Revealing the Chinese-American Hidden Struggle:
A Comparative Analysis of The Shadow Hero and “No Name Woman”
Since the birth of the United States of America, minority groups have had to fight for equity and equality. Chinese immigrants, as well as natural-born Chinese-Americans, have always been actively involved in this fight, yet there is a hidden struggle that these individuals face every day behind closed doors: cultural assimilation or integration. This is a major concern because “expatriates of Chinese descent constitute the largest immigrant population worldwide, and their rate of migration continues to accelerate, with a large portion settling in North America, Western Europe, and Australia” (qtd. in Ho 45). The authors, Gene Luen Yang and Maxine Hong Kingston, are able to illustrate and reveal this struggle through The Shadow Hero and “No Name Woman,” respectively, via their usage of appropriate literary styles and themes.
Gene Luen Yang’s The Shadow Hero is an origin story of a superhero written in a graphic novel style. The use of this style enables the author to represent …show more content…
In The Shadow Hero, one can see how Hank, the protagonist, struggles with his uniqueness among the other western superheroes. There are several instances where he is mistaken for “the Anchor of Justice,” or “one of those gwailo superheroes” (41, 95). Also, in “No Name Woman”, the author asks, “what is Chinese tradition and what is the movies” (Kingston 6). In other words, how can one distinguish what is traditionally taught as Chinese ways through family, and what the American society displays as Chinese? As a Chinese-American, the author is confused, or struggling, with what makes her an individual and separates her from the rest of American society. This is the hidden struggle that is found within many Chinese-Americans and immigrants: assimilate or
A Comparative Analysis of The Shadow Hero and “No Name Woman”
Since the birth of the United States of America, minority groups have had to fight for equity and equality. Chinese immigrants, as well as natural-born Chinese-Americans, have always been actively involved in this fight, yet there is a hidden struggle that these individuals face every day behind closed doors: cultural assimilation or integration. This is a major concern because “expatriates of Chinese descent constitute the largest immigrant population worldwide, and their rate of migration continues to accelerate, with a large portion settling in North America, Western Europe, and Australia” (qtd. in Ho 45). The authors, Gene Luen Yang and Maxine Hong Kingston, are able to illustrate and reveal this struggle through The Shadow Hero and “No Name Woman,” respectively, via their usage of appropriate literary styles and themes.
Gene Luen Yang’s The Shadow Hero is an origin story of a superhero written in a graphic novel style. The use of this style enables the author to represent …show more content…
In The Shadow Hero, one can see how Hank, the protagonist, struggles with his uniqueness among the other western superheroes. There are several instances where he is mistaken for “the Anchor of Justice,” or “one of those gwailo superheroes” (41, 95). Also, in “No Name Woman”, the author asks, “what is Chinese tradition and what is the movies” (Kingston 6). In other words, how can one distinguish what is traditionally taught as Chinese ways through family, and what the American society displays as Chinese? As a Chinese-American, the author is confused, or struggling, with what makes her an individual and separates her from the rest of American society. This is the hidden struggle that is found within many Chinese-Americans and immigrants: assimilate or