American Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. It includes three different storylines. Among them, the life of Jin Jang and his experiences as an Asian in the United States offer some interesting insights into the concept of otherness and racial melancholia. What is peculiar about his life is that even though he was born in the United States (that is, he is a Chinese American), the sense of racial melancholia is strong in him. More than that, no one actually perceives him as an American, and it further affects his social life.
Jin is othered from the first day at school. When he was introduced to the class, the teacher told that Jin and his family just moved from China, even though they have lived in the US for years. Even the fact that his name was pronounced wrong did not make him othered. What contributed to it is the first comment made by one of the classmates that he should eat dogs just like other Chinese do and the reassuring comment of the teacher that his family must have given up this habit once they moved to the US (Yang 30). Later, classmates would bully him and ask him to stay away from their dogs. However, for the most part, Jin would feel unwelcome because the classmates ignored him.
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What is peculiar about Jin is that he demonstrates the signs of racial melancholia. For instance, it can be traced in his thoughts when he first came to school, “scent of our old home still lingering in my clothes” (Yang 30), and this house was located in Chinatown where he was surrounded by other Chinese Americans. However, as he moved into a new environment, he was not willing to preserve his Chinese identity. Instead, he would not speak Chinese when a new boy, Wei-Chen, approached him. Also, he asked him not to behave as if he were in Taiwan because they were in the United States (Yang 89). Instead, he taught his friend some common American phrases so that he would seem American (Yang 102). Jin even fell in love with the American girl, Amelia, when he grew older. Although she went to the cinema with Jin, later he was othered again when Amelia’s friend asked him not to ask her out anymore because she should pay attention who she hangs out with (Yang 179).
Considering Jin’s experiences, he could not accept his otherness and the fact that his peers would not treat him like an American because of his appearances and name. Besides, he could not preserve his friendship with Wei-Chen that might be as well associated with the fact that he was not an American boy. Here, it is essential to recall Jin’s schoolmate, Peter the Eater, whom he considered to be a friend although Peter was nothing but a bully (Yang 35). Returning to the inability to live with the otherness, one night Join decided to forfeit his soul for becoming an ordinary American boy and called himself Danny (Yang 198). Even after turning into an American, he would not accept his Chinese roots. It can be easily traced in his behavior, as Danny is embarrassed by cousin Chin-Kee (Yang 123, 127). This inability to accept the origins can as well be characterized as the manifestation of racial melancholia as explained by Eng and Han because Jin could not live the life as Danny to the fullest, as Chin-Kee came every year to visit him and, instead of trying to preserve the life Danny had, he would change schools and live all of these episodes again.
That being said, racial melancholia persists in the novel because Jin could not accept himself when he moved from Chinatown. However, it can be assumed that it was resolved at the end of the novel when Danny becomes Jin again and reunites with Wei-Chen. This meeting might be the first sign of resolving racial melancholia so that he could finally accept himself the way he is. It is the viable solution for all Asian Americans, and it was offered by Eng and Han advising to accept their otherness and direct effort into assimilation.
- Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. First Second, 2006.
