American Born Chinese Themes: Shame, Identity, and Boxes

Now that you have read over half of American Born Chinese, you should be able to see themes emerging in all three different story lines within the graphic novel. Your assignment is to name one of those emerging themes and explain, using specific examples from the text, how you see each of the three story lines developing and extending that theme. Your post should be at least six sentences long. If you are unsure of the definition of "theme," consult your literary term glossary at the back of Social Justice.

Remember--read the post, and then click on the word "comments" just below that post. After you have written your post, add your first name, then "Doyle," then your period (so, Wonder Woman, Doyle 1-2). Then, select "Anonymous" for your identity and click "publish your comment."

You may comment upon your classmates responses, but be sure to do so respectfully. Remember to write your answer in complete sentence and avoid "IM"-speak.

Escaping Our Boxes

We have spent the past two weeks discussing questions surrounding identity. As part of those discussions, we you have read several stories, listened to music, performed poetry, written in journals, and created identity collages to express your own unique cultural identifiers. We have also discussed various examples of "the box," which is a metaphor for any obstacles or barriers that might isolate, frustrate, enclose, or sometimes protect someone from a larger world.

Think back over everything we have read so far for this unit ("Theme for English B," "American History," "Sylvia's Story" from National Public Radio, "Alone and All Together," and "Crickets"). Your task now is to write and post a comment in this forum in which you describe a connection between at least TWO of these works, focusing on the role of "the box." Think about how different characters face similar or different challenges. Think about similarities or differences in the kinds of disguises characters wear. Do you think these characters will escape from their boxes? What kinds of factors put characters and/or people in boxes? Are the "boxes" constructed by society (for example, by stereotypes), or do families and individuals create their own boxes?

When you have made a connection between at least two works, write a post describing that connection. Make sure to mention specific characters/narrators, and to be clear about how the "boxes" they experience are similar. Your post should be in the form of a well-developed paragraph with a topic sentence and evidence, examples, and text references. You should feel free to respond to your classmates' posts, as well as to ask your classmates questions.

*** Remember to use your first name and "Doyle period ___" when you sign your post. Also, if you choose to respond to what another classmate wrote, please do so in a respectful manner.