The third story in the book, American Born Chinese, written by Gene Luen Yang, is focused primarily on the character Danny and his cousin Chin-Kee. The story starts out and continues to hold a bold perspective and is written with no holding back. To start, the visuals of the colors, the words, and the bolder and larger print of the text captivate the message that the author is trying to get across. This message is enhanced through the extreme dramatization of the stereotype of Chin-Kee. The point that the author is trying to get across in a somewhat comedic way is that the Asian stereotype is a ridiculous one to buy into. The character Chin-Kee offers a huge and ridiculous personality to make fun of the people who may actually believe the stereotype of what Asian culture is truly like.
Yang writes Chin-Kee's character in a dramatic way showing how he continuously says English words wrong, speaks them loudly, is embarrassing to be around, but also someone who always raises their hand in class because they are smart (110-111). It is embedded into the prejudices of the United States that Asian people resemble some degree of these characteristics, even if a person has never been around someone of that culture. During class, we looked at slides that presented racial comics, which showed the dramatization of Asian cultures. These views are to ultimately sway people into believing that people of different cultures are not like a "typical American". The attributes on these old comics depict Asians as people with sinister looking faces, long hair, a different face shape, different skin, and a dramatic increase in non-human features. The goal of these old comics are to increase prejudice against Asians living in America. However, this always concludes to being beyond invalid because there is no typical American and every human has equal inherent rights.
Yang reflects Chin-Kee's character off of the racist comics to exemplify how wrong they are. Chin-Kee's character is meant to make readers cringe because he represents all the overdone stereotypes that people still think about Asian Americans. Chin-Kee also whips out some taekwondo in a dramatic display to Danny to further exaggerate the culture that many people want to perceive as non-American (206-207). Overall, Chin-Kee's character is a noticeable call to people to think about what they see as true and to reflect on their own views of common stereotypes.
I agree that Chin-Kee was created as a character to point out how American people stereotype Asian Americans, or just those of Asian culture, as a whole. He is seen as a ridiculous character, to bring attention to how ridiculous the stereotypes are that society has. When these stereotypes are put on paper in this way, it is embarrassing to read and to think that others actually view individuals in this way. While this is one purpose Chin-Kee serves, I also think he serves another just as important purpose that is more prevalent to the overall theme of the novel. He so exuberantly displays his culture in a way to characters such as Jin/Danny that it allows them to understand that there is nothing wrong with completely owning who you are. He shows that he is content with himself and his differences, and does not hide away from them, but displays them with no shame. He serves as an example to others who hide from their identity that a life hiding from who one truly is, is not a life worth living when it brings about unnecessary guilt and anger like it does for the characters in the book.
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