Khaliuna BayasgalanAll my life I have been taught the idea that it is wrong to be different and to avoid being unique. As a teenager, conforming to society may be the best path to take since you're still trying to figure out who you are, but it can lead to powerful internal conflicts if you completely lose your identity. Some argue that being yourself will make you happier if you don't pretend to be someone you're not. Others insist that being yourself will separate you from everyone and always make you feel alone. On the other hand, I believe that being true to ourselves will allow people to see our true identity without disguises. People will see how we really are inside and will be able to appreciate our true selves. In American Born Chinese, Gene Yang argues that staying true to yourself rather than conforming to society's standards is beneficial because you don't have to hide your ideas. true identity to fit in. Specifically, Yang reveals how fitting in requires giving up who you are and being self-aware. For example, the Monkey King returns from dinner and issues a law throughout the mountain of flowers and fruits: "All monkeys must wear shoes" (55). The Monkey King wants to change his physical characteristics to fit in with the other gods. He believes he would fit in just by wearing the shoes and looking like them, but it's uncomfortable to change because you'd cause more problems with the new changes. The monkeys could not function like normal monkeys since they could not climb trees and had difficulty adapting to new changes. They had to sacrifice the ability they were born with to wear human values. While some may say that conforming to society will help... middle of paper... I didn't know what they were really thinking and felt like I wasn't as good as them. But now that I've become more mature, I've realized how immature and narrow-minded I was. I became aware of the negative aspects of conforming and how wanting to change who you are to fit in would always make you insecure and if everyone had common names then no one would be special and everyone would have the same name. Even though my name has no special meaning, I decided to keep it because in American Born Chinese, Gene Lang insists that an individual should make an effort to understand others and be himself. While in Black Boy, Richard Wright argues that conforming in a threatening environment is natural and cannot be prevented. I agree with ABC and believe that embracing yourself and who you are will benefit yourself and other generations.