Young Asian Americans are ordinarily pressured at a young age, through their families and eventually themselves. The idea of wanting to be perfect and fitting in with the model minority subjugates them to who they are. In the graphic novel, Secret Identities: The Superhero Asian American Anthology, by various Asian American authors, each author contributes to twenty-six mini comic story on the lives of ordinary Asian Americans. However, throughout the stories, each Asian American has a hidden identity. Paralleling with their own lives, theses authors; Jeff Yang, Perry Shen, Keith Chow, Jerry Ma, and Jeff Casto exemplifies certain characters through Asian American super heroes. In relations to real life Asian Americans males and females, theses stories allow a pathway for them to reveal their own identities rather than impersonating the person society wants them to be.
So why must Asian Americans hide their own identity? Why are they allowing themselves to be intuitive to the ideals of the western society? Simple. Asian Americans fear the idea of being rejected and dejected. By feeling rejected, they are social outcasts, isolated in their own environment and useless to their families and themselves. Thus causing psychological cases and matters that most times lead to severe depression and eventually death. Being in that psychological state, Asian Americans rarely seek mental help. Oppressing themselves through self-inflicting means. Both male and female have a way of have a way of coping with this mental stress. Asian American males are often judge through their appearance and oppressed by what their families want them to be. Males in typical Asian American families are highly regarded as the breadwinner and successor. Females in Asian American families are lowly regarded and often times ignored. Their jobs in the families are the stereotypical positions of that of a mother. Each mental factor hinders the identities of Asian American individuals.
Thanks for reading!
-Diana Dinh