Wow! I only put that in, in case someone was aware of enough to realize that heightened intelligence was not always a blessing. I didn't expect someone to actually pick up on it! :)

Essentially, when one can see and know what other people can't, one is out of step with others. Nobody believes you. Nobody helps you. Nobody sees the dangers or the injustice or the potential good that you do. It is very lonely, and it can be overwhelming.

That said, in our world, with the web, there is such much potential for connectivity, it isn't the issue it used to be. Like minds, and like schools and levels of knowledge can find each other.

I do not think it was her knowledge or her intelligence that was at issue here. Rather I think it was rejection, etc. I'm going to quote from Wiki.

"Her third book, The Chinese in America: A Narrative History (2003),[11] is a history of Chinese Americans, that argues their treatment as perpetual outsiders by American society. Consistent with the style of her earlier works, the book relies heavily on personal accounts, drawing its strong emotional content from their stories. She wrote, "The America of today would not be the same America without the achievements of its ethnic Chinese," and that "scratch the surface of every American celebrity of Chinese heritage and you will find that, no matter how stellar their achievements, no matter how great their contribution to US society, virtually all of them have had their identities questioned at one point or another."

Both immigrants and minorities struggle in wanting acceptance into cultures that are not their own. It rarely happens. First generation immigrants never settle, although their children do.

I would think there was a combination of factors in her case.

1. She grew up in a family with a different culture to the one around her. When I was having strong identity issues when I was 16, I asked my father what I was. My father replied, "You are half-caste - it will be difficult now, but you will be stronger later." That is not true. One never really finds an identity. One is always an outsider.

2. She was married, had a two year old, and yet she was suffering from depression. While many do not want to accept it, there is no such thing as brain chemistry causing depression. It is the result of unresolved trauma and life situations.

I do not know enough about her personal situation. At a guess, I would say that the lady was highly intelligent, driven to finding out the reason for her lack of acceptance, struggling with her identity and a strong sense of injustice.

That's about it.