Boxer Saints Identity

Identity within Experiences “Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.”- Chuck Palahniuk. This quote states that we do not create our own identities, that nothing we do is original. This news shouldn't be anything new, as children we learn from our parents and those around us, how to act and in the end who we are. Gene Luen Yang's Boxers & Saints follows the Boxer uprising of 1898 in China. It was a time when the Chinese people were forced to chose who they identified with, their fellow countrymen or with the foreign Christians. Boxers & Saints illustrates that one's identity is not formed by singular events in our lives, but is created from a culmination of experiences and human interactions. Boxers …show more content…
Four's life does not change much due to the Boxer rebellion in the beginning. She is only exposed to Christianity because the acupuncturist that her mother takes her to is a Christian or foreign devil. Upon hearing that they are called devils, she longed to learn everything about them and their faith, thinking that this is how she will become the greatest devil. Though misled in her pursuit, Four becomes a christian, takes up the new name of Vibiana, and begins searching for her place in this revolution. Similar experiences shared by people influence their identities differently as is seen with Bao and …show more content…
Vibiana is living at the compound that Bao attacks. During the attack, her life is spared momentarily because she is a woman and she realizes her identity as a protector. Unfortunately, she does not get the opportunity to protect, because she is captured by Bao and demanded to renounce her faith. It is at this moment that she sees another vision of Joan, burning at the stake and Vibiana realizes that she has been looking in the wrong place for her identity, when it should have been in Christ the entire time. Her acceptance of her identity in Christ leads to her