Blog Post 6: English 325 Joshua Zaborowski "American Born Chinese"

For American Born Chinese I would have to start off by saying that it was a refreshing read. It was unlike many other readings that I have encountered in a long time. I was most intrigued with how all three mini stories came together at the end. In addition I really enjoyed what this book could bring into a teaching aspect in the classroom. This text shows some great examples of racial stereotype. For example is Jin Wang getting picked on at school because of his racial background. This is a vital part of the text to comprehend because it’s showing firsthand what is occurring in our schools every day. In exposing students to this type of text it will have them be much more understanding when looking to their left or right and seeing someone of a different race. I also really liked how the author played with the theme of identity. Identity in this text played a huge role. I enjoyed how in the first story that the Monkey King got put into his place and ended up realizing his place. This proves a good lesson as well showing that you can’t always get what you want. It shows that something’s just aren’t meant to be. Another key lesson that could be brought into the classroom. Still going off of the whole identity theme, I was intrigued to learn of the disguises that came about throughout the text. I am sure that nobody would have guessed Jin was Danny in disguise, but it was Jin’s way of getting revenge to someone else because of the hardships he faced; was the only conclusion I could come up with. Next I was more caught off guard by the fact that the Monkey King was Chin-Kee. However, after looking back now at the text the fight scene between Danny and Chin-Kee had some give away moments due to Chin-Kee/Monkey Kings extremely talented kung Fu skills. The author had these characters disguised because the disguises were ways for the characters to unleash and let out their inner emotions. This was a creative way to do so in a text and makes for a great analyzing unit for a classroom as well. The last theme that I want to point out is that this text shows a very valuable and popular way in which people in society deal with problems: violence. When stepping back and looking at the whole text almost every single problem is dealt through violence. Was this an intentional doing by the author? Even if not it’s a great point to bring up to students and what their thoughts and feelings about it are. This is a great way to show our youth that violence is not always the answer and doesn’t get the ending result you may want or think you deserve. Overall, I believe this text has a lot to offer and would definitely be a piece of work I would like to include into my classroom. It would be something new and refreshing for the students along with good entertainment. I would rate this story in the A- to A range.