After our class discussion yesterday, I thought I’d look a little closer at Bechdel’s feelings about her father and his suicide. Bechdel obviously yearns for a strong connection to her dad and feels the loss of him keenly.  There’s an early scene of Bechdel getting a bath and she notes that the baths given to her by her father are the ones that she remembers the most:  “The suffusion of warmth as the hot water sluiced over me … the sudden unbearable cold of its absence” (22).  This is about more than hot water, of course.  She was warmed by the attention of her father and chilled when he left her through suicide.

There are many panels that directly address the bond she hopes exists, but which she cannot yet substantiate.  We see this doubt at the top of page 84 when she questions whether telling her parents about being gay is what led to her father’s suicide.  She says that’s illogical, however, because “causality implies connection, contact of some kind … [and] you can’t lay hands on a fictional character”, meaning how can you connect with an illusion.  Page 86 expresses her hope for a connection in a way that is darkly poignant – she wants his death to be about her so that she can hold onto “that last tenuous bond”.  I think her honestly here is amazing – I’m not sure that I could admit to something like that.  Another example comes at the end of the book, when she writes “Perhaps my eagerness to claim his as ‘gay’ … is just a way of keeping him to myself – a sort of inverted oedipal complex” (230).

We see this hopeful yet distant relationship best in the closing panels of most chapters, which often show them together but separate.  For instance, in chapter 3, they are in the same room, but seen through different windows pursuing their own interests (86).  Also, the snapshots of her and her father at the end of chapter 4 show us two different pictures, but highlight their similarities to each other. Chapter 5 is another great example which shows Bechdel and her dad watching a sunset together (150).  The way she is leaning toward him shows her yearning to be close, which sadly is not something he seemed ready to accept.

What a difference from our last read!  The novel and its message are pretty simplistic  (especially after Jimmy Corrigan) and explores feelings of cultural identity, alienation, and eventual self-acceptance.  In American Born Chinese, Gene Yang weaves together the stories of three characters as they work to overcome feelings of shame in their search for identity – the Monkey King, Jin Wang, and Danny. As half-Asian myself, I found this a very interesting read.  I spent my early years in 1970s Kansas (not exactly a wellspring of tolerance then) and can certainly relate to the inner turmoil that can arise when you look different.

The most difficult (and, well…funny) chapters to read featured Chin-Kee and some over-the-top racial stereotyping, which applies not just to Asians, but also to Danny and other Americans.  Chin-Kee’s squinty eyes, manner of dress and speech (those transposed Ls and Rs just made me wince), and buckteeth are all familiar stereotypes.  To really round it out, Chin-Kee’s luggage looks like Chinese take-out cartons (48) and for lunch he eats “clispy flied cat gizzards wiff noodle” (114).  Of course, Jin Wang is afraid that these ideas will be applied to him, making him reject not only his culture and best friend, but also his very being.  The stereotyping doesn’t end there, however.  Blond, blue-eyed Danny is the epitome of American youth, along with Steve, the strong, but simple jock (although I thought he was kinder than most stereotypes of dumb jocks).  Also, some of the teachers were portrayed as ignorant and culturally insensitive, a big American stereotype, which hopefully is not as true today as it was in the past.  This can be seen as they introduce Jin Wang and Wei-Chen to their classes (pages 30 and 36, respectively).

I think Gene Yang uses all of this stereotyping to make a point about people’s perceptions of others and of themselves.  When you are part of a group that is often mocked for their culture and appearance, it’s hard not to internalize it and start believing it yourself. Yang experienced this growing up and had to learn how to be comfortable in his own body. As the Monkey-King says to Jin, “Now that I’ve revealed my true form, perhaps it is time to reveal yours” (213).

I was immediately struck by the significance of Rorschach’s name and mask, which obviously derive from the famous Hermann Rorschach and the inkblot test.  The meaning seems quite clear:  whatever judgments you are making about this superhero reflect more on you than it does on him.  I will confess to staring at the changing patterns of his mask for an embarrassingly long time, looking for some clue to his character or purpose, but to no avail (Chapter 1, pages 12 and 15 offer a good look at his ever-changing “face”). Scott McCloud, in Chapter Five, writes:  “Certain patterns can produce an almost physiological effect in the viewer … [who] for some reason … will ascribe those feelings, not to themselves, but to the characters they identify with” (132). He was writing this about background patterns, but I think it can also apply to Rorschachs’s distinctive inkblot mask. In other words, Rorschach alone carries no true meaning – we project our own thoughts and feelings on him.  Having said that, it seems best to read the whole novel before making any judgments about Rorschach…or yourself .

The mystery of Rorschach is just the beginning of the many curiosities this novel contains. One has to be constantly aware of seemingly innocuous details that may have some meaning later.  For instance, there is an interesting play-on-words, often with double meaning, that runs throughout the novel, from the seemingly incidental to the brazenly obvious.  On page 9 of chapter one, there is a sign from a mechanic’s shop that reads “We fix ‘em!  Obsolete models a specialty”.  This certainly refers to more than just automobiles and foreshadows the many images of aging superheros in the pages that follow.   In chapter three, we see the locksmith from the “Gordian Knot Lock Co.” (the OED Online defines a Gordian knot as “A matter of extreme difficulty. To cut a Gordian knot: to get rid of a difficulty by force.”) – more foreshadowing.   Newspaper headlines also play a distinctive role as part of a secondary story about an impending international crisis (examples:  Chapter 1, page 18, chapter 2, pages 5, 9,10).

Another interesting example of this device is found in the parallel story lines of Dr. Manhattan and the pirate comic in chapter three.  This can be clearly seen in the closely mirrored narration of the comic and the experiences of Dr. Manhattan after he goes to Mars:  “That night, I slept badly beneath cold, distant stars, pondering upon the cold, distant god in whose hands the fate of Davidstown rested” (21).  Probably the best example of duality is again found in chapter three where images and dialogue from Dr. Manhattan’s interview coincide eerily with the assault on Laurie and Dreiberg.  For instance, when Dr. Manhattan is asked “Doc, if the reds act up in Afghanistan … will you be prepared to enter hostilities?” (page 12).  The last part of the sentence is superimposed on the image of Laurie and Dreiberg as they face their assailants.

There are so many examples (such as the sugar cubes) that it would take a book to recount them all, I’m sure.  And, I’ve only read through chapter 3!