Our Missing Hearts

“You could see it in Bird’s face, if you looked: all the parts of him that weren’t quite his father, hints in the tilt of his cheekbones, the shape of his eyes. Being a PAO, the authorities reminded everyone, was not itself a crime. PACT is not about race, the president was always saying, it is about patriotism and mindset.”

Protagonist Bird is notable within his society because of his Asian American features. His very being presents a threat to his life because of the racism in his society. Despite assurances from the government that PACT (“Preserving American Culture and Traditions”) is not racist, American patriotism has historically been understood through whiteness. Being a racial minority means being othered, a dangerous position to be in when it comes to patriotism in Celeste Ng’s America. This quote reveals the discrepancy between the public-facing lie of anti-racism and the reality of Bird’s experience.

“Well, it’s like that, the teacher said. We all want our children to be safe. We don’t want them exposed to bad ideas—ideas that might hurt them, or encourage them to do bad things. To themselves, or to their families, or to our country. So we remove those books and block sites that might be harmful.”

The teacher in this quote represents the illusion of safety in a dystopian society. She declares that censorship keeps children safe by keeping them away from ideas that might hurt them. In censoring access to different ideas, the teacher helps uphold a society devoid of interesting layers and contradictions. She becomes a puppet for the government’s ideology, revealing a lack of integrity in what used to be a democracy.

“If we fear something, it is all the more imperative we study it thoroughly.”

This quote reveals one of Ng’s central messages: Her novel is written to encourage readers to embrace the study of things they fear. The more we turn away from what we don’t know, the more we’ll have reason to fear it—and the more we’ll react on impulse.