming from a Chinese background, Danny eventually changes back to become Jin.

Using three different stories, Yang is able to incorporate the theme of identity and self-acceptance. The text was significant as it provided the moral of the stories and readers were left with a more, deeper understanding of what Yang was trying to convey. The struggle to fit in into the American society went away when you eventually acknowledged yourself for who you really were and not by the others around you.

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