Almost American Girl

Stories can provide those who consume them with a sense of belonging, familiarity, or even vicarious experience. Robin initially views the stories and characters in her comics both as a source of comfort and as an avenue for experiencing things vicariously. After she moves to the United States, her comics become a correlative for her own experience, providing her with a source of identification. Eventually, they become the vehicle that allows her to form deeper social connections in the United States.

Even though Robin feels more at home in Korea than the United States, her physical attributes differentiate her from most of her peers. She has “frizzy curly hair” and is “five feet six inches by eighth grade, yet […] flat chested” (3). Her primary hobby is reading Korean romance and fantasy comics. These comics provide her with a more glamorous alternative to real-life romance: “Unlike the dashing heroes in comics, real boys were weird and covered in zits” (3). Certain aspects of the real world are less exciting to her than their fictional alternatives, so Robin experiences things like romance vicariously through stories.

When she moves to the United States, all of Robin’s things, including her stories, are left behind. In their absence, she identifies with the characters in a new way.