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
Eleanor is not impressed with Lorena Lim’s new Shenzhen apartment. It’s shiny and fancy, but there’s no taste to it—she has no idea why “all these Mainland developers” think orange marble is okay. When a maid brings her a bowl of fish porridge, Eleanor asks for toast and marmalade instead. Lorena, hanging up a phone call, teases Eleanor for scorning a traditional Chinese breakfast while complaining that Nick is too Westernized. Carol enters and says she has a top-secret shopping spot to take her friends to before they meet Lorena’s contact. A bit later, Carol leads her friends to a nondescript office building. A young man leads the ladies through a construction site, barren hallways, and up a rattly elevator. Double doors at the end of a hall open to reveal a gorgeous boutique, which Carol says has “the very best fakes.”
Once again, the novel draws a distinction between the old money “Overseas Chinese,” like Eleanor, and the newly-rich “Mainland Chinese.” In this case, per Eleanor, she and other old money folks have taste, while the Mainland Chinese do not. This also points to more strife and judgment in Eleanor’s friendships, as Lorena bought this “tasteless” apartment—does this mean she has no taste? Then, Lorena notes how hypocritical Eleanor is in asking for an English breakfast. English culture and customs are okay when Eleanor follows them—but when Nick does this, she thinks it’s inappropriate.
Themes
Daisy whispers to Eleanor that all the shoppers are, like them, tourists—“Mainlanders only want the real thing.” Eleanor thinks the Mainlanders have the right idea, but Carol notes that if either of them carried one of these fake purses, nobody would suspect it was fake since they can afford the real thing. Eleanor moves along and comes upon Jacqueline Ling, one of her least favorite people. Jacqueline insists she’s buying something for a friend and remarks that Eleanor wasn’t at Tyersall Park last night. She infers that Eleanor hasn’t met Rachel, so she says that Rachel was “staring openmouthed at everything around the house.” Eleanor asks how Amanda is doing and is surprised to hear that Amanda is coming home for the Khoo wedding (she and Araminta are archrivals). Eleanor’s friends approach, scaring off Jacqueline, but Eleanor can’t help thinking that Amanda would be a perfect match for Nick.
Carol hits on something important here: everyone in Singapore knows that Eleanor and her friends are wealthy, so they can do whatever they want, more or less. Nobody will question if their purse is real—which means there are certainly other things these women can get away with, thanks to their wealth and power. Note that Eleanor describes Jacqueline outright as someone she doesn’t like. However, Oliver described Jacqueline’s bloodline to Rachel as “impeccable.” And so, Eleanor reasons, it’s worth possibly putting up with Jacqueline going forward if she can get Nick to marry Amanda. This shows Eleanor thinking of family as a way to preserve power and prestige, and she also dehumanizes Nick.
Themes
