American Born Indian

Cover of American Born Chinese

By suggestion, I read a relatively new graphic novel called American Born Chinese.  The graphic novel is split into three different stories: a monkey god, a Asian American named Jin, and a Caucasian teenager named Danny.  Ultimately, the three stories intertwine and the message from the novel is very powerful. 

There may be some spoilers ahead so if you want to read the book please read it first and then come back to this.  It's a graphic novel that only takes about two hours to read.

Before reading the book, I did not know what to expect.  And even while reading the book I did not really understand what the point of the book was, until the very end.  What I did absorb while reading the book was information about Chinese culture and how that culture fits (or does not fit) into the American culture. 

Panel from American Born Chinese
with stereotyped deities

Many images in this novel are drawn to stereotype Chinese culture.  The pages that tell the story of the monkey god depict other Chinese deities and these deities are clothed in stereotypical clothing and have the stereotypical facial features.  The buildings are drawn with a very stereotypical Chinese architecture.  The artwork throughout the book is very abstracted, so it is fitting that stereotypes fill the pages.  These pictures are maybe not the best to learn from because they are very stereotypical, they still expose readers to the culture.

Sun Wukong

Another aspect of Chinese culture present in the book is the telling of the story of the Monkey King.  The story of the Monkey King is actually a real Chinese epic novel (Initially I though the author of American Born Chinese created a tale of his own).  The story of the Monkey King (formally known as Sun Wukong), is told pretty accurately we learn a lot about Chinese culture from this story.  There are Taoist and Buddhist ideals embedded in the tale.

Jin transforming into Danny

The cultural aspect of the novel that was of most interest to me was the struggle the main character, Jin, has with his identity.  Being the only Asian Americans at his school, he initially felt uncomfortable and lonely.  When another Asian American student, Wei-Chen, came to Jin's school, Jin was able to make a friend.  However, Jin continued to struggle with his cultural identity when he starts having a crush on his Caucasian classmate and his friend Wei-Chen gets a girl friend.  Jin gets a little jealous that his f.o.b (fresh of the boat) friend is able to date some female.  Jin's struggle eventually leads him to wish that he could become white, and his wish comes true.  Jin is then known as Danny.

Danny angry at Chin-Kee

However, even after the transformation his Chinese background comes to haunt Danny.  Danny's cousin, Chin-Kee, who lives in China, comes to visit Jin's family every year.  Chin-Kee is depicted as a yellow-skinned, buck-toothed, chinky-eyed, Chinese.  Chin-Kee embarrasses Danny at school, and Danny feels like it affects his social relations at his school.  Jin's anger builds up so much that he eventually fights Chin-Kee.  (Not surprisingly, Chin-Kee pulls out crazy kung-fu moves and pummels Dany). 

There is a interesting twist in that end that I will not spoil, but ultimately this story is about coming to terms with your cultural background and accepting yourself as who you are.  This is something multicultural people struggle with when growing up.  This includes first-generation Americans, American citizens whose parents were born in a foreign country.  I fit that category, so I was able to really connect with this graphic novel.

I think it is very important for Americans to be aware of this struggle that many multicultural people face.  This is especially prevalent during the younger ages when people are judgmental and are sometimes meaner.  There are always going to be cultural differences, but the more we are exposed to the differences, the more accepting our society will be as a whole. 

A website dedicated to teaching with graphic novels has an interesting review on American Born Chinese that discusses specifics on how the novel can be used in a classroom.

My Childhood

A collection of Amar Chitra Katha comics

If there is one thing that I remember from my childhood it is reading Amar Chitra Katha comics.  Throughout my childhood, my parents bought me dozens on these comics and I would read them over and over again.  Why did I love them so much?  They were easy to read and funny.  I was fascinated by all the different gods and goddesses and their heroic tales.  On top of that, they taught me about Indian culture-- my culture.  Being born and raised in North America, I did not have that much exposure to my heritage and its culture. 

Cover of the Krishna comic

There was one specific comic series that I loved the most-- the series about Krishna.  Krisha's comics told stories about how he continually triumphed over evil and always remained righteous. I admired that.  Krishna had a razor discus that he would throw at wrongdoers to sever their heads.  I was inspired to make my own discus out of cardboard and throw it around the house.  Krishna offered me the same role model as Superman or Batman would to other children.

A page from a Jataka Tales comic

Other Amar Chitra Katha comics that I read taught me various additional lessons.  A series of Amar Chitra Katha comics called Jataka Tales has short anecdotes about wise men who use honesty and wit to earn respect from their peers.  These stories definitely instilled moral and ethical values in me from a very young age. 

And I wasn't the only one.

Karline McLain, a professor at Indiana University, conducted a lot of research on Amar Chitra Katha comics and assembled his research into a book called India's Immortal Comic Books.  He interviewed a lot of people about their experience reading Amar Chitra Katha comics and what they learned from the comics.  His findings showed that most people who read Amar Chitra Katha comics found them to be great tools for learning about Indian culture at a young age.

One person who was interviewed stated that after reading the comics for years, he had Indian mythology embedded within himself.  Another Canadian Indian used these comics to teach his Brazilian girlfriend about his culture and she was impressed and fascinated by reading the comics.  Yet another person, an American born Indian, asserted that she relied exclusively on Amar Chitra Katha comics to learn about Hinduism and Indian culture. 

This makes sense when we look at the creator of Amar Chitra Katha comics-- Anant Pai.  The story goes that he was watching an Indian television show in which a boy was correctly answering questions on Greek mythology, but could not answer questions on Hindu mythology.  He then set out to write comics to educate youngsters about Hindu mythology in a way that would be easy for them to understand. 

With there being so few Indians in America (about 3 million) the Indian culture is still very foreign to this country.  Amar Chitra Katha comics can help enrich in exposing them to another culture in a very easy and fun way: reading comics.  Amar Chitra Katha comics have similarities to American comics in that in both comics, the heroes portray the characteristics of a ideal hero:  bravery, integrity, justice, and more. 

Next time we will take a look at American Born Chinese, a graphic novel about a Chinese American who struggles with his identity.  This relatively new and creative piece of work illustrates another comic book or graphic novels can be used to spread cultural awareness.

A New Way to Learn

Can you identify these characters?  I think it is safe to say that most people would be able to identify these characters.  All of these pictures depict heroes of historically popular comic books.  The older generations grew up with these superheroes, and the younger generations continue to idolize them.  Almost everyone has read a comic, whether it be from comic books themselves, or the comics that appear in the Sunday newspaper.  I remember my favorite time of the weekend was Sunday mornings when I got to read Garfield.

There is now a push to use comics as an educational tool for children of all ages.  Yes, the comics that we read as children, and maybe continue to read, have legitimate educational value.  How so?  For one, super heroes in comics give young people confidence and act as good role models.  Super heroes usually embody justice, honesty, courageousness, and bravery.  Super heroes struggle through adversity and make sacrifices to ultimately conquer evil.  Remember how Superman was one of the only survivors from Krypton and decided to use his super powers to help another planet?  Remember the family problems the Fantastic Four had to deal with?  Superheroes remain resilient, and this is something that young people should aspire to be as well.  We can all remember being young and impressionable.  We all wanted some sort of super power.  Pretending to be super heroes gave us a sense of confidence.

Reading comics can also be relatively easy and this in turn can help kids better engage in literature in the future.  Personally, getting through a comic book is much easier than getting through a textbook.  If that's not the case for you than props to you.  Research found that middle school students who were avid comic book readers were also avid novel readers, regardless of the students backgrounds.  In this day and age of computers and cell-phones, this is important!

Adding to their educational value, comics can help teach children about societal issues.  Captain America is a comic written to depict America's role in fighting the Axis powers during World War II.  Readers of Captain America could learn a thing or two about World War II. 

Cover of Maus

Art Spiegalman's Maus can help teach children about the Holocaust.  (Maus is a graphic novel, not a comic book, but the artistic styles are very similar and graphic novels are still easier to get through than textbooks).  Hearing's Spiegalman's father's story offers a much different perspective on the Holocaust.  Maus definitely touched me.

Finally, comics can educate readers on different culture.  Some of the earlier comics were written in the 1940's when  America was experiencing a lot of social change.  This lead to patriotic comics, with heroes such as Superman and Wonder Women to wear patriotically colored outfits. 

Comics can educate readers on other cultures as well.  Manga is a Japanese form of literature that is very similar to comic books.  Manga is very popular in American and have exposed people of all ages to Japanese culture.  There is also a large series of Indian comics called Amar Chitra Katha that have comics about Hindu gods and goddesses as well as prominent Indian figures.  Since it is easy for young people to read comics, they serve as a good method to educate readers on other cultures. 

Thanks for reading, and next time look forward to a discussion on the cultural aspect of comic books.