Just One More Thing...

Sorry that I seem to be writing on the blog after classes for this book but there are just so many topics that we just touch upon and not go into fully in class. There are just so many things to think and talk about! One thing that I really wanted to talk about in class but just didn't get the chance to was the topic we constantly come back to about remembering your roots. This book delves deeply into not giving up who you are, being proud of your background, not being afraid of or ashamed of your culture, etc. However, I think it also addresses the opposite: The need to sometimes put those roots in the back of your mind as you continue your life. In order to be successful in life and in society sometimes you do have to put aside "where you come from" and create an image for yourself based on what you believe in and what will help you accomplish your dreams. There are two sides of a person. There is his culture and his history and there is his character, the part of him created by the environment that he grows in. Danny was overwhelmed by the second part of this side due to his embarassment with the first half. This imbalance is what caused him to have problems and insecurities about who he is.
There are a few instances in the book that remind us that we cannot just look blindly at where we come from and forget that sometimes where we come from isn't who we should be. One such example is with the Monkey King, the myth that this entire book is based on. The Monkey King, despite all of his power and strength, was a terrible leader. He forced the monkeys to wear shoes even though it made them fall off of trees. He neglected them for years and did not let them bother him in his personal chamber, where he spent all of his time. He saw all of them as inferior to him just because he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Yet the monkeys blindly followed him because he was their creator. He was born from a rock and all of the monkeys came after him and worshipped him. Thus, the monkeys refused to think for themselves and abandon the Monkey King even though he was not doing the best thing for them.
Maybe the moral of the story is not to follow one's roots but to make the best decision based on the situation at hand. The monkeys would have done better to leave the Monkey King. Maybe in Danny's circumstances the best thing to do would have been to assimilate into society. Human beings naturally gravitate towards "their own kind." Maybe Danny needed to become "American" because he was in America and that is what is expected of him. To build a society you need a certain degree of assimilation. I'm not saying that Danny should forget where he came from just because he wanted everybody to like him or that bullies are right because they are doing "nature's bidding of assimilation" but I think that sometimes people should learn to take on some of the characteristics of their surroundings to better communicate and understand each other. If Gene had not become Danny then he would have never learned that other important side of him. This hero had to learn to be both Danny and Gene in order to survive in his environment.