Shoes and Hair Symbol Analysis

Both shoes and hair represent the folly of trying to be something other than one’s true identity. The Monkey King’s edict that all monkeys on Flower-Fruit Mountain must wear shoes represents his own desire to be more human—that is, his desire to be something he’s not, but something that he considers to be superior. In Jin’s parallel story, his white classmate Greg’s curly hair represents much the same thing: it will, in his mind, make him appear more white and less Chinese, and therefore more appealing to his crush, Amelia. In this sense, both shoes and hair represent a distillation of an entire culture or state of being into one single quality or element, something the novel suggests is misguided and ineffective at turning someone into something they’re not. The Monkey King and his fellow monkeys still look like monkeys, just ones that wear shoes, while Jin’s permed hair doesn’t stop Greg from insisting that Jin shouldn’t date Amelia for racist reasons.

This doesn’t mean, however, that the shoes and hair don’t still feel empowering to the Monkey King and Jin—the addition of shoes to the Monkey King’s wardrobe are the first step of his transformation to becoming Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, while Jin’s confidence as he dates Amelia and considers standing up to Greg’s bullying manifests visually as crackling lightning coming from his hair. However, that Jin and the Monkey King must abandon their shoes and hairdo, respectively, speaks to the futility and ineffectiveness of trying to be something they’re not—as do the reactions of those who encounter the shoes and Jin’s perm with confusion or laughter.