American Born Chinese Essays - Buddhism In China, Free Essays

American Born Chinese Conformity can be defined as acting in a socially acceptable way while behaving in ways that may not be typically how a person acts. Throughout Gene Luen Yangs novel American Born Chinese, three main characters try to change themselves in order to fit in with the people that surround them. The characters struggle to find themselves and identify with their surroundings, but by doing so, they forget who they are and why where they come from is so important. The monkey king, Jin Wang, and Danny all put their greatest efforts in to mask their true identities and become something they arent. Eventually they realize who they are is who they are meant to be, and they should not try to change themselves any longer. Throughout the whole novel, the characters can be seen as disguising or hiding ones own true colors, soon after discovering that being ashamed of oneself is not the correct way to go about fitting in. The Monkey King tried to fit in and master the arts of kung-fu. He did so, and strived to reach immortality. When he waits in line for what seems to him like an eternity, he is politely turned away, showing his embarrassment to all around him. At this point, he is determined to make a change to himself into somebody who would be let into the land of immortality, despite his monkey self. After this, the Monkey King spends his days training, his nights meditating, and forbidding himself of food and water. He achieves the four major disciplines of invulnerability, to fire, to cold, to drowning and to wounds, and continues his new routine in order to achieve more. When he allows himself out of his chamber, he is shocked when he receives a notice saying he is being sentenced with death for trespassing upon Heaven. Although the Monkey King thought he was doing something successful in his training to become somebody he was not, in reality, he was just hurting himself even more. There is a r eason why he is not granted immortality, and his kind is not meant to live the life he was striving for. He attempts to overcome it all and get himself to heaven, being stopped upon the entrance, I created you I say that you are a monkey, therefore, you are a monkey (Yang 69). Shortly following this he is informed, I am Tze-Yo-Tzuh, all that I have created- all of existence- forever remains within the reach of my hand. You I have created. Therefore, you can never escape my reach (Yang 70). Despite the Monkey Kings best efforts to transform himself, he is reminded by his creator what he is meant to do, who he is, and who he is not. Jing Wang enters his new school and is immediately belittled by his teacher and classmates due to his nationality. Nobody takes the chance to get to know Jin and immediately he is categorized by the students as different just because he is Chinese. Because of this, Jin tends to put his culture and nationality to the side and focus on fitting in as a normal American grammar school student. At one point in the beginning of the novel, when Jin is speaking with a woman in the doctors office of his mother, he is asked what he wants to be when he grows up. His response is that he wants to be a transformer, and then continues to tell the woman that his mother thinks his idea is silly. The womans response to him is, Its easy to become anything you wish, so long as youre willing to forfeit your soul (Yang 29). This can also become foreshadowing to the events to follow, as Jin begins to change himself to fit in with the rest of the kids in his school. Jin feels shame in his nationality and turns away from another new Asian student when he tries to befriend him. At first, Jin denies his friendship and tries to act better than Wei-Chen, like the others treated him when he first arrived. Jin wants nothing to do with his culture and feels ashamed to be compared to the new student because