American Born Chinese Lies and Deceit Quotes

Because of Monkey, we know the story of who Wei-Chen really is and how he has been sent down from heaven to pass a test of virtue among mortals. But here's a question: how is Wei-Chen's test of virtue not also a lie or a form of deception? Isn't his big lie—pretending to be a human and not a monkey—really unfair to Jin, his best friend? Why is his lie okay and other lies are not?

Monkey's telling Jin about his last conversation with Wei-Chen. Wei-Chen reveals to Monkey that he told a lie to Jin's mom, which completely freaks Monkey out because that's a sin in the eyes of Tze-Yo-Tzuh. But Wei-Chen doesn't care anymore—he thinks humans are "petty, soulless creatures" and abandons his mission to become an emissary. However, we're not so convinced that Wei-Chen doesn't care anymore about his test of virtue. Why do we think this? If Wei-Chen really didn't care, would he be so angry and bitter? Wouldn't he just be indifferent?

We know what you're thinking when you look at these panels: "That is so not Wei-Chen." Wei-Chen isn't hard—he's the sweet geek who plays with robot monkeys, not a smoker or a bling-bling type of guy. And where did that rice rocket come from anyway? Isn't he in junior high? Point is, we know that Wei-Chen's faking his real self and so does Jin. Which is why, when Jin tells Wei-Chen he just talked to the Monkey King, the next panel shows Wei-Chen, in grey-scale, as a surprised little monkey. That's the real Wei-Chen; everything else is just a bad front.