Our
newest book is American Born Chinese by Gene Yang. It has been
interesting so far. I was thrown off at the start of the book with scene about
the monkey king, I was not expecting that. However, I actually ended up
enjoying the scenes with the monkey king. He got so upset that he couldn't get
into the party for not wearing shoes, that he becomes consumed with himself and
making himself not a monkey, and how he calls himself, "the great
sage". Due to this, when he his called into heaven the "God"
character Tze-Yo-Tzuh, buries him under a mountain of rocks. I really liked
this part, and was entertained by it. When it was revealed that the five gold
pillars that the monkey had relieved himself on, were indeed Tze-Yo-Tzuh's
hand, I thought this was brilliant, and was not expecting that at first.
So far,
the main focus of the story has been on Jin, and his life mostly at school. We
have also seen Danny and his cousin Chin-Kee. I have yet to really figure out
where Danny plays into the story, but I am interested to see where he goes. I
have also found Wei-Chen’s character very interesting. I felt bad for him in
the beginning when he first moved and Jin didn’t really want to be his friend.
Jin gets mad at him for not speaking English, as he reminds him he is now in
the United States. I can’t imagine how difficult a transition it is to move to
a new country that speaks an entirely different language from you. Normal every
day functions would be difficult. Watching TV, going to the store, you name it,
that has got to be tough. However, I would bet that it makes learning the new
language happen a little faster, being so quickly immersed into a whole new
culture. I am excited to see where the story goes in American Born Chinese.
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/chinese-immigrants-united-states
I found this book very interesting! I agree with you moving to different country and not knowing the language is probably extremely hard, I like the examples you give such as watching tv, and going out places.
ReplyDeleteI like that this book, while it relates to other books that we have read, it is from a different new perspective. And yeah, it has to be so confusing and frustrating to have to move to a country that is so different- you are just sort of thrown in and told to sink or swim- must be so hard to stay afloat sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI was not expecting the Monkey King in the book either. It threw me off at the start. However, I soon understood the purpose that it was trying to tell. The side-stories in the book have added a lot more to the story and have made the book a lot more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI loved this darn book. The ridiculousness of the monkey kings story line is genius to me and exactly the type of story I enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this book is interesting! I wasn't sure how I felt about the Monkey King in the beginning, but he ended up being my favorite character.
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