Jeff's+Big+Answers

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 I think that American Born Chinese was chosen for these awards for many reasons. For one, it tells important lessons about stereotypes. It is also written in a very interesting way, with the three plots alternating and finally coming together at the end. To complement that, it has great graphical representations. I would have definitely chosen this book for the awards because it really gets the feeling across. I felt that this book was very well written and worthy of the awards.


 I have read graphic novels in the past. American Born Chinese was different because it was more trying to tell a story and get a point across than to entertain graphically. However, I did find the drawings interesting. I liked how lightning bolts were used to show emotions. That tactic was very effective in showing how Jin and the Monkey King felt. You could tell when there were more lightning bolts, the character was angry, and when there were less, he was just excited. I think that the graphic part of the book was really helpful to my enjoyment story.


 I did find the graphic novel an effective way for Yang to tell his story. I thought that many of the illustrations expressed ideas that could not be expressed in words. If the story had not been a graphic novel, it would have been much harder for Yang to depict these stories, especially the Monkey King with all his powers. The graphic novel was the right medium for this story; Yang made a good choice.


 I myself have not experienced this, but the leader of the Young Friends program I go to has. He often tells stories about this to give examples, one particularly memorable one being a funny story from someone's childhood that turned out to actually be a case of child abuse. This practice of using humor to explain experiences that are painful is very effective, because humorous stories tend to make more of an impact on people, and when someone realizes that the funny story is actually not funny, it will be so much more important to them. I think that this is a very useful method of telling painful experiences.


 The main lesson that can be learned from this story is that one should not try to fit in at the cost of their integrity; instead, they should just be themselves. This is shown very prominently in each of the stories, and at the end, all of the characters realize this. They had all been trying really hard to fit in, and succeding to some extent, but there had always been something stopping them. When they realized this, they just tried to be themselves, which worked. This is a very important lesson.


 I like how Yang uses a sitcom to tell Chin-Kee's story. It kind of goes back to using humor to tell painful stories. It also puts this strange story in a well know format to make it easier to understand. It also differentiated this story from the others. Overall, I do think that this was a very effective way of telling this story.


<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 90%;"> Jin experiences this in a slightly different way. When he turns into Danny, it seems like everything is just fine. However, Chin-Kee keeps visiting him and ruining his life, thus "trapping" him under his own proverbial mountain of rocks. When he realizes how good it is to be himself, he reverts back to Jin and his life suddenly get better.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 90%;"> Born Chinese "transform" themselves for American society? Do you "transform" yourselves? Why?
Jin transforms himself by becoming Danny. The Monkey King uses shape shift to become a human. I try not to transform myself because when I do, it is hard for me. Unfortunately, I sometimes slip up and transform myself into something I do not want to be, which takes a while to get out of. I just like being myself.