In Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, there are various stories and media that are alluded to throughout the novel. Young people learn to interpret their lives and their world from watching others, whether through the television or through stories that they are told. They constantly take in new information and different reactions to things just by copying what someone does on their favorite TV show or movie or what the moral of a story is. The very first story centers on the Monkey King, which according to the sleeve on the book, the Monkey King is “one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables.” Jin’s story ends up shaping around what the Monkey King goes through, where he eventually comes to terms with being a monkey and is comfortable
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They shape their perceptions off of them and relate to them. Jin mentions a Chinese parable that his mother tells him about a mother and a son who keep moving until “she found a home across the road from the university.” (24) Jin relates it to himself because he and his parents are moving as well, referring to his mother finishing the story just as they pulled up to their new house. What Jin sees and hears, he reacts similarly because it’s all he’s known. The use of the Transformers symbolize all the transforming done in the novel. Jin tells the herbalist’s wife that he wants to be a transformer when he grows up, especially because that’s the toy that he and his friends always play with and the TV show they watch on Saturday morning. (26-27) Yang is saying that young people base their reactions and interpretations of life off these various stories and media. Just like his Transformer would turn into a car, Jin transforms into Danny. The Monkey King transforms into Chin-Kee, and the Monkey King’s son turns into Wei-Chen Sun. Transformers were also the basis of Wei-Chen and Jin’s friendship, the former telling Jin that his toy robot can turn into a robot monkey and was a gift from his father before he left. (39) Yang is saying that young people learn to interpret their lives and their world by focusing on the media and stories and using them to form relationships. Young people take a lot from what
They shape their perceptions off of them and relate to them. Jin mentions a Chinese parable that his mother tells him about a mother and a son who keep moving until “she found a home across the road from the university.” (24) Jin relates it to himself because he and his parents are moving as well, referring to his mother finishing the story just as they pulled up to their new house. What Jin sees and hears, he reacts similarly because it’s all he’s known. The use of the Transformers symbolize all the transforming done in the novel. Jin tells the herbalist’s wife that he wants to be a transformer when he grows up, especially because that’s the toy that he and his friends always play with and the TV show they watch on Saturday morning. (26-27) Yang is saying that young people base their reactions and interpretations of life off these various stories and media. Just like his Transformer would turn into a car, Jin transforms into Danny. The Monkey King transforms into Chin-Kee, and the Monkey King’s son turns into Wei-Chen Sun. Transformers were also the basis of Wei-Chen and Jin’s friendship, the former telling Jin that his toy robot can turn into a robot monkey and was a gift from his father before he left. (39) Yang is saying that young people learn to interpret their lives and their world by focusing on the media and stories and using them to form relationships. Young people take a lot from what