Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Crazy Rich Asians, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Wealth and Absurdity
Marriage and Money
Family vs. Individuality
Chinese vs. Western Culture
Summary
Analysis
Eddie is in Shanghai with his best friend Leo Ming, inspecting Leo’s new luxe penthouse apartment. The closet, a 2,000-square-foot hangar, puts Eddie over the edge. Leo explains that the closet is climate-controlled and different parts are kept at different temperatures and humidity to best preserve wool or leather. Pronouncing “pièce” like “peace,” he says the “pièce de résistance” is his mirror, which is a computer that keeps track of every time he’s worn each garment so he never wears the same outfit twice. Eddie is ready to shove Leo’s face in the mirror—Leo always gets fancy things he doesn’t deserve. Eddie is so unlucky to have been born to parents who give him nothing.
That Eddie is so angrily jealous of his supposed best friend suggests Eddie—and possibly other members of his family—don’t show their true colors to people’s faces. Losing his cool over Leo’s closet and mirror highlights how important dressing well is to Eddie; the narration implies that Eddie is eager to not wear the same thing twice and to have a mirror that will help him do that. However, Leo seems to be sincere when he pronounces “pièce” wrong. Knowing how to pronounce a French word like this commonly suggests someone is educated and worldly, implying that Leo is certainly rich but that he doesn’t have everything. It’s unclear, though, if Eddie picks up on Leo’s mistake or whether this aside is just for readers.
Themes
The gossips all agree Eddie’s life is enviable. His family is prestigious, he attended fancy schools, works at a prestigious bank, married pretty Fiona, and has three well-behaved children (though each of these things has its faults). Eddie and Fiona live in one of the fanciest buildings and own five parking spots, which five extremely fancy cars inhabit. He has houses abroad and a collection of expensive watches. Still, Eddie feels like he has nothing, since he doesn’t have a plane, a crew for his yacht, or art by “dead American artists.” His parents unfairly insist he has to live off his earnings, and he won’t inherit any money until he’s ancient since his parents are healthy and won’t die for years. He keeps a spreadsheet to calculate his potential inheritance and no matter how he calculates things, he’ll never make the “Hong Kong’s Top Ten Richest” list.
Eddie comes off as extremely entitled, since he seems to have everything a person could want—and yet it’s never enough. For instance, Eddie seems to imply there’s no point in owning a yacht if he doesn’t employ a crew for it. More intriguing, though, is Eddie’s constant focus on his potential inheritance. This shows readers that for some people in Nick’s circle, family isn’t about love or support—it’s about money. Eddie, for instance, seems genuinely upset that his parents won’t die soon; he cares way more about getting their money someday than he does about having a long, fulfilling relationship with them.
Themes
Eddie’s parents, to his mind, are wildly selfish. They bought him his first apartment, sure, but they don’t flaunt their wealth. Malcolm Cheng rides in an outdated Rolls-Royce, while Alexandra could be great if she’d only stop being so miserly and move out of her flat. Eddie hates the flat, which is still decorated with clearance furniture from the 1980s and in which he had to share a room with his brother. He hates the family photographs and that his mother talks so much about her “happy memories of the flat”—Eddie has no happy memories of living there. Now, as he vows to one day have a closet cool enough to make Leo’s look quaint, he reminds himself he has something Leo can’t buy: an invitation to the Khoo wedding.
Eddie’s tone is shocking in its anger and entitlement. His focus is entirely on money and on wishing his parents weren’t such embarrassments to him. While it’s not uncommon for children to find their parents embarrassing, though, Eddie’s reasons are pretty unique to his financial situation. Still, Eddie has something to hold onto: because his family is in a higher circle of society than Leo’s, they’re invited to Colin Khoo’s wedding. This begins to show readers that the wedding is an important event for ultrawealthy circles in all of Asia, not just in Singapore.
Themes
