American Born Chinese and Dragon Ball Adam Johnson and Hannah Trumm

American Born Chinese Three separate stories: Monkey, Jin and Chin-Kee Together the stories show the complexity of being an American born Chinese finding identity and culture finding a balance fitting in Audience is young Americans, but the author makes references that only Chinese born Americans would understand

Monkey The story of the Monkey King in ABC is quite different from The Monkey and the Monk Focuses on Monkey Monkey’s struggle to find self-expectance Far fewer characters Monkey’s goals aren’t to become a Buddhist but instead just to find immortality

Religious Elements A main focus in The Monkey and the Monk is on religion, mainly Buddhist and Taoist ideas The religious focus in ABC is on Christian ideas God/Jesus/Moses characteristics can be found in the characters The Lion, the Ox, the Human and the Eagle are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Etc.

Jin Wang The main character in ABC who brings together all three of the stories Fitting in is extremely important to Jin after he moves from China town, to an almost completely white school Seen as foreign although he was born in America Wants to make friends but most of his classmates are racist

Jin Wang and Wei-Chen Although there is a common theme of friendship in ABC, Jin doesn’t notice how important his friendship is with Wei-Chen until he excepted his own identity as Chinese Transformer theme Jin wants to become a white American Wei-Chen turns from monkey to human Monkey transforms from animal to civilized being

Chin-Kee Chin-Kee represents the white American stereotype of Asians Buck-toothed Squinty eyes Chinese clothes Slippers Fighting style Eats cats and dogs Chin-Kee is Monkey in disguise and is important to the book because it over exaggerates the perception of oneself for Jin of his classmates

Chin-Kee Breakfast at Tiffany’s ?v=VrO87ItXoNg ?v=VrO87ItXoNg Sixteen Candles ?v=K3aJ0FVnGzQ&feature=rel ated ?v=K3aJ0FVnGzQ&feature=rel ated

Dragon Ball Comparing Dragon Ball and The Monkey and the Monk: Character development Same character attributes Target audience is kids for Dragon Ball Story line is different

Dragon Ball The seven magic balls are symbolic of the scriptures in The Monkey and the Monk Emphasis is on the journey, every step is important just as in the novel Technology is a hindrance to the journey Makes the story of The Monkey and Monk modern Akihabara – technology district of Tokyo

Dragon Ball vs. ABC Reoccurring theme of race for Jin in ABC for Goku in Dragon Ball Jin wants to be recognized as an American but Goku doesn’t care what other people think Goku follows his animal instincts and acts barbaric Goku doesn’t want to fit in, Jin does Homeland

Team Spirit An important theme in The Monkey and the Monk is team spirit, which isn’t a theme in ABC, but is a prominent theme in Dragon Ball All characters until under a common goal despite drastic differences