Social exclusion is a devastating issue in all types of environments, such as schools and workplaces. It creates feelings of pessimism for the victim, making them wonder how they should handle their circumstances and emotions. In Gene Luan Yang’s novel, American Born Chinese, characters challenge constant alienation based on identities and have trouble reconciling with themselves. The woven stories of Jin Wang, Monkey King, and Danny tackle the complexities of social exclusion, illustrating how exclusion affects the character’s identity formation, self-esteem, and mental health. The first narrative of the novel introduces the Monkey King, a monkey deity with a flourishing kingdom on Flower-Fruit Mountain. Initially proud of his identity, the…show more content… He is ridiculed and his reputation drops to just being a monkey. With no other way to cope, he decides to attack all the partygoers and now has no clue what to think of himself. When he returns to his chamber, the narrator says, “When he entered his royal chamber, the thick smell of monkey fur greeted him. He’d never noticed it before. He stayed awake for the rest of the night, thinking of ways to get rid of it” (Yang 20). After going to the party and coming back, he notices that the smell of a monkey, the smell of himself, is repulsive. By deciding to stay awake to get rid of the smell, his actions reveal that he seeks validation, finding ways to surpass his current status as a monkey and be on par with heaven. Being in a new community, the feeling of being the center of laughter and the striving to be accepted as one of their own reassesses a person’s former identity, forming a new identity. The second narrative follows Jin Wang, a new student coming to Mayflower Elementary School. From the introduction of Jin Wang, he faces immediate ridicule by his classmates for his ethnic background. When his classmate asks him what he’s eating during lunch, Jin answers and he responds,
