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Close reading: It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Suguira

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Suguira narrates the story of a teenage girl, Sana

Kiyohara, a Japanese-American born of old school parents who rarely understand modern

teenage lifestyles. Sana’s parents move her from her simple life in Wisconsin to a more

complicated life out in California where is becomes more social and falls in love with a Mexican

girl. It’s Not Like It’s a Secret is more than a love story between two girls, it includes themes of

racism, heteronormativity, classism and betrayal. Misa Suguira’s, Story is a deliberate exposure

of racial stereotypes in the modern day with a special focus on the discrimination among Asians

and Mexicans, who have different views regarding racism.

Suguira intentionally uses a generally understood stereotype in her story to portray how

stereotypes influence relations. She portrays Asian mothers as strict parents who in most times

are not aware of the best interests for their children.

“Holy pain and suffering, Batman,” she says. “Why? You get hot and sweaty and tired,
and what—your races are going to be much more fun? No, just more hot, sweaty running.
Plus no one cares about cross-country— no offense—so you just have to like, toil in
obscurity for nothing.” “Yeah, but I can’t do any of the other sports. Anyway, I got my
mom to let me do it,” I say. “But first we had to have this whole argument about whether
I was good enough, and how everyone else is probably better than me, so I’m going to
have to work extra hard. . . . Not one word of support. She’s the worst.” The words are
barely out of my mouth before I regret saying them. I feel like I’ve shared an ugly secret.
Hanh puts on the last touches of lip gloss, examines her reflection, and says, “She’s not
the worst. It’s just Asian Mom Syndrome.” “Wha—huh? Is that, like, a thing?” “What?
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Yeah, it’s a thing! What’s wrong with you? Did you think you had a white mom?” says
Reggie, smiling. (44)
While talking about what clubs Sana should join, Reggie, Hanh and Sana get into a conversation

about Sana’s mom. Without many other options, she seeks advice from her mother with whom

they have argument about joining cross country. Being an old school Japanese mother she is

skeptical of Sana’s abilities in cross country and is less supportive to the idea. When San tells

this encounter to her friends, unsurprised, Hanh terms the actions as Asian syndrome. Besides,

carrying a heavy massage on racist stereotypes, the author uses rhetorical questions and perfect

choice of words to drive her idea.

The passage expresses the prejudices people have about Asian mothers, that they are

unsupportive and skeptical. While Sana describes her mom as the worst, she immediately regrets

it thinking that she is the only one with a similar problem Hanna tells her that she has the same

problem with her mom since she too has an Asian mother. The regular perception about Asian

mothers is a famous stereotype globally where people assume that Asian mothers are strict to

their children. However, coming from half Asian teenage girls, the idea appears more real and

highly generalized. While some people may perceive parental strictness to be a good thing, the

author makes it appear like an old fashioned method of parenting, where the parent does not give

the child space to make her own decisions.

The passage uses several stylistic devices and a perfect choice of words to fit the

stereotype about Asian mothers. Rhetorical question are the most common stylistic devices used

in this passage. For instance when Reggie asks Sana, “Did you think you had a white mom?”

(44) This question is an emphasis that Sana should not expect better from her mother since it the

general behavior of Asian women. Besides, the rhetorical questions the word choice is in the

passage vindicates the Asian mothers. Sana claims that her mother is “the worst.” (44) While
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this, “She the worst,” is a common phrase among teenagers, Suguira, uses it deliberately to insist

on how irritating the Asian mothers are.

The author used diverse characters in the novel to show the real situation of the Asian-

Mexican conflict. The Asians, assume that Mexicans are inferior and lazy people who despite

living in the U.S. for decades have not learnt the U.S. language and way of life.

“She’s a Mexican, isn’t she? Schools just want to say they have multiculture in advanced
classes.” “Just because she’s Mexican American doesn’t mean she’s a bad student.” But Mom’s
not having it. She picks a stray fishbone out of her mouth and says, “The Mexicans are lazy, and
not so smart—look how long they live in America, and they still need the Spanish language on
everything— even for driver’s license and voting! That is lazy. I only live here for seventeen
years and I had to learn English for driver’s license, reading newspaper, and everything. I didn’t
ask for everything to be in Japanese.” “Mom. Jamie’s not lazy. Mexicans aren’t lazy. It’s way
more complicated than that.” “I didn’t say Jamie is lazy! I said Mexican is lazy. Japanese started
with poor, and no English, and discriminated. But Japanese are successful now. (64)
This passage comes from the scene where, Sana invites her crush Jamie to help her with

her homework. After leaving, Sana’s mother expresses her dislike for Jamie for being Mexican.

She claims that Mexicans are lazy and take a lot of time to learn unlike Asians. Despite, Sana

defending Jamie, her mother status quo remains unchanged about Mexicans. The theme of

racism appears as Asians versus Mexicans in this excerpt. Suguira, portrays racism different

from what most people view it; as a thing between whites and other races. She makes it clear that

racism extends beyond the white’s world and is preset even among other races. Sana’s mother is

the racist in this context, but Sana is portrayed as the bridge between the races as she attempts to

educate her mother that Mexicans are not lazy. While comparing the Mexicans to Japanese,

Sana’s mom, portrays Asians as a superior race in terms of their fast learning abilities while

terming Mexicans as slow learners who can only work as gardeners and kitchen workers.

However, Sana does not approve of this and affirms that Mexicans can be as bright as any other

race.
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Suguira uses an assertive tone to express the difference between Asians and the

Hispanics, referring to Mexicans. The assertive tone in the statement, “look how long they live in

America, and they still need the Spanish language on everything— even for driver’s license and

voting! That is lazy,” convinces Sana and the reader that Mexicans are indeed lazy. It is a

convincing tone that provides evidence to the allegations that Japanese are wiser than the

Mexicans. However, despite the tabling of evidence, Sana is yet to be convinced that Mexicans

are lazier than the Asians.

According to Suguira, persons of different races view racism differently and it matters a

lot who is talking about racism. Asians in the text consider themselves the main target of racism

while Mexicans, think they are more targeted than the Asians.

A week later, Jamie and I are sitting on the floor in my bedroom after practice, drafting
analytical essays on The Scarlet Letter. Jamie’s been coming over to do homework
regularly, pretty much every day except Thursdays, when we have meets. “Anyway,
Hester put gold thread on the A to make herself feel worse, not better. She was just as
fucked up as the rest of them,” says Jamie. “Aw, don’t say that. You just ruined it.” “A
for Asian. You think being in a group changes what people think about you? Try wearing
an M for Mexican. That’s like Hester. It doesn’t give you more power. It doesn’t change
people’s minds. It just makes people judge all of you together. They stop seeing you as an
individual.” “That’s not true.” I think about how much more myself I feel with my Asian
friends than with my white friends. “It is. Think about Christina. Eight kids applied to
work at the school store, three white, four Asian, and one Mexican. How come only
Christina had to get extra letters of rec? She gets good grades. It’s not like she’s a
criminal. It’s because she’s wearing an M for Mexican.” (76)
A topic arises from a book they are reading in their class, The Scarlet Letter, which Sana and

Jamie bring into the context of Racism. Earlier the same week, Sana and Elaine, Hanh and

Reggie had discussed the text and came up with the Initial A for Asian, which they equated with

“A” for adulterer, a term that a character, Hester, in the The Scarlet Letter had been branded due

to her infidelity towards her husband (76). According to the four, Hester wore the tag “A”

proudly without worrying what others thought of it. In their context, branding themselves “A”
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for Asians would make them feel proud of their social inequities just like Hester. However when

Sana talks about the same topic with Jamie, they disagree on which group, Asians or Mexicans,

is more like Hester. According to Jamie if the tag was worn by Mexican it does not empower

them, instead “It just makes people judge all of you together” (76). This indicates a different

perspective of racism among Asians and Mexicans since each group considers itself the main

target of the racial discrimination

Racial stereotypes, the Asian- Mexican divide and the difference between their views

about racism is a key driving force in Suguira’s novel. In her story, racial stereotypes

considerably influence the relationship between children and their mothers and their interactions

with other groups. The details about the origin of the Asian-Mexican discrimination is unclear

but it is clear that the Asians consider themselves brighter and superior to the Mexicans. While

the girls strive to break through from the chains of racism, they somehow get caught up in it

unknowingly due to the influence of their environments. The author deliberately suggests that

there is something wrong with our society models where racial minorities do not feel safe

enough while interacting with the majorities.

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Work Cited

Suguira, Misa. It’s Not Like It’s a Secret. HarperTeen, 2017.