American Born Chinese Summary

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang and Amreeka, by Cherien Dabis present ideas of people’s struggles with self-identification through similar, yet different means of rhetoric. Furthermore, the creators of these texts both use pathos as a form of articulation to show that people from different backgrounds are not easily accepted into society, however, they each appeal to a different emotion. American Born Chinese appeals to the reader’s sense of amusement by using comedic, stereotypic, and racial slurs and pictures, whereas, Amreeka evokes sympathy by showing the hardships and struggles of a newly immigrated family. Evidence of this in American Born Chinese can be found in the story where Chin-Kee visits Danny, and in Amreeka it is shown …show more content…
The author presents Chin-Kee with a myriad of stereotypes, and even uses an ethnic slur as his name. Yang then shows a picture of Danny’s dad holding noodle boxes and saying, “I’ll put your luggage into your room”. This appeals to the reader’s sense of humor because noodle boxes are usually used to hold Chinese foods. Therefore, when the author shows this picture he humorously presents the stereotype that Chinese people use noodle boxes for more than just food. In addition, the author displays the stereotypical appearance of Chinese people by showing Chin-Kee with a blue Hanfu, or Chinese robe, with a ponytail, eyes closed, and beaver-like teeth. The author eventually shows Chin-Kee in school answering all the questions, showing that all Chinese people are geniuses and know everything. Subsequently, while all this is happening there is always a group of people in the background teasing him, yet he ignorantly continues to be himself. The author’s stereotypic display of Chin-Kee furthers the notion that that the author uses pathos to humorously show that because Chin-Kee is different he is not immediately accepted into society, but rather he is seen as an embarrassment to …show more content…
We see this evoking of emotion when Fadi first goes to class and the teacher immediately asks Fadi a question concerning the current state of his country, and in the background two boys are making fun of him. This immediately causes the audience to feel pitiful because Fadi has not even completed one school period and he is already being picked on. Additionally, we also see this feeling of pity when Muna finds out that all the money that she brought with her was taken away at customs because security thought it was food. As a result of Muna coming from a foreign country, the United States does not allow any foreign foods to enter into the U.S. This event causes the viewers to place themselves in her shoes and to feel the pain that she was going through, thus invoking a feeling of understanding. This all happens because society does not easily accept different people. Instead, society gives different people a negative