Tahn, Nicholas_Senior Thesis 2026

Redefining Asian American through Literature with Hong and Hsu and Lin and Kingston Nicholas Tahn Senior Thesis | 2026

Tahn 1 Redefining Asian American through Literature with Hong and Hsu and Lin and Kingston

By Nick Tahn What does it mean to be Asian American? The term Asian American was coined in 1968 by Emma Gee and Yuji Ichioka, two students at University of California Berkeley. Both students needed to come up with a name for their student organization whose purpose was to increase the visibility of Asian activists. Both Emma and Yuji wanted to come up with a name that would unite the many Asian ethnic sub-groups together, so they named their organization Asian American Political Alliance. The derogatory term “oriental” used to describe people with Asian descent was finally replaced and now there is an ordinary pan-ethnic term for people of Asian descent. Today, the term Asian American is everywhere, from Asian American studies classes to the month of May being devoted to Asian American Pacific Islander month.

However, the actual meaning of Asian American is up to interpretation. Does Asian American refer to an individual in the United States with ancestry from an Asian country? Or does Asian American refer to United States citizens with ancestry from an Asian country? What criteria makes a person Asian American?

The definition of Asian American varies from person to person, but one thing is for certain: the model minority myth makes it difficult for Asian Americans to embrace their identity unapologetically and authentically.

The model minority myth is a myth that portrays Asians as the better minority due to their supposedly docile, emotionless and hardworking nature. In the model minority myth, there are many different stereotypes that run rampant in Asian-American perception. For one, there is a stereotype that Asians do not have any emotions and are unaffected by different situations. Another stereotype is that Asians are destined for success and that it is not

Tahn 2 from hard work. Also, there is a stereotype that Asians are docile and submissive to others. Cathy Park Hong, Hua Hsu, Francie Lin and Maxine Hong Kingston use literature, specifically with personal narratives or real life-influenced stories, to counter and challenge these stereotypes from the model minority myth.

Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings (2020) is a real life story about herself that explores her experiences as the daughter of Korean immigrants in the United States. Cathy Park Hong counters the stereotype of being the model minority through her critique of racial self hatred and the idea that Asians are next in line to be white. Hua Hsu’s Stay True (2022) is also a real life story about himself that explores his experience growing up as Taiwanese American and the bonds to people he makes. Hua Hsu counters the stereotype of being emotionless from the model minority myth through his personal story on the death of his close friend Ken. Francie Lin’s The Foreigner (2008) tells the story of Emerson Chang, a Taiwanese American immigrant who travels to Taipei to spread his mother’s ashes and confronts his family history. This book is a work of real life influence, so Lin’s history is influential throughout this story even though it is fictional. Francie Lin’s Emerson Chang counters the stereotype of being the perfect model minority and being emotionless through her story about Emerson Chang’s journey for belonging and home, which is influenced by her Taiwanese American heritage. Maxine Hong Kingston’s No Name Woman (2015) is a real life story about her life in China and about her aunt. Maxine Hong Kingston counters the stereotypes of silence of the model minority myth through her personal story about her mother telling her a deep secret about her aunt. Although there are differences between personal narratives and real-life inspired fictional stories, both serve the same purpose of challenging the model minority myth. Asian-American literature dismantles the harmful stereotypes of the model minority myth

Tahn 3 through critiquing racialized experience, displaying emotional complexity and exhibiting a struggle to find a sense of belonging and home. By dismantling the model minority myth, Asian-American authors create a way for Asian Americans to openly express themselves without fear of judgement or the dismissal of one's experiences, ultimately redefining what it means to be Asian American.

Cathy Park Hong challenges the model minority myth through her critique of racial self-hatred in Minor Feelings, showing that Asians are not perfect humans. In the model minority myth, Asians are portrayed not only as the model minority but also perfect humans. However, this stereotyping by the model minority myth influences Asians to attempt to achieve impossible standards in hopes of finding belonging. This leads to many perfectionists among Asians and comparing their worth against societal standards and other people, which is unhealthy. With racial self-hatred, Asians criticize themselves as well as fellow Asians, leading to interracial tensions instead of solidarity among the Asian community. Hong’s internal monologue further illustrates the domino-effect of racial self hatred: There’s a ton of literature on the self-hating Jew and the self-hating African American, but not enough has been said about the self-hating Asian. Racial self-hatred is seeing yourself the way the whites see you, which turns you into your own worst enemy. Your only defense is to be hard on yourself, which becomes compulsive, and therefore a comfort, to peck yourself to death… Instead of solidarity, you feel that you are less than around other Asians, the boundaries of yourself no longer distinct but congealed into a horde (Hong 6).

In Hong’s internal monologue, she highlights how the model minority myth fractures unity not only among the Asian-American

Tahn 4 community but also other racialized communities, as the others are viewed as “bad minorities” by deductive reasoning. Hong chooses her own interpretation of racial self-hatred, believing that racial self-hatred is seeing oneself the way the whites see them, not as people in general. By narrowing the people responsible for racial self-hatred only to white people, Hong is trying to highlight the irony of white Americans imposing impossible standards with the model minority myth and expecting no problems. The model minority myth sets high expectations for Asians in an attempt to make them believe they are perfect and superior to others, even if they do not share this belief. In addition, the model minority influences the idea of what perfection is, and in the case of Asian Americans, it is how close one can assimilate to American culture and standards. By saying that Asians are congealed in a horde, it highlights the dehumanization that results from the harsh dominant narratives put together by the white people. Hong makes people aware of the domino effect for Asians with racial self-hatred onset by the white Americans, therefore challenging the stereotype of perfection in the model minority myth.

In addition to critiquing racial self-hatred, Hong challenges the idea that “Asians are next in line to be white,” as she replaces “the word “white” with “disappear.” Asians are next in line to disappear. We are reputed to be so accomplished, and so law-abiding, we will disappear into this country’s amnesiac fog” (Hong 24-25). Instead of just viewing Asians as the model minority due to their supposed always hard-working nature, Asians are given this status due to America believing that they are the most obedient minority, specifically in terms of assimilating into American culture and expectations of Asians by white people. By saying that Asians are next in line to be white, America is trying to remove the individuality of Asian people and have them disappear.

Hong underscores that no matter how hard Asian people work

Tahn 5 America is still trying to find a way to exploit them. Hong’s further contemplation of how Asians are considered as high status yet still exploited is further illustrated in another monologue of hers: We will not be the power but become absorbed by power, not share the power of whites but be stooges to a white ideology that exploited our ancestors. This country insists that our racial identity is beside the point, that it has nothing to do with being bullied, or passed over for promotion, or cut off every time we talk. Our race has nothing to do with this country, even, which is why we’re often listed as “Other” in polls and why we’re hard to find in racial breakdowns on reported rape or workplace discrimination or domestic abuse (Hong 25).

In essence Hong is trying to show how America is trying to make Asians assimilate and once they do they will function as an example of the white ideology being successful, no more than just a statistic to them. Even though the desire to succeed is part of the regular human nature, the belief that it was because of the assimilation and stereotypes that it happens inherently discredits Asian-American experiences. Also, by being listed as others there it dehumanizes Asians as in some ways listing them as other means that they don’t have a right to be a unique category. Hong tries to show that America attempts to insist that the racial identity for Asians is besides the point yet Asians are still exploited. By showing how exploited and imperfect Asians are, Hong is able to further dismantle the model minority myth stereotypes of emotionlessness and perfection.

While Hong challenges the model minority myth through her critique of racial self-hatred and the idea that Asians are next in line to be white, Hua Hsu challenges the model minority myth in Stay True through his emotionally rich and dense story on his best friend Ken’s death. For Hsu, Ken is a person who he can refer to as

Tahn 6 an older brother and mentor, helping guide Hsu through not only college but life itself. Ken is always there for Hsu, whether it be giving advice about relationships or just being there to “go have a smoke,” their phrase for escaping to a quiet place to speak with each other. Although they had different interests from each other, they would sometimes sacrifice themselves for the other, such as Ken going into a magazine store for Hsu. After hearing from his friends that Ken had been murdered in an ATM robbery attempt, Hsu lost a part of himself that never recovered and had much difficulty processing the reality of the loss. His raw and unfiltered emotional response is further illustrated in a monologue during Ken’s funeral: The funeral felt like being at a rave. It was stuffy; I could see the air in the room moving. Everyone touching and swaying, leaning on your neighbor, emitting auras, alone in our own private worlds, desperate to enter into another one, together. A pained smile across the room could destroy you. The joyous throb and tingle of laughing together.

Bodies trying to expel something wicked through fidgeting, sobbing, rocking back and forth in the pews, trying to rein it back in. I wanted to scream, and I wanted to hear all the hearts beating in the stillness (Hsu 137).

Hsu’s grief during this internal monologue underscores how this moment in his life is unforgettable and does not feel like reality. By attributing Ken’s funeral to being like a rave, it underscores how unreal it feels for Hsu that his best friend Ken has died. By speaking to how other people at the funeral were reacting, such as bodies trying to expel something wicked, it shows how unprepared people were, as Ken’s death was random and he was just in the wrong place and the wrong time. In addition, it shows that people react differently to death and that there is no right way to grieve and express emotion. Through explaining that the funeral was a

Tahn 7 rave, not like normally solemn time, Hsu serves as a poignant example that Asians, like everyone else, can feel and experience emotions. Although the model minority myth attempts to enforce the stereotype that Asians are emotionless, Hsu serves as a counterexample of how emotional Asians can be. Hsu does the opposite of suppressing his emotions - he lets them be raw and messy and does not care about external perceptions of his expression. Hsu is able to counter the stereotype of being emotionless from the model minority myth by humanizing himself through his emotional expression at Ken’s death. ​ Hsu further humanizes himself through his letter to Ken to challenge the model minority myth. After Ken’s death, Hsu had a hard time processing the fact that he was dead and would no longer be there for him. In order to cope with his grief and try to move on with his life, Hsu resorted to writing letters to Ken. Even though Ken would never be able to read those letters, Hsu is able to let out all of his emotions and thoughts, writing letters including all the things he wishes he had told Ken or current life experiences. By writing these letters, Hsu is able to heal little by little and release the pain she feels at the unexpected and sudden death of Ken. Hsu’s humanization can be further seen in one of the letters Hsu writes soon after Ken’s death: That first night, after everyone had gone home, I typed a letter to him detailing everything I would miss—his soft skin and flatulence, our routines and inside jokes. I listed things he’d left behind, because he was always leaving things behind... I told him about that night with Mira, how Gwen and Alec were holding up, how much we needed him back. So be with me, okay, Ken? Can you stay with me a little longer (Hsu 131).

His letter to Ken highlights his method of coping through speaking about things Hsu wishes he could tell Ken now, whether it be about

Tahn 8 his relationship to Mira to even speaking about eating a steak to deal with a hangover. This letter serves as a way for him not only to express and process his emotions but also try to recover from some of the grief. By writing his thoughts to Ken in the form of an informal letter, it underscores how human Hsu is, as there is no correct or known way for writing a letter to someone who has died.

Even by writing about the inside jokes it shows how Hsu has begun to move on where in the beginning he would shut out anything that reminded him of the past or of Ken. Ken’s death led Hsu to gain more emotional maturity and learn how to move through different stages of grief and acceptance. By showing how human he is in this informal letter to get out his ideas and release the grief, Hsu shows that Asians are able to experience emotions, unlike the false stereotypes of the model minority myth. ​ While Hsu challenges the model minority myth through his emotionally rich and dense story on his best friend Ken's death, Francie Lin challenges the model minority myth through her story of Emerson Chang’ search for home and purpose in The Foreigner.

Emerson Chang is caught in between two different cultures: he was raised with both American and Taiwanese culture as he is the child of a Taiwanese immigrant and grew up in America. Though Emerson Chang is a fictional character, his struggles represent the experiences of Lin’s generation. Emerson Chang's multicultural upbringing causes it to be difficult to decide for himself what he considers foreign and what he considers as home, therefore causing him difficulty in finding and understanding his personal identity (Goodwin 236-239). For Emerson Chang, the only identity he can understand is his national identity, where he possesses a US passport, and is the only thing tying him to America. After the death of his mother, Emerson Chang travels to Taiwan to meet up with his brother living in Taiwan and to spread his mother’s ashes with him. After losing his passport upon his arrival to Taiwan,

Tahn 9 Emerson contemplates on the loss of American aspect in his identity: I had thought I would be an American all my life, but when I looked closely, I found I had no objective reason to believe this. America was a contract, based on reason, not blood– and a contract of the will could be broken more easily. Perhaps that was why my mother had never been comfortable in America (Lin 226).

After arriving in Taiwan, Emerson notices that his only connection that ties his identity to America are his passport, his job and being in America. Having lost all of these things, Emerson must start from scratch to build his identity in Taiwan. Emerson also realises that his relationship to America is contractual - he gives up some of his rights for protection of America and is given the supposed freedom to become a successful person. He highlights through his experience that it is not simple to assimilate into a different culture and environment, as the contract with America can not be broken easily. Emerson’s story highlights the imperfect nature of Asians, directly objecting against the model minority myth. By exhibiting how imperfect he is in his journey in America and Taiwan looking for home and purpose, Emerson is able to challenge the model minority myth.

While Lin challenges the model minority myth through her story of Emerson Chang’ search for home and purpose, Maxine Hong Kingston challenges the model minority myth through her story of her life in China and about her aunt in No Name Woman.

Kingston’s life in a Chinese village when she was younger was very community and family oriented. With a high emphasis on community and family oriented values, villagers were expected to follow certain traditions and norms set by the village. One of her village rules is to never bring up the death of her aunt, however, her mother disobeyed and told Kingston: “‘You must not tell

Tahn 10 anyone,’ my mother said, ‘what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into the family well. We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born” (Kingston 3). By referring to her aunt's death as if she had never been born, it shows how one can be disgraced after doing something the village did not want and does not want other people to know about. In the minds of the village, which is essentially one-minded, the aunt killing herself has disgraced her family and they do not want this disgrace to be known and widespread throughout the village. By jumping into the family well as opposed to another well around the village, it shows how the aunt tried to minimize how many people she affected by her sudden death. Although this event was supposed to be kept silent, her mother decides it is important to tell her daughter, Kingston, what truly happened. Her mother’s explanation of Kingston’s aunt showcases the intergenerational betrayal, with her aunt telling her and Kingston telling the readers. Although both of them are breaking the community rules of the village, their speaking up underscores how both of them refuse to be silent.

Unlike how the model minority myth portrays Asians as being unseen and not heard, Kingston is able to tell the story of her aunt to the readers, regardless of what she is supposed to do or what the village code says. With her story Kingston gives a voice and memory to her aunt, even with the attempted silencing of her aunt's story by the village, which directly opposes the silent stereotype of the model minority myth.

Due to the model minority myth being around for so long, it has invaded Asian-American discourse and has been talked about to the point that Asian Americans are influenced by the model minority myth and its stereotypes. The supposed benefit of adopting the outrageous standards set by the model minority myth is that one can assimilate and then have belonging with Americans

Tahn 11 and American culture but this is false. It is only indoctrinating Asians to make them be obedient and therefore is the reason why they are given the title of model minority - a title that keeps them in line. Since the model minority title is a social construct, this supposedly “illustrious” title is able to be taken away and given to another model minority which holds Asians to act a certain way.

The model minority title also influences other racial minorities, as they are seen as worse minorities which generates tensions between the other racial minorities and Asians. The main purpose for the White Americans giving this title to Asians is to make sure they do not unite with other racial minority groups to enact positive change. As for the model minority myth stereotypes, they downplayed the success of Asians, as it is viewed as commonplace for them. But in truth it was America who manipulated people to always believing Asians are always successful as they preferred to let valuable and skilled Asians immigrate into the country, and within that was another set of standards for what would be considered skilled and valuable. America would then use it in their ideology and message that this is what other racial groups should be like, perfect and successful like the Asians.

Although the American dream states that any person, regardless of their social status and race, can achieve success, it is an illusion. To achieve success one must stand out and advocate for oneself, or people will take advantage of that person and one is unable to ever get to a higher level in life, whether it be to a higher financial level, societal class level or even to a higher job level.

The narratives of Hong, Hsu, Lin and Kingston, whether stated or not, call for a shift in power dynamic so that racial groups can unite and become stronger and more successful, starting first with challenging the model minority myth. Hong’s narrative makes people aware of the domino effect for Asians with racial self-hatred onset by the white Americans. With racial self-hatred,

Tahn 12 Asians criticize themselves as well as fellow Asians, leading to interracial tensions instead of solidarity among the Asian community. By bringing up racial-self hatred, Hong spreads awareness about how the White Americans are trying to solidify the divide between interracial communities and therefore people must combat this. Hsu’s narrative proves the wrongness of the model minority myth, specifically with the stereotype that Asians are silent and emotionless. Although the model minority myth attempts to enforce the stereotype that Asians are emotionless, Hsu’s experience with Ken’s death serves as a counterexample of how emotional Asians can be. Hsu’s raw and emotional experience proves that he, like anyone else in this world, is human and can feel emotions. Lin’s narrative proves how Asians can be imperfect though the story of Emerson Chang’s journey in America and Taiwan looking for home and purpose. Lin shows through Emerson how it is not simple to assimilate into a different culture and environment. Emerson’s struggle with finding his identity disproves the model minority myth stereotype of being perfect.

Kingston’s narrative disproves the model minority myth stereotype of silence through her story of her aunt. With her story Kingston gives a voice and memory to her aunt, even with the attempted silencing of her aunt's story by the village. Unlike how the model minority myth portrays Asians as being unseen and not heard, Kingston tells the story of her aunt to the readers, regardless of what she is supposed to do or what the village code says.

Although it is impossible to fully remove the model minority myth from perception of society, Asian-American narratives like the ones that these Asian-American authors wrote are helpful in beginning to overwrite and overcome the stereotypes prominent from the model minority myth. These stories give ways for fellow Asian Americans to not only relate to one another but be able to have shared experiences, increasing confidence in oneself

Tahn 13 and making it easier for them to find their identity. By writing stories that fellow Asian Americans can relate to, all of these authors make it possible for Asian Americans to redefine what it means to be Asian American beyond the influence of dominant white narratives of the model minority myth.

Tahn 14 Bibliography Fan, Christopher T. “Semiperipherality and the Taiwanese American Novel.” College Literature, vol. 50 no. 2, 2023, pp. 212-236. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/lit.2023.a902217.

Goodwin, Mary. “Postnational Homelands: Migration and Memory in Two Novels of Taiwan.” Neohelicon, vol. 44, no. 2, 2017, pp. 229–243. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-016-0360-y​ Hong, Cathy Park. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. One World, 2020.

Hsu, Hua. Stay True: A Memoir. Doubleday, 2022.

Kambhampaty, Anna Purna. “In 1968, These Activists Coined the Term “Asian American”—and Helped Shape Decades of Advocacy.” Time, 22 May 2020, time.com/5837805/asian-american-history/.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts. Picador Classic, 2015.

Lin, Francie. The Foreigner. Picador, 2008.

Vinney, Cynthia. “What Is the Model Minority Myth?”

Verywell Mind, 26 Aug. 2022, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-model-minority-myth6259907. ‌