American Born Chinese Analysis

Isolation from others can cause individuals to feel lonely and torn. This isolation will cause them to feel outcast from the world while makes them work hard for what makes them happy. Gene Yang makes us feel this throughout the novel. In the beginning of American Born Chinese, Jin is on the playground when some kid comes up to him and makes stereotypical insults. “Come on. Let’s leave buck tooth alone so he can enjoy lassie” then the kids walk away smiling. (Yang 33). In this case, Yang uses stereotypical remarks to show that the kids didn’t like hanging out with Jin because of his race. This discrimination causes Jin to push away from the crowd, which only made Jin feel lonely. Whereas, the author of Linh Lai shows that race isn’t the only way to feel isolated from others.
Every time someone talks to Linh Lai, it was a difficult task to receive an answer from her and instead of a spoken answer “she nods” (Rosenblum 3). This element adds up to her feeling isolated causing her to struggle to find her true self. This feeling is also carried into the story “Tapka” by David Bezmogis, he shows this through the character of Rita, the owner of the dog Tapka. Rita feels that the dog was the only happiness she every had, she is frustrated with the newness of everything, “new. Everything we have now is new. New everything” (Bezmogis). David shows us that she feels isolated and lonely while Tapka serves to characterize her as being really homesick. These characters show the audience that they do not mix well with the