American Born Chinese Humility Quotes

The story of how Jin's parents met isn't a dramatic one, but that's kind of the point. They met as immigrant grad students at their university library; his mom worked at a cannery and his dad sold wigs in order to support themselves through school. Nothing fancy or exciting—just a lot of hard work. It's also the classic immigrant story: the immigrant works hard and finally achieves the American Dream of a stable home and family.

It's tough being the new kid at school. Add to that the fact that Jin is Chinese American and you just know he's in for a whole lot of public humiliation. There's his teacher for one—she can't even get his name right, plus she reaffirms Timmy's ignorant claim that Chinese people eat dogs. Then there's all the name-calling, and the rumors about his arranged marriage with Suzy Nakamura. So it's hard to blame Jin for not sticking up for himself, for appearing too humble. He's just a nice kid put in a bad situation. What can you do when you're being bullied like Jin? Jin's solution: stay away from bullies, and if they come around, go with the flow.

This part is all about the Monkey King making sure everyone knows that he's "the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven." How does he do this? By humiliating every deity he comes across to the point that they go to Tze-Yo-Tzuh's emissaries to complain. So basically he makes everyone submit to his greater power. Not exactly someone you want to cross, that Monkey…