November 18, 2013
This is the last assigned book that I'll be reading for my YA course. I am actually in the middle of the last actual book that I'll have to read for it at all, my fourth "choice" text, but I've been busy and haven't been able to proceed. I don't have to have it finished for another two weeks or so yet, and fortunately, this book, which I need to be ready to discuss tomorrow, probably took me about one non-consecutive hour to finish. My second graphic novel this year, and I found that this one also, though brief, contained a complex and interesting story.
The book is actually three stories in one, and they all combine all the end in a way that is fantastically symbolic. The first story is about a boy whose parents were Chinese immigrants who met as American students, marrying and settling in San Francisco. When Jin's family moved away, he was the only Chinese student at his new school (there was another girl, Japanese). He always stood out for being Chinese, even though he was American through and through. Still, his only good friend in junior high was a kid from Taiwan. Jin has a crush on a girl named Amelia, who is popular but seems to like him back. Though his date with her is typically awkward for junior high kids on a date, Jin is mortified when one of Amelia's popular guy friends, a supposed "nice guy," asks him not to date Amelia anymore, basically because he is unpopular (somewhat because he's a bit of a dork, but mostly because he's not white). The "nice guy" turns out to be an even bigger prick than his racist friends. Jin can't muster up the courage to ask Amelia out again, or to tell the guy off, so instead he awkwardly kisses his best friend's girl friend, alienating his friend in the process.
A sad but seemingly ordinary story. Another part of the story revolves around the legend of the Monkey King. The Monkey King is a very well-known story in China. I learned quite a bit about it when I visited there and attended a university lecture (in English for us, of course), so I could remember back to some of the references, like his mastery of the disciplines or his journey to the west. Yang, whose color graphics are nothing short of delightful, includes some jokes with the Monkey King story, which is appropriate, because the Monkey King story is known for being light-hearted. There's also a message in there about being true to yourself (accepting the fact, for example, that you are a monkey, though that does not mean that you don't have a special destiny), and accepting help when you need it, and not being overly prideful. These lessons seem to relate well to Jin, who, after the fight with Wei-Chen, "turns white" (meant to represent the fact that as he enters high school, he works diligently to shed his Asian identity and assimilate to his peer as much as possible)...in the story, he literally turns into "Danny," the third main character of the book.
In Danny's story, he's an ordinary white guy in high school. For some inexplicable reason, he has a Chinese cousin who comes to visit him every year. This cousin is the personification of every bad stereotype about Chinese people that has every existed in American popular culture: the buck teeth, the replacement of "l's" with "r's" and vice-versa, actually going pee-pee in somebody's Coke. The cousin's name is Chin-Kee (chinky, get it?...awful). Danny's story is written as a sort of sitcom, which a "laugh-track" below the panels. The audience loves Chin-Kee, he's a real hoot, and it's true that terrible Asian stereotypes are still depicted in popular culture today. Urg...America is still extremely racist. This is basically something that the students that I work with have come to a consensus on, after we've already had so many discussions about our country's shamefully racist history. Obviously, for Jin, Chin-Kee represents how people have always viewed him, just for the fact that his parents are from China.
So the three stories collide when it's revealed that "Danny" is Jin. Chin-Kee turns into the Monkey King, who teaches Jin some important lessons about his identity. He encourages Jin to make up with Wei-Chen, who has become another Chinese-American stereotype (think: flashy fast car, neon lights, spiked hair, shades at night). There's also this legend of how Wei-Chen is the Monkey King's own son (the Monkey King being a deity, of course)...again, fantastic and symbolic. The story ends on a positive note as the two boys rekindle their friendship, and bond over their common heritage as they assess the quality of the pearl tea that they are drinking.
The more I reflect on this brief read, the more I appreciate it. If I have the chance to get my hands on enough copies, I would definitely use this book in my own, current classroom. I have to be careful about the sort of books that I use with my students, and there are some limits in availability, but this is a book that I feel any student could appreciate, and the messages are important. This sort of book could open up a real discussion about race among kids, since the characters themselves are kids and teens (and monkey kings). I'd heard good things about this book, as it's been out for several years now, but I am absolutely enamored. That's score two for graphic novels, so I'm definitely going to be on the look out for some more to add to my list. I'm looking forward to having a whole week off for Thanksgiving, so I plan to get in as much reading time as possible!
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This is Chin-Kee.
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