“American Born Chinese,” demonstrates many Asian American stereotypes that today’s society withholds, and shows examples of real-life situations where these stereotypes come into play. In the beginning, they won’t let the Monkey King into the party since he’s not wearing shoes. It’s ironic that all of the other monkeys (in other words people of the same race as he is) regard him highly, yet he isn’t allowed into the party for something as simple as not wearing shoes. The man at the door even says,” You may be a king..but you’re still a monkey.” The simple fact is they don’t want him there because he’s different. This relates to the way that some people stereotype against the Asians. When the monkey returned home “the thick smell of monkey fur greeted him.” A negative connotation can be seen here as if he is embarrassed about his ethnicity. He never noticed it before that incident and he wants to get rid of it parallels with some Asian Americans being uncomfortable with their heritage and wanting to totally assimilate with American culture.
Some stereotypes/incidences mocking Asian culture that occur in the novel are the Asian parents met in a library and live near Chinatown, a Chinese herbalist, Jin’s name is butchered by the teacher, the teacher assumes Jin moved from China, kids say Chinese people eat dogs, and kids in Jin’s class think the two Asian students are arranged to be married. When Wei Chen arrives he is called bucktooth, his name is butchered, and the teacher says he is from China, but he’s from Taiwan. It is funny how initially Jin and Wei Chen don’t want to be associated with each other. One would think that because they are both Asian and new to the class they would at least try to be friends.
The monkey doesn’t want to be known as a monkey anymore, so after he mastered the 12 disciplines of Kung Fu, he became the Great Sage equal of Heaven. He is trying to rid himself of his race and his monkey (cultural heritage), just like some Asian Americans do today. It is one thing to try and fit in with your piers, but it is another thing to entirely disown and disassociate yourself with your background and people that are culturally like you. When the god-like figure calls the monkey a monkey, he disagrees, when his outer appearance shows otherwise. The book then goes as far as having the monkey pee on the one pillar on the page that has some type of Asian writing on it.
Jin thinks that he should change the way he looks by making his hair more puffy like Greg’s in order to attract a white girl he likes. It’s as if he assumes she won’t like him due to his heritage. Danny’s girlfriend says she doesn’t want to be with him, so he assumes it’s because of his Asian cousin, which isn’t the case at all. Greg asks Jin to stay away from the girl he likes, Jin says yes, but imagines himself punching Greg, which demonstrates that he wants to be accepted by Greg, and feels empowered by him. The girl gets called a Chink, and says she feels like that all of the time shows that she is being brought down by stereotyping. Chink is such a degrading word to her culture, and she should instead be fighting back. After Jin and Wei-Chen have a falling out, they see each other again and agree to get bubble tea, which shows that they are coming to terms with their cultural background.
