The Story of Chin-Kee

The last link to Yang's three-part graphic novel is the story of Danny and his cousin Chin-kee. In this story, Danny is faced with humiliation caused by his cousin's annual visits, which in the end, are explained to be "signposts to his soul" for what he has become. As the main character of this part of the novel, Danny is portrayed as being a seemingly All-American boy, who has blond hair, plays on his school's football team and is attracted to an All-American girl. In this section of the novel, we don't even see the faces of his parents until the very end, because readers are kept in suspense about Chin-Kee's relationship to Danny. Danny's parents faces are always hidden behind something, and this is meant to make the reader question why Danny's skin color, hair color, and behaviors are so "White" and his cousin, so "Asian." We are only able to see Danny's parents faces in the end, when he realizes his true form and returns to his roots as an Asian-American boy.
It is interesting that in the sections of the novel that pertain to this story, Danny's changing hair color also coincides with changes the color of his skin- making it seem whiter and all around, less Asian. Also, besides his skin being less yellow, the illustrator also chose to redraw Danny's Asian features, such as his eyes, as bigger and rounder instead of the characteristic almond-shape.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Danny's entire transformation is the timing with which it happens. Readers are aware of Danny's history of changing high schools and it is only after he breaks all connection to everything Asian in his life, that he is driven to change his appearance to deny his relation to his heritage and culture. This happens after he kisses his Wei-Chen's girlfriend and gets into a fight with this only Asian friend. At that point in the novel, he has nothing to associate with the Chinese culture, and therefore finds refuge in radically changing his personal appearance.