Symbolism is one of the greatest literary devices an author can utilize in order to convey a meaningful message that a reader alone cannot perceive without being provided some insight. One symbol that is present within the novel American Born Chinese written by the author Gene Luen Yang is the most well recognized toy of the 1980’s which is the transformer. The transformer present within this book is not just a popular toy that is waiting to be showed off as a trophy by a child, but rather it possesses a more deeper meaning that deserves to be looked into an analytic manner. The significant meaning behind this transformer is that this object is symbolic for Jin’s most basic desire , which is to ultimately transform into something different and something he is not therefore altering his perception in a crucial way. This is proven when Jin responds to the herbalists question by saying he ” wants to become a transformer, a robot in disguise, more than meets the eye ” (Yang 27-28).
Jin wants to transform himself into a regular kid that is accepted by society, but in reality he cannot be normal, since he comes from an immigrant family. At the herbalist shop, he is told “It is easy to become anything you wish so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul” (Yang 29). These words finally encourage Jin to want to transform into a White kid named Danny and this portrays how desperate he is for new change which clearly he isn’t built for nor prepared for. This transformation does not last and the reader can see at one point of the novel that Danny kills Chin-Kee whom is another symbolic character. All this occurs in Jin’s imagination and Chin-Kee represents all the common stereotypes associated with all Asians alike. Chin-Kee is smart, geeky, and represents all the things Jin refuses to be because of his total fixation on becoming a full fledged American who is not ridiculed by the society he is constantly around.. By utilizing symbolism frequently and efficiently, the author illustrates one point which is the ideology that the protagonist Jin is working all he can to murder his self image of being Asian thus showing a theme of violence.
So I like that you focus on the transformer. I will tell you what I told Jefferey, which is that I think focusing on the transformer may be the beginning of the F2 paper if you could do more research on transformer toys in the time period of the story. I think you are dead on about the symbolism of the transformer, but what I will say is that I don’t know that you are using one of the close reading methods of Follow the Trail or the Archaeological Dig. You have the tiny object (not necessarily a device but it can be) but you don’t follow all the different times the transformer shows up and then provide us with a reading of what kind of work the transformer does in the story. Even though you focus on the herbalist scene, you do so b/c you see that moment as articulating your reading of the transformer; you don’t actually do an Archaeological Dig of that moment. So that’s something to think about as you continue to work with this text.