In Celeste Ng’s new novel 'Our Missing Hearts,' a boy searches for his missing mother

Celeste Ng draws deeply from her own childhood and those of friends to inform her depiction of discrimination and parental dilemmas in her novels.

Ng's Childhood Experiences With Racial Othering Shape Her View of Discrimination

Few Children of Color in Her Pittsburgh School, She Experienced Being Visibly Different and Subject to Assumptions

Ng recounts that in her first elementary school outside of Pittsburgh, she was one of two children of color: one Black girl, one Jewish girl, and herself, the one Asian girl. This visible difference meant people often looked at her and assumed things about her, giving her early, direct experience with being othered.

Traumatic Childhood Encounter With Racism

She remembers a traumatic experience at age 11, standing at a bus stop in downtown Cleveland. A man spat at her and her family, telling them to go back to “Vietnam or Korea or wherever the hell you came from.” Ng acknowledges this moment as traumatizing, though she notes she did not generally fear physical harm growing up—unlike many others who do.

Ng's Novels Reflect Anti-Asian Discrimination From Her Personal or Close Friends' Experiences

Experiences Ground Her Fiction In Harm: Social Exclusion, Physical Aggression, Microaggressions

Ng explains that every example of anti-Asian discrimination in her novels is something she or an Asian friend has actually experienced. Incidents in her books mirror real-life microaggressions and harm: Asian American children advised not to attract attention or stand out, being excluded—from a game of Marco Polo when all non-Asian kids climb out—and direct racism such as a cashier pulling back her eyes into slits. These experiences of social exclusion, physical aggression, and microaggressions ground her fiction in reality.

Readers Surprised by Pervasive Anti-Asian Discrimination View Ng's Autobiographical Material as an Important Documentary Function

Ng notes that after “Everything I Never Told You” was published, well-meaning readers often told her they hadn't realized Asian Americans faced discrimination. Many are shocked by the pervasiveness of these experiences, which gives her books an important documentary function—making visible the everyday realities that are often invisible to others.

Conflict Between Safeguarding Her Child and Readying Him F ...

Celeste Ng emphasizes that her writing process and literary aims center on empathy—imagining lives different from her own and urging readers to better understand even the most flawed characters.

Imaginative Engagement Helps Ng Predict Character Behavior

Ng’s stories often begin with a vivid image or a compelling question, as Robin Young notes in reference to Ng’s first book, where the catalyst was imagining a girl sinking to the bottom of a lake. Ng explains that such images push her to deeply investigate her characters’ backgrounds, anxieties, and motivations. She spends time envisioning where her characters grew up and what troubles them, allowing her to predict their behavior in any scenario. This meticulous understanding enables her to portray characters authentically and empathetically, even as they navigate morally complex situations.

Ng's Empathetic Portrayal Resists Easy Moral Judgment

Ng asserts that none of her characters are perfect; each makes questionable choices or harbors blind spots. Rather than imposing moral judgments, Ng approaches their flaws with understanding, aiming to reveal the emotional truths behind even their most unlikable actions. She describes empathy as a muscle, strengthened through reading and writing, and hopes readers will exercise this skill by striving to comprehend—even if they do not condone—a character’s decisions. Ng has encountered readers who question why she made certain characters, like a father, so unlikable. Her response is to highlight not just the objectionable qualities, but also the motivations behind them, encouraging readers to see the humanity in each character.

Ng Upholds Her Empathy Via Diverse Narratives and Current Events

Ng’s approach to empathy extends beyond fiction. She reads voraciously, balancing fiction and nonfiction, and stays updated with current events while maintaining boundaries for her mental health. S ...

Celeste Ng’s narrative delves deeply into the various forms resistance can take and highlights social change through both communal and creative acts.

Yarn Bombing: Feminine Activism Challenging Conventional Narratives

Yarn bombing serves as a distinctive form of protest in Ng’s story. Ng explains that yarn bombing is typically performed anonymously and overnight, decorating public structures—trees, buildings, sculptures—with crochet or knitting. This art form is intentionally feminine-coded, rooted in crafting traditions typically associated with women. Ng notes that such creative activism pushes back against widespread neglect of women’s contributions to social change, spotlighting how crafts, often dismissed as inconsequential, can become vehicles for protest and visibility. These artistic protests underline the influence and involvement of women in resistance movements, extending their impact beyond traditional marches and demonstrations.

Ng Grounds Her Fictional Narrative of Resistance In Reality By Incorporating Historical Knowledge of Nonviolent Resistance Movements and Theorists

Ng’s work draws on the real-world foundation of past resistance, particularly in her inclusion of thinkers like Gene Sharp. She references his influential book "From Dictatorship to Democracy," noting its impact across the globe as an instructional manual for peaceful protest and strategies for challenging authoritarianism. Ng underscores that resistance is not a new response to oppression—history is replete with examples where people have challenged dictatorships through organized, nonviolent dissent and methods that foster belief in the possibility of change. The inclusion of Gene Sharp’s theories reflects a commitment to grounding fiction in the reality of collective and individual agency against authoritarian threats.

"Our Missing Hearts" Highlights ...

Celeste Ng's 2022 novel, Our Missing Hearts, uses a dystopian future to deliver a searing social commentary on authoritarianism, scapegoating, and the consequences of systemic discrimination against Asian Americans.

"Scapegoating Of Asians in Dystopian Future For Economic Collapse"

The novel’s America is transformed into an authoritarian regime following a financial collapse. In this world, China and people of Asian descent become scapegoats, regarded as enemies of the state. Robin Young explains that children can be removed from their families if parents dare to question government policies, creating an atmosphere of state-sanctioned terror. Within this regime, Asian people face targeted violence and impunity, a culmination of discrimination that Ng has documented across her work.

In This Regime, Children Are Separated if Parents Question Policies, Creating State-Sanctioned Terror

Families live in fear that governmental dissent will result not just in punishment for themselves, but in their children being forcibly taken away. This element of the regime forms a central terror in Ng’s narrative, reflecting nightmares of persecution and the lived experiences of marginalized communities throughout history.

Asian People Face Violence and Impunity: Culmination of Ng's Documented Discrimination

Asian Americans face escalating violence under the regime. This dystopian society provides no justice to victims, echoing real-world patterns of anti-Asian discrimination and neglect.

Anti-Asian Violence Scene in Novel—2020 Midtown Manhattan Attack Ignored by Bystanders

A pivotal scene in Our Missing Hearts shows a violent attack on an Asian character in downtown Manhattan, inspired directly by a real 2020 incident where a woman of Asian descent was brutally attacked while bystanders did nothing. Celeste Ng explains that she included this moment as a form of testimonial, bearing witness to actual events and insisting upon their reality.

Ng Included This Scene to Show That Such Violence Is Not Hypothetical but Real

Ng emphasizes her intent: “I felt like that was something that I needed to put into the book almost as sort of a witnessing or a Testimonial to say that it is a thing that can happen. It is a thing that did happen. And something that I want people to have to think about.” Her decision to transplant this event into her dystopian narrative forces readers to confront the close proximity between their world and the authoritarian nightmare she describes.

Ng Transplants Incident Into Dystopian Narrative, Forcing Readers to Confront Proximity to Authoritarian Nightmare

By embedding real incidents of violence in her fictional regime, Ng challenges readers to recognize how quickly familiar societies can shift towards cruelty and impunity, especially for marginalized groups.

Mother Protagonist Resists System Separating ...