American Born Chinese Informative Writing Essay Insecurity is something that most people struggle with at some point in their life, often feeling not good enough for others, or not good enough for themselves. In American Born Chinese, various heroic archetypes interact with Jin Wang on his personal journey, teaching him that wishing you were someone else will not change who are. Wishing you were someone else will not change who you are. Jin’s lack of confidence, Wei-Chen, and Greg are obstacles on Jin’s journey toward self-acceptance. For example, Danny -- who is later revealed to be Jin -- is sitting alone on the floor when his friend Steve comes to ask what’s wrong, leading Danny to vent about his annoying cousin Chin-Kee; “By the time he …show more content…
Danny’s insecurities are getting in the way of his self-confidence, as he lets people’s opinions take control of his self-worth and confidence. Ashamed of him, Danny is embarrassed to even be close to Chin-Kee. In addition, Jin comes over to talk to his friends about a girl he likes, when Wei-Chen makes a snarky comment, “... talking is more than he has ever done. Because he is a cowardly turtle” (Yang 94). Though he might be teasing, what Wei-Chen said was not helpful and had a negative effect on Jin’s mood. By saying unkind words to Jin, Wei-Chen is an obstacle to Jin’s path toward self-acceptance. Last of all, confidently, Jin is walking toward his crush Amelia when Amelia’s best friend Greg stops Jin warning him, “Can you not ask Amelia out again? … She's a good friend and I want to make sure she makes good choices… …show more content…
For example, after transforming Danny back into Jin, the monkey King sits next to Jin to explain his duty as Jin’s conscience, and gives Jin some advice; “You know, Jin, I would’ve saved myself from five hundred years’ imprisonment beneath a mountain of rock had I only realized how good it is to be a monkey” (Yang 223). The advice of the Monkey King is helpful to Jin, reminding him that he does not have to hide anymore and that he is a good person. Jin’s confidence rises after hearing the Monkey King’s advice, especially since he is doubting himself. In addition, saving his friend and crush Wei-Chen and Amelia after they got locked in a school supplies closet, Wei-Chen gives Jin an idea, whispering into Jin’s ear, and then Jin tells; “I remember a jolt of confidence, a stilted question, and a word from her lips…” (Yang 105). Throughout the course of the story, it is seen that Amelia is the only character who Jin gets his confidence from. This confidence would later allow Jin to stick up for himself, and take risks he usually would be too scared or shy to take. Last of all, during lunch at Wei-hcen’s new school, he notices Jin sitting alone and despite his low English sill he decides to go attempt to befriend him asking, “...Eh..We-b-be friend?” (Yang 38). Wei-Chen’s bravery was kind of him and helped Jin gain a real friend with whom he could connect. Though Wei-Chen is troublesome later
[…] I never knew about any of these things. […] What an image it gives me of myself,'" (Potok 129-130). When he first encounters the derogatory text, Danny does not know how to react. He feels betrayed and offended and cannot process the information. He is “dark and brooding” and limited in what he can take away from his experiences, but after educating himself and growing in confidence, Danny is prepared to take on the world: “His beard and earlocks were gone, and his face looked pale.
However, it still exists in our community and we see it everywhere. American Born Chinese by Luen Yang is a graphic novel that has a large idea behind the book which Transformation and understanding identity. American Born Chinese consists of three different storylines and each storyline has a different character that tries to fit into society and also be able to transfer back to his culture. The three main characters are ashamed of who they are. According
Danny should be seen as an intimate person by his height but since he is such a worrying person about the things he does; people around him might slowly notice that he isn't comfortable being in places that will make him overthink. Still, he needs to be there to find a connection with his Mexican heritage and find the answers to his questions. To finally stop feeling neglect from his culture, he has to make a sacrifice of talking and meeting new people that may collaborate to resolve this issue. Danny starts to meet people but is shy and accepts that fitting in is hard. Danny being in uncomfortable situations makes him turn to self-harm.
Danny Each abhor their true identity and constantly struggle to become something
(Yang 198). This text shows how he got the physical change that he wanted and was excited about it as he believed he would finally fit in with this change to himself. After knowing that Danny is Jin we understand why he was hiding Chin Kee as it represented what he was attempting to hide about himself. This evidence shows the physical changes Jin made to try to fit in and hide who he really
Furthermore, as the relationship has become worse with his girlfriend, Chen is infuriated. He knows he should not beat his girlfriend, the civilization does not allow him to do this, he should calm down and have a talk to his girlfriend. However, he cannot control his ego, his mind is full aggressiveness. Chen strangles his girlfriend and causes her to nearly lose consciousness, even the person is his lover, as Tyler Hayden pointed
These quotes show how Danny questions social mores and the idea that acceptance depends on conforming to stereotypes. It highlights how important it is to recognize one's worth regardless of their accomplishments or previous assumptions. It talks about how to gain acceptance by being one's true self rather than caving into assumptions or peer pressure. This relates to my original claim because the quote and context show how his identity is affecting his life. After all, all the kids are making fun of Danny because he does not know what he identifies as and the kids are saying things like prove you’re
Jin manages to ask Amelia to hang out with him and they go see a movie together. However, the next day at school Greg asks Jin to not go out with Amelia again because he is worried about who she is hanging out with and Jin replies saying that he guesses he will stop asking her out. Therefore, Greg is Jin’s antagonist because he prevents Jin from accomplishing his goal of asking Amelia out again. Jin gets angry at Greg later that school day and decides to go ask Amelia out again, however, as soon as he says hello to Amelia and sees Greg there he immediately loses his bravery and walks away. At this point, Jin is confused and kisses Suzy while Wei-Chen is in math circles.
“Silly monkey. You were never out of my reach. You only fooled yourself.”. These wise words from Tze-Yo-Tzuh set the stage for The Monkey King’s nadir. In particular, on pages 76 and 77, the author portrays The Monkey King's loss of power.
Jin is faced with being one of the very few Asians at his Junior High School, while everyone else is American. Of course Jin is going to feel out of sorts, especially when his teacher introduces him to the class as “Jin Jang”, and saying “He and his family moved to our neighborhood all the way from China”, when Jin’s real name is Jin Wang and his family moved from San Francisco (30). Gene Luen Yang uses this humility to display that it takes a considerable amount of open
Arriving at the party for all the Gods, the Monkey King had tried to get in. However, the Gods laugh at him and kick him out because he isn’t wearing shoes and he he 's a monkey. Due to the conflict at the party, readers question what the Monkey King will do next after he is humiliated and kicked out. The author effectively uses this plot element because it is made clear that the Monkey King did not belong with the Gods and the conflict makes readers want to keep reading to find out what happens.
Becoming more violent, and distant as time goes by, Danny treats everyone horribly, and even Molly has lost hope in him. Putting her personal
When Kong is asked to break up with An he proclaims, “‘No, I can’t hurt her. It’s too much for me.’” (Jin). Kong displays extreme selflessness here as he jeopardizes his own future to spare the feeling of his lover. This selfless act took great courage and strength blatantly disrespect his superior in order to peruse his feelings of love.
but she is also nervous because she is going to meet her twin half-sisters, whom she has never met before and she will have to tell them about their mother’s death. Her mother had to abandon the half -sisters and her dream was to have a family reunion but before that could have happened she had passed away. Jing understood the language they were speaking but couldn’t speak it
However, this determination sometimes appears to be obsessive to the point of running her daughter’s life for her. Regardless, she is only trying to help, as she encourages Jing Mei by asserting “‘You can be best anything.’” (1). Because of this, it suggests that although she is very harsh on her daughter at times, it is only to make sure that Jing Mei can use her full potential and not end up losing everything like her