Character Analysis: American Born Chinese

What does it mean to be an American? For many who are seeking citizenship through naturalization, it means that the immigrant can speak english, understands the basic workings of the government, is willing to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and promises to uphold and defend the Constitution (USCIS). As with most societies, unfortunately, the answer to what makes an American is not that simple, as shown in American Born Chinese. Throughout this graphic novel, Jin, the protagonist, struggles with the questions of what it means to be an American, what it means to be Chinese, and how the two identities intertwine and compete. In Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese, the differences between the Chinese …show more content…
From his speech to his hair and his crushes, Jin attempts to be more like his peers. In an early encounter between Jin and Wei-Chen Sun, arriving from Taiwan, Wei-Chen tries to start a conversation, politely asking in Chinese, “sorry to bother you, but you’re Chinese, aren’t you?” (37). “You’re in America,” Jin rudely responds, “speak english,” immediately showing displeasure towards the person who will become his best friend. More important than Jin’s rudeness is his refusal to speak Chinese. As a part of the Chinese heritage, Jin has no interest in associating himself further with the culture by speaking Chinese. While Jin feels it's a necessity to speak english, he also tries to branch out to other Americans. As Jin progresses through school, he begins to set his eyes on girls. Jin begins to fall for an American girl, Amelia. He begins to think about her, along with Greg, a good friend of hers, as shown in the panels above on the right. Furthermore, he thinks about Gregg’s hair, the epitome of American hairstyles in the ‘80s: a perm. Believing that a part of becoming more American is changing his look, from the quintessential asian haircut to something closer to the average american, as seen in the image below to the left. With Jin’s new haircut, another adaptation, closing the gap between him and the average American, Jin gains the courage to ask Amelia on a date. Contrastly, Wei-Chen dates Suzy, the other Asian in the school. While Wei-Chen is satisfied staying in his smaller community, Jin wants to branch out. Throughout the story, Jin makes attempts to change his identity, his heritage. Jin’s crush, hair, and language all change to resemble his peers throughout the