American Born Chinese Part 1

I was initially very surprised when I read the first part of this book. I did not really realize that this text would be so forward with regard to race. As for the text itself, I found it much easier to read after having read McCloud. I thought that it was easy to follow and it helped having the images there because I could see the emotion that Yang wanted to get across. The page that I chose to focus on was page 30. In these panels Jin is at his new school for the first time. The teacher, Mrs. Greeder, is introducing him to his classmates, and this is where the trouble starts. His teacher, all the while smiling, tells the class that their new classmate's name is Jing Jang. The sad part is, that isn't his name at all. And when Jin corrects her, she moves on still smiling as though nothing happened. And as if to make the moment even more dramatic she tells the class that he and his family have moved all the way from China. Again, Jin corrects her and she restates that he is from San Francisco. Although these three panels seem insignificant, I believe they are really important. I think that Yang is trying to show that we, as Americans, are not used to diversity and when we are confronted with it we don't always know how to handle it. I think the teacher is the prime example of a white American that takes for granted the wonderful things that other races bring to our great country. These panels show that we do not take the time to appreciate or get to know other types of people all the time. If we all did, then we would not be incorrectly pronouncing names, or making such generalized assumptions, like that he just moved from China. Her expression doesn't change throughout either of the panels, which makes me confused. How can someone mess up so much information about someone and feel nothing? The word China is bolded in the text.I think this was done intentionally to give dramatic effect, to show that the teacher was trying to make him seem more interesting. Had Yang not bolded the word, I don't think it would have been as effective. The last panel that shows all the students speaks volumes as well. The expressionless faces show little to no sign of acceptance or acknowledgement that Jin is even there. To me, all three panels show the lack of effort and acceptance on our parts.