The Struggle of Second Generation Acculturation and Assimilation
The Struggle of Second Generation Acculturation and Assimilation The graphic novel American Born Chinese (2006), by Gene Luen Yang, is a very modern and influential piece of work that can be compared to the short indie film Two Lies (1990), directed and written by Pamela Tom, which had preceded the novel by 16 years. These two different forms of work, both utilizing their ability to teach the audience, are used as powerful venues for the topic of identity crisis among the Asian people in a majority European American world. In the film, we have Mei and her family who are all having some trouble adjusting to their lives in Southern California but more specifically we have Mei and her trouble to understand her mother 's cause and intent for having undergone double eye-lid surgery. In ABC, we have our protagonist, Jin, who is having trouble fitting into his new school in San Francisco since he is one of the very few Asian admitted to the school. Another time line in the novel is the story of the monkey king who does anything to get rid of the fact that he is a monkey in order to fit into society. The third is the story of Danny, a European American who has trouble and often becomes embarrassed with his hyperbolic Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. This character is first introduced by saying "Harro Amellica!" while Jin 's father, carrying giant Chinese take out container says "I 'll put your luggage into your room, Chin-Kee" (48). All three of these time line show our characters having some sort of shame or embarrassment to the fact that their own image or background is different from those around them. In the novel we first have the tale of the monkey king who is a deity but denied entrance to a party for being a monkey. The guard at the party says, "Look, you may be a king - you may even be a deity - but you are still a monkey" (15) completely embarrassing him in front of everyone at the party. He decides after beating everyone up that he will remove the characteristics
Cited: Boatright, Michael D. "Graphic Journeys: Graphic Novels ' Representations Of Immigrant Experiences." Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 53.6 (2010): 473-474. Professional Development Collection. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Fu, Binbin. "Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements with Graphic Narrative."MELUS 32.3 (2007): 274-76. JSTOR. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. Two Lies. Dir. Pamela Tom. Perf. Sala Iwamatsu,. Women Make Movies, 1990. Videocassette. Yang, Gene Luen., and Lark Pien. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. Print.