Thursday, March 29, 2007
Analysis of American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
Gene Yang employs several literary techniques to enrich his writing. The most obvious method used in his writing is the bold face type he uses within his text boxes. He choses to make some words bold within a sentence in order to put more emphasis on them and signify the importance they have to the story. He also utilizes several conventional techniques associated with the graphic novel/comic book genre. Yang places the text boxes in stragetic places on the page in order to prompt the reader's eyes to follow the correct order of the text boxes and move in the right direction as they read. Another traditional technique used in almost every graphic novel is the abundance of onomatopoeias in action sequences. I found it interesting that Yang chose to use chinese characters when the Monkey King is demonstrating the four heavenly discplines, "fist-like-lightning", "thunderous foot", and "cloud-as-stead". I think he did this to imply the eastern tradition of martial arts and to suggest that these chinese characters are more mystical and powerful than english words, and therefore must be used in order to conjure these ancient powers. Yang also incorporates symbolism in his work in order to give it a deeper meaning and make a comment on society and humanity. On the final page of the first chapter (p20) the symbol of the Monkey King is finaly made clear. The Monkey King symbolizes a chinese person in a new environment where they are obviously different than the other people living there. The Monkey King doesn't think there is anything wrong with him and is confident in who he is until he goes to the dinner party of the gods. It is only when the gods point out his differences and say that he is inferior because of these differences that the Monkey King begins to hate himself for being a monkey. The idea of the Monkey King dispising his own smell of monkey fur can relate to an Asian person hating the traits that make them different; be it their straight black hair, single eyelids or any other Asian physical characteristic.
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5 comments:
I feel that your analysis was right on with the techniques he utilized. however, it would've been more helpful had you knew the background of the story. What the comic book does is that it recreates an old story for a younger audience using western comic strip style. furthermore, the extrapolation of the story into current society is very accurate as the story points to the problems facing Asian Americans.
Through the illustration of the monkey king, I too found that Gene Luen yang is alluding to the experience of many asian Americans. Just as the monkey king is excluded from the dinner party, Asian Americans are excluded from many things. It is interesting that you pointed out Gene Luen yang's method of bolding words that he places an emphasis on. One sentence i found interesting in particular is the top right box on page 15. the guard states, "Look you may be a king- you may even be a deity- but still you are a monkey." In this line, Yang bolds the words- king, deity, and monkey. He places emphasis that the monkey king has the same qualifications as a deity and a king, while pointing out his difference as a monkey.
For some, textual analysis can mean analyzing only the content of the story. Looking at the physical elements of the comic strip in relation to telling the story is interesting and pracitcal: why use comic strip form in the first place? The onomatopoeia in Yang's story serves a dual purpose: it creates the comic book feel while exaggerating the consequences of the Monkey King's anger. Yang takes advantage of being able to physically alter the appearance of certain words to prove a point. This creates a more action filled, in the moment context for his story, making his story enjoyable and quite easy to read, while still conveying his message.
Gene Yang captures the internal cultural tensions of an American Born Chinese very well through his clever re-telling of the original Monkey King story through textual devices. As Curtis has stated, "Yang chose to use chinese characters when the Monkey King is demonstrating the four heavenly discplines, "fist-like-lightning", "thunderous foot", and "cloud-as-stead"... to suggest that these chinese characters are more mystical and powerful than english words, and therefore must be used in order to conjure these ancient powers."
While these are only words, I believe Gene Yang was also trying to contrast the Monkey King's initial attitude towards his cultural identity before his arrival in a foreign environment.
Thus, the use of Chinese words do more than just "conjure... [Eastern] ancient powers," but they also represent the Monkey King's internal attitude.
Understanding this device being used as a foil by the author therefore further accentuates Curtis' analysis of "the Monkey King dispising his own smell of monkey fur can relate to an Asian person hating the traits that make them different."
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