American Born Chinese Impressions

I was intrigued by the reading. I like how the different, seemingly disjointed stories have the same theme running through it: finding a place to belong. Trying to be accepted into the larger part of society by discarding and ignoring the truth about yourself.

The page that most interested me was page 36, in that it parallels Jin's arrival to the class as well (almost panel for panel). I like it because it portrays the subtle misconceptions and prejudices of the class (and probably the small town by extension). But the reason I like page 36 was the final line in the last panel of the page: "something made me want to beat him up".

What does it all mean? One could argue that the "cultural melting pot" is at work here, that Jin has tried his best to conform to the American standard, thus distancing himself from the traits that made him unacceptable to his peers (and that Wei-Chen's arrival was a reminder of that). As inferred by the poem "It's gotta be the cheese", this pasteurization of the class's society sacrifices the flavour of a unique culture entering in its midst by trivializing it with prejudice (and making everything homogenous like processed cheese).

On a multimodal note, the panels and parallels between pages 30 and 36 is very much akin to a repeated stanza in poetry with the subtle changes. Jin replaces the intolerant boy on page 30 in not only spirit but expression as well. It is an interesting way to show that he is now one of the class and that though he knows better he partakes in the distancing of Wei-Chen rather than lending a helping hand to adjust.