How does American Born Chinese attempt to answer these questions about identity possession for the adolescent first and/or second generation immigrant? Some of the issues surrounding identity formation and immigration that you might explore in relation to characters in American Born Chinese include the following:
How can racial and ethnic stereotypes impact the identity of those on the receiving end of those stereotypes?
How can the historical reality of a particular race in a culture impact the identity of people of that race?
How might the treatment of immigrants in their adopted country impact the identity of these immigrants?
What impact do the changes experienced during adolescence have on identity?
What impacts might internalized racism have on a persons identity?
How might self-hatred due to any or all of the above impact ones identity?
I encourage you to start by prewriting to come up with as many issues related to identity and identity formation that the graphic novel seems to present, and then focus on a few of those and prewrite some more specifically on these issues to see what you can come up with.
Your essay must meet the following criteria:
It must be at least 1,200 words long (longer is okay, as long as all content supports your thesis).
It must be double-spaced, with standard (e.g., Arial) 12-point font.
It must have a clear, persuasive, underlined thesis statement that states your response to the prompt above, in either your introduction or your conclusion.
Each body paragraph must have a clear, unifying, underlined topic sentence.
Your essay must cite your sources according to MLA conventions (both in-text citations and a Works Cited page).
In supporting the thesis, your essay must synthesize at least three different sources that have been provided by me in the form of quotations, paraphrases, and/or direct summary:
You must use American Born Chinese as your primary source, that is, as the focus of your interpretive analysis in your essay.
You must choose from the following for at least two secondary sources (sources that will aid you in your analysis of your primary source):
Belonging and Identity for the Children of Immigrants
Internalized Racialism (you’ll need your library card/barcode number to access this Research Databases resource off-campus)
The Malleable Yet Undying Nature of the Yellow Peril (student essay)
Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States
More Than Meets The “I”: Chinese Transnationality in Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese
If you wish to conduct your own research and use a source other than/in addition to those listed above under #2, you must obtain permission from me to use that source at least a week before your relevant deadline (Group 1 or Group 2). We have not yet gone over information literacy, so I do not want you conducting research for this essay. And once again, do not, under any circumstances, read basic summary and analysis websites over this or any other story; consider sites like gradesaver.com, cliffsnotes.com, sparknotes.com, or the like to be off limits. Use the sources I provide in order to help you understand the book more clearly and at a deeper level than you may have otherwise.
Please consider spending time prewriting and then organizing your ideas into an outline before you start drafting. (If you do so, make sure you include your prewriting and outline for extra credit!)
Google Drive Paper 2 sub-folder: Make sure all of your work for this essay, from your prewriting to your outline to your rough draft, final draft, and revision (the last only if you make the Group 1 deadline) reside within this subfolder, which must be located in your ENG 132 Course Folder.
Extra Credit: If you are turning in your Writing Process materials for up to two percentage points extra credit each, you may submit each of the following as a separate document in your Paper 2 sub-folder:
Prewriting
Formal Outline (see the Constructing a Formal Outline Page)
Rough Draft
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