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
Rachel wakes up early the next morning and admires the elegant suite she and Nick are in, as well as the pool. Then, she contacts her friend Goh Peik Lin about getting together. Right at noon, Peik Lin shows up at the hotel dressed in designer clothes that show off her curves. After Nick tells them goodbye, Peik Lin shows Rachel to her big, gold BMW and says that Rachel’s casual outfit is fine—they’re going to her parents’ house for “traditional home cooking,” and her parents are “so casual.” As they drive, Peik Lin points out the major shopping area, and Rachel remembers how, in college, Peik Lin bought a Porsche convertible since they were “such a bargain” in the U.S. and showered Rachel with fancy meals and spa days. Peik Lin is rich, but she has never been snobby about it.
Peik Lin’s total lack of snobbishness is refreshing after Eleanor’s cruel prejudice—Peik Lin is wearing expensive clothes and has an expensive car, but she also accepts Rachel exactly as she is. In this passage, that’s especially true when it comes to Rachel’s clothes; Peik Lin doesn’t make Rachel feel like she has to wear designer clothing to fit in. However, it remains to be seen what “traditional home cooking” means, and what being “casual” entails in Peik Lin’s mind. Her idea of a casual family meal, in other words, is likely pretty different than Rachel’s.
Themes
Peik Lin tells Rachel about the booming housing market and the flats she just purchased for 2.1 million (a deal, since her family built them) and will sell soon for four million. There’s no risk of the market collapsing, Peik Lin explains, because the demand is real: rich folks from Mainland China want to be here, in the most stable country in the region. The car reaches a tightly-packed suburban neighborhood, one of the few developments like it in Singapore. They reach a gated mansion named Villa d’Oro, which is decorated to look like Versailles. It’d only be worth three million in the U.S., but here, Peik Lin notes, it’s worth 30 million—and the house (which her parents built a few years ago) is considered a teardown.
Here, readers get a brief look at what housing in Singapore is like. Only a tiny percentage of available housing is single-family, like Villa d’Oro; most people live in flats like the ones Peik Lin just purchased. So, simply owning a detached single-family house shows that the Goh family is extremely wealthy. Peik Lin also reveals that Singapore experiences a pretty constant influx of rich Mainland Chinese people. This may contribute to Eleanor and her ilk’s bigotry towards the Mainland Chinese population, as Eleanor may see their arrival diluting her power.
Themes
An Indonesian maid in a frilly French maid’s uniform shows Peik Lin and Rachel into the foyer, which features marble floors and a 40-foot high replica of Fragonard’s painting The Swing. Peik Lin leads Rachel into her mom’s recreation of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, which makes Rachel’s eyes widen: the room and its furnishings are all gold, and there’s a pond in the center housing baby sharks. Just then, Peik Lin’s mom and her three Pekingese (Astor, Trump, and Vanderbilt) enter, and Peik Lin’s mom crushes Rachel in a hug and asks Rachel to call her Auntie Neena. The woman grabs Rachel’s wrist (Rachel notices the enormous yellow diamond on her hand) and drags Rachel to the dining room, where the entire Goh family is seated around a giant table.
It’s perhaps a bit surprising to see a Singaporean house decked out in such an obvious French style, but this points to the relationship between Singaporeans and Europe: embracing European styles is one way wealthy families like the Gohs can signal their wealth and culture. The sheer amount of gold inherent to this style of decorating is also no doubt a draw—it’s expensive, and it’s an easy shorthand for opulence. The Pekingese, meanwhile, are named after American developers, a nod to the Gohs’ property development business.
Themes
Rachel meets Peik Lin’s brothers, P.T. and Peik Wing; Peik Wing’s wife, Sheryl, and their daughters (who are eating chicken nuggets off gold-rimmed plates); and Peik Ling’s father, who insists Rachel call him Uncle Wye Mun. Neena insists the dozen platters on the table are just a “simple lunch” and “simple food” and urges Rachel to eat. When Peik Lin’s nieces ask to be excused without finishing their nuggets, Neena tells them to eat—“there are children starving in America.” Over lunch, Rachel and Wye Mun discuss the Goh family’s business, and then Peik Lin’s parents ask about Rachel’s boyfriend and the wedding she and Nick are attending. Neena screeches when she hears Rachel is attending Colin Khoo’s wedding—it’s the biggest social event of the year, and the bride and groom are from two of the richest and most influential families in Asia.
As expected, “casual” “traditional home cooking” isn’t at all what Rachel thought it would be. This food was prepared by a chef, and yet this seems normal for the Gohs. This passage mainly plays this for laughs, particularly when Neena notes that there are children starving in America. The classic American line is that there are children starving in Africa, so seeing this turned around on Americans is intended to be shocking and a bit uncomfortable. This allows readers to empathize more with Rachel as she experiences the culture shock firsthand. It’s therefore a shock to hear that Colin and Araminta’s wedding is the hugest social event of the year, as this is another indicator to Rachel that she’s wading into a social (and economic) scene she’s in no way prepared for.
Themes
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The Goh family members ask Rachel about meeting Colin and Araminta; Sheryl wants to know what Araminta was wearing. Peik Lin explains that Rachel and Nick are staying at the hotel that Colin’s family owns. Then, Uncle Wye Mun and Auntie Neena try to figure out who Nicholas Young is. Rachel doesn’t know what primary school he went to, and nobody recognizes his name. Wye Mun tells Rachel to figure out what Nick’s dad’s name is, because then they’ll know if he’s from a “good” family or not. Rachel says it doesn’t matter to her, but Wye Mun insists he must make sure Nick is good enough for Rachel.
Again, Rachel has to face how little she actually knows about Nick, his family, and his upbringing. He has purposefully omitted this information to avoid alienating Rachel, but now it begins to feel a bit more like he made a mistake by keeping his wealth a secret. Wye Mun, like the Youngs, believes it’s important to make a socially acceptable match, which is why she insists on vetting Rachel. Rachel, for her part, doesn’t care because she’s been raised to think of marriage in terms of love and support, not as a way to consolidate money or to cement one’s social standing.
Themes
