Gus Lee's novel China Boy

Kai Ting, the young Chinese American protagonist of Lee's novel, is not only young, he is physically small, ignorant of the American culture in which he was born, and unable---except through his sense of humor---to defend himself in the tough streets of San Francisco. Kai has enjoyed a relatively peaceful early childhood, protected from the hostile culture around him by his sisters and mother. However, this protection has kept him from facing the harsh realities of that culture, and, when his mother dies and he is put into the custody of a Philadelphia society woman, his true coming of age begins.

Lee is highly effective in portraying Kai's coming of age in the context of a largely comic novel dealing with profoundly serious and painful experiences and life lessons. What marks this novel is Kai's being imbued with Chinese culture---in those protected years

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o understand the value of his own heritage. The American idol whom the boy wants to emulate, therefore, is the one who finally shows Donald that his heritage is valuable and should be embraced rather than denied. Donald comes to understand that as long as he hates his Chinese heritage, he will also hate himself. Kai has learned this lesson early in his protected early childhood, but Donald must gradually accept the power he can derive from his native culture: The thunder is right overhead now, and Donald Duk looks up into the cloud. Horsemen and flags announce the Thirty-six Stars of Heavenly Spirits, armored and girded for war, accompanied by their banners and pennants followed by the Seventy-two Stars of Earthly Fiends (Chin 113). The symbolic culmination of Donald's coming of age stands in contrast to that of Kai, whose liberation from childhood took the form of standing up to his tormenting stepmother Edna. Donald, on the other hand, experiences the glory of his native culture at a Chinese parade in Chinatown: "He walks fast, intent on keeping up with the dragon. . . . He's glad the dreams are gone" (Chin 169). This end of the dreams represents Donald's acceptance of his own culture and the end of his desire to be Ameri
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3134
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)