It’s interesting to break down how these feelings of social inferiority work through three different angles. Mortification is the vehicle for prejudice: the monkey king gets ridiculed at the dinner party, Jin is embarrassed by his introduction the ignorant teacher presents to the class, and Danny is ashamed to an almost excruciating extent of his cousin Chin-kee, who embodies all the Asian stereotypes out there. All three of these characters abandon their values in order achieve respectable status in their various social outlets: Jin and Danny want to be seen as an equal among classmates, and the monkey king wants to be recognized in heaven. In an attempt to mimic the rules of heaven the monkey king forces his subjects to wear shoes, then leaves them behind unprotected to seek heavenly approval. Jin chastises Wei-Chen when he speaks to Jin in Mandarine, and Danny does his best to push away his cousin Chinkee. In trying to adjust their station in life, these changes manifest literally: Jin gets a perm, the monkey king’s humanoid body, and Danny…(find out later!) of course, his metamorphosis is much more abstract. It’s important to note how all of these characters progressively degrade throughout American Born Chinese. It seems as if they trade in their decency, their humanity – their soul – for a “new identity,” when they are who they are the whole time.