Pride, Stubbornness, and Humility Theme Analysis

One important result of the transformations that Jin and the Monkey King undergo is that both of them, after becoming who they think they want to be (white in Jin’s case, and more human in the Monkey King’s case) is that both of them double down on the persona they create for themselves, even when they encounter a great deal of resistance to their new personas. Practically, this means that the Monkey King and Jin learn that they must violently or rudely defend their choices and their new identities, rather than accept the possibility that those transformations may not have been a great idea in the first place. A major part of both of their journeys therefore entails learning to let go of the desire to be right, as the novel suggests that being humble is the only fulfilling way to go through life: relying on pride and stubbornness, and the violence they cause, only serves to distance a person from their peers, resulting in isolation and even more violence and anger.

American Born Chinese makes it clear that a person becoming prideful, stubborn, and unwilling to listen to others sets off a cycle that is then difficult to escape from. In both the cases of the Monkey King and of Jin, they’re reasonably happy and fulfilled individuals until they encounter experiences in which they’re made to feel small and unworthy. Being made to feel this way, in turn, causes the Monkey King to turn to kung-fu in earnest and Jin to dedicate himself to becoming as white as he can possibly make himself, all with the goal of stubbornly proving their bullies’ prejudices to be wrong. While the bullying that the Monkey King and Jin experience is certainly real and horrible, it’s also important to recognize that as much as Jin and the Monkey King want to punish or humiliate their bullies, it’s not the bullies that suffer as a result of these attempts—it’s the Monkey King and Jin themselves. In this sense, all the Monkey King and Jin do by doubling down on their attempts to be more human or more white, respectively, is alienate themselves even further from individuals who might be willing and able to help them, from the Monkey King’s monkey subjects (who are disturbed by their king’s transformation) and the deity Tze-Yo-Tzuh in the Monkey King’s story to Wei-Chen in Jin’s story. Their lives don’t get any easier, just lonelier—and neither the residents of Heaven nor Jin’s classmates feel compelled to apologize or repent for their bad behavior.

As the stories of Jin and the Monkey King converge, the novel suggests that once someone finds oneself in a cycle of constantly needing to prove oneself, it’s impossible to escape it by continuing stubbornly along the same path. Rather, the only way forward is to apologize and attempt to develop a sense of humility—ideally, as part of an attempt to help someone else in some way. The Monkey King does this when he’s forced to remember his generous and kind nature: as much as he blusters and insults the monk Wong Lai-Tsao for asking for his help, he can’t stand the thought of Wong Lai-Tsao being eaten by demons or getting the last word on the matter of the Monkey King’s identity. Therefore, the Monkey King feels as though he must reassume his true form as a monkey and harness the kung-fu powers that allowed him to assume a more human form to instead help others. While the Monkey King later gives Danny (Jin’s white alter ego) no choice but to become Jin again, Jin similarly chooses to let go of Danny and all of the pride, violence, and stubbornness inherent to that persona so that he can help Wei-Chen undergo a similar transformation and remember who he is: a monkey in disguise and an emissary for Tze-Yo-Tzuh, not the materialistic bad-boy he becomes as a teenager.

Importantly, the Monkey King and Jin’s shifts from violence and stubbornness to a state of humility represent a reorientation toward individuals who genuinely care about who the Monkey King and Jin truly are—that is, people who can help Jin and the Monkey King develop stronger, more meaningful communities in their respective worlds that simply don’t have room for the bullies. Through this, American Born Chinese suggests that being humble, generous, and helpful to others doesn’t just make someone a better person morally: it sets them up to find community and camaraderie, and in doing so, paves the way for bringing others to this better way of life.