What Is The Setting Of 'Our Missing Hearts'?

The setting of 'Our Missing Hearts' is a chillingly recognizable version of America that's slid into dystopia. It's present-day-ish but twisted - imagine our world if fear and nationalism went completely unchecked. The government has passed laws like PACT (Preserving American Cultures and Traditions Act) which basically scapegoats Asian Americans for all societal problems. Cities feel paranoid and divided, with neighbors turning on each other. The story bounces between locations - there's a bleak university town where our main character Bird lives with his broken father, then later the gritty underground networks of resistance in New York. The author makes everyday spaces feel threatening - libraries are monitored, mail gets read, even children's fairy tales get rewritten as propaganda. It's all those 'what if' fears about censorship and racism cranked up to eleven.

Celeste Ng crafts 'Our Missing Hearts' in a setting that feels like America's worst impulses made policy. The novel unfolds in a near-future where economic collapse led to the scapegoating of Asian communities, particularly Chinese Americans. Boston becomes a key location, its prestigious universities now tools for enforcing cultural purity. The Charles River reflects the division - on one side, government-approved propaganda; on the other, whispers of dissent.

What's terrifying is how mundane the dystopia feels. Suburban streets still have trimmed lawns, but homes display mandatory flags. Bookstores sell state-approved versions of classics with 'un-American' passages removed. The resistance operates through coded messages in children's literature and abandoned subway tunnels beneath functioning cities. Ng contrasts institutional brutality with small acts of rebellion - a librarian hiding contraband books, protest messages stitched into handmade dolls. The setting mirrors real historical persecutions while feeling freshly ominous in its technological capabilities - facial recognition tracks dissenters, algorithms purge 'unpatriotic' content from the internet before most ever see it.

Reading 'Our Missing Hearts' feels like walking through a funhouse mirror version of our world. The novel's America has weaponized nostalgia, enforcing 'traditional values' through surveillance and fear. Schools teach revised history where Asian contributions get erased. Public parks have loudspeakers blaring patriotic songs to drown out protests. The protagonist's journey takes him from his father's cramped apartment to dangerous border zones where families get separated.

What sticks with me are the details that make the setting plausible. Protesters use origami birds as symbols because actual gatherings get broken up. The internet exists but with heavy filters that auto-translate 'subversive' terms into harmless ones. Even language itself becomes contested ground - words like 'heart' and 'missing' take on dangerous double meanings. The most haunting locations are the 're-education centers' disguised as ordinary office buildings, where dissidents vanish into bureaucracy. Ng builds this world not through info-dumps but through the characters' constant low-grade terror of saying or doing the wrong thing in plain sight.