American Born Chinese

While I did not particularly like American Born Chinese as a book, I thought it was a very unique way to address prominent racial stereotypes present in our American society. Although most people do not like to admit that they stereotype certain factions of people, we all have judgments, either conscious or unconscious, that we apply to certain populations. This graphic novel confronts a number of stereotypes that are often associated with Asian Americans.

I did not like this book because I was unable to engage in the novel. Although all the stories merged at the end to provide a (somewhat) logical explanation, I found the narrative order of the book to be slightly confusing and the plot a bit dull. I did enjoy the portion that dealt with Jin and Amelia and how cultural assimilation wove itself into their relationship, but the section pertaining to the history of the monkey and Jin’s transition into Danny was just not very interesting to me. 

Another reason I did not like this book was because it made me uncomfortable. I did not like reading about a character that depicted behavior completely saturated by cultural stereotypes. Not only was he named Chin-kee, which is offensive in itself, but he is also incredibly educated and loves school, dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, ate ‘ethnic’ food that Americans find disgusting, spoke in a very strong Chinese accent that was heavily accentuated in the text, and he actually emulated the racist children’s rhyme “Me Chinese”. I understand that this feeling of discomfort was the intent of the author. I think he wanted to juxtapose Chin-kee with Jin to demonstrate to readers how unfounded our country’s stereotypes of Asian Americans really are. I can recognize his intention as an author and I think he did an excellent job illustrating this in his book, but overall I did not enjoy reading this text.

Critically, I think this story contained symbolism that supplemented the points Yang was stressing. In particular, his incorporation of the toy transformer was especially significant. I saw the transformer toy, which was owned by both Jin and Wei-Chen at the beginning of the story, to represent an ideology held by many immigrants, be it Chinese, Taiwanese, or other ethnicities. The boys identify with the transformer because it illustrates what they must do in American culture, which is assimilate and transform from who they are (which is the robot – symbolic in itself as robots suggest technology and technology is often associated with Asian culture) into an American, which takes its form as a truck. As the boys attempt to assimilate into American culture, you see them shed many cultural traits that they once identified with. As Jin begins at Mayflower elementary, he uses chopsticks to eat his dumplings during lunch. As he progresses through school, he changes his lunch to a sandwich. This subtle symbolism was a stylistic element that supplemented Yang’s portrayal of Asian Americans.

            

Another element of fiction that is essential to this story is the character development of Jin. We see him transform from Jin, a Chinese boy struggling to find his place in American culture, into Danny, a blond haired Caucasian American who shows no external signs of his Chinese heritage. This physical development represents Jin’s desire to assimilate and be just like his classmates, but does not accurately demonstrate who he is on the inside. This transformation, much like the transformer toy, shows the identity struggles many immigrants face when they enter American society.

             

Although this story stirred up feelings of discomfort for me as a reader, I recognize its effectiveness at addressing a number of racial stereotypes present in our American culture. Yang did an excellent job using symbolism and physical transformations to get his point across, and I thought this story successfully picked apart uncomfortable stereotypes and illustrated their absurdity in this graphic novel.

Maus

C

            Before I began my books required for this week, I had a conversation with one of my best friends regarding the genre of graphic novels. I spoke very candidly about my dislike for this field of literature, as I often find the plot and characters to be underdeveloped and substandard to novels containing strictly textual content. She spoke in favor of these novels, as she is a visual learner and likes that these books shake up the monotony of traditional reading. Previously I have tried to read a number of graphic novels and was of the opinion that the pictures did not sufficiently supplement the words, therefore leaving the story incomplete. However, after completing my mandatory reading for the week, my opinion shifted drastically.

            Instead of finding Maus deficient as a story and therefore disliking it, I thought it was a creative approach used to illustrate a very sensitive historical conflict. Having cats and mice act as representations of Nazis and Jews is an excellent yet simple comparison. I think this book is appropriate for both adults and younger readers, and I think this symbolism of animals depicting human sects assists the younger adolescent readers in their understanding of the content. Spiegelman, in my opinion, created a graphic novel that could be engaging and accessible to all readers, despite their level of reading ability.

            After completing Maus, I immediately went online to buy the second installment. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed the novel and by how different my interpretation of this genre was from my previous assumptions. Instead of comparing it to traditional literature, I viewed it as its own separate form of literature, because to me, that’s what it is. Simply because it does not contain nearly as much text does not make it underdeveloped and incomplete, as I had previously thought. This time, I found that the pictures engaged my interest instead if deterring it and once I began to see this story as a different form of literature altogether, I began to embrace the aspects that make this genre so unique and enjoyable.

            Critically, I think Spiegelman’s choice of narrative order was well thought out. The use of flashbacks between War and contemporary time helped the reader see who father and mother were before, during, and after the war. Although I did not particularly like the abrasive father character, Spiegelman’s portrayal of him as a post-holocaust citizen was very well done. In the Holocaust literature that I have read, generally the plot of the story often revolves around the War as it was taking place. However, in Maus, readers are exposed to the story through father’s recollection, and it becomes evident that his behavior has been significantly shaped by the War. 

Often, in the stories I have read, the long lasting chronic effects of such genocide are ignored. In this story, they were magnified. Father’s perception of money shift pre and post war. A mouse that once cared about material objects and wealth, father emerges from the war a frugal and miserly character. Although mother is dead, through father’s memories readers see her behavior shift from young and educated pre-War to depressed and eventually, suicidal following the War. I thought the use of flashback provided the reader with a unique opportunity to see how War alters behavior, and I found this a fascinating approach to Holocaust literature.

            Another element of fiction that Spiegelman succeeded at was creating imagery that strongly supplemented the written content. I found his drawings essential to evoking emotion from the reader and a number of times I found his images to be more salient than the words. During the “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” sequence, I was moved by the intensity of the images. They depicted such suffering among the characters that I found these images to be more powerful than the accompanying words.

            In conclusion, I am surprised by my own reaction to Maus. I now understand that books that include pictures are not subsidiary to traditional literature, but simply different. I thought Spiegelman did a wonderful job engaging readers through his use of flashback and intense imagery, and I look forward to reading the second installment of this series.