American Born Chinese

In American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang uses the traditional Chinese Story of the monkey king and applies it into a western comic strip style. Diverting from traditional story telling, he emphasize humor in both the text and the behavior of the characters. The parable seems to relate to the theme of acceptance. Although the monkey is a king amongst his people and has studied to reach the level of immortality, he is not accepted by the others at the dinner party due to him being a monkey, something he can’t change. However, unlike what stereotypically happens, the monkey fights back instead of suffering in silence. At the end the story, the monkey king has noticed his difference and ponders how to change himself. It indicates how many Asians feel that they are different and inferior. Many then tries to change the characteristics of their ethnicity. The biggest example is the eye surgeries undertaken mainly by Asians.