Discussion Questions: American Born
Chinese
Small Group Work for Everyone (using handouts)
1.
In
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud points
out that “participation is a powerful force in any medium” and that viewers “use
their imaginations” when reading comics, especially when filling in the gutters
between panels (68-69). Find at least one gutter in American Born Chinese that lends itself to multiple interpretations
and discuss some of these potential interpretations.
2.
On
pages 70-72 of Understanding Comics,
McCloud theorizes six different types of transitions that can occur between
panels. See how many of these you can find in what we have read of American Born Chinese so far.
Small Group Work for Individual Groups
1.
How
does the Monkey King’s relationship with his subjects change in this section?
His relationship with the other deities?
2.
Consider
the Monkey King’s interactions with Tze-Yo-Tzuh. What is the Monkey King’s “tragic
flaw”? To what extent do you think he got what he deserved?
3.
Jin
is now in seventh grade. How do we see his relationship with gender and
attraction developing? How does this influence his ideas about himself?
4.
Where
do you see instances of racism, either external or internal, in Jin’s storyline
for this section?
5.
How
does Yang develop Wei-Chen’s character in this section?
6.
Comment
on the relationship between Jin and Greg. How does Greg affect Jin?
7.
Consider
the behavior of Chin-Kee in this section. How does Yang develop ideas about
stereotypes and racism through Chin-Kee’s skills and actions? Take into account
both text and image in your reading.
8.
How
is Danny’s character developed in this section, especially with regard to
attraction and friendship?
9.
Appearance
is a theme in all three storylines for today. What commonalities do you see
between the Monkey King, Jin, and Danny’s concerns about appearance?
Class Discussion
1.
Anne Shirley, the narrator of A Maze Me, and Jin are all in middle
school for some portion of their respective texts. How are their experiences similar?
How are they dissimilar?
2.
How
do Anne, the narrator of A Maze Me,
and the characters in American Born
Chinese differ in their attitudes toward authority figures?
3.
Both
Anne of Green Gables and American Born Chinese deal with themes
of conformity and rebellion. In what ways do protagonists conform? In what ways
do they rebel? Do they share any motivations in their acts of rebellion and/or
conformity?
In Class Discussion Question 1 I think that the texts are similar in the sense of both protagonists having a crush during their middle school years. In the text A Maze Me, her poem Eye is an example of how she admires her crush from a far wondering if he knows of her existence. Jin can relate to this in the top panel of page 88 he wondered why she had so much power over him without even knowing it, whenever she was around he would become extremely nervous. The texts also can relate through bullying by their peers. In A Maze Me the poem Changed highlights how mean things were said to her but that her peers did not see it as mean or that it would effect her. This same concept of peers being unaware of their actions is also in the text with Jin as he is bullied when he first arrives to America. The texts are also dissimilar, in that Anne only briefly mentions her crush in a couple of poems and there is no actual interaction between her and her crush. Jin eventually musters up the courage to ask his crush on a date involving a face to face interaction. Even though the styles of writing are very different we can see in both texts how their middle school experiences involve a lot of emotions and how this is a very sensitive time period in young adult's lives.
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