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 and Peik Lin are at a restaurant, and Rachel is telling her friend about Kitty Pong’s visible nipples and black thong, as well as the disastrous bachelorette party. She then shares what staying at Tyersall Park has been like: she has a personal maid, there’s lavender water in the irons, and the breakfast buffet is in a different part of the house every morning. And tonight, the pre-wedding party is on a boat. Peik Lin asks what “outfits” Rachel is planning to wear this weekend. Rachel reveals that she brought only one nice dress, though she’s not worried about wearing it to every event since she’s just not into fashion. Scandalized, Peik Lin says she’s taking Rachel shopping.
Even Rachel, who isn’t well-versed in fashion, is fully aware that Kitty made a huge mistake with her outfit and makeup. The novel thus presents Kitty as having bad taste that is universally recognizable; that is, even readers who don’t recognize most brand names the narration drops will know without a doubt that Kitty is a joke. Peik Lin seeks to remedy Rachel’s perceived fashion mistakes by taking her shopping, possibly giving Rachel yet another edge over Kitty (since the novel is pitting both women against each other, as they’re both “inappropriate” outsiders seeking to marry in).
Themes
Not long after, Rachel is in Patric’s atelier, standing on a dais in her underwear while Patric studies her body. Shouting for his assistant, Patric asks for dresses to be brought in. Peik Lin explains that people all over Asia shop here, as the dresses are always fresh off the runway and Patric studied fashion in London, so his eye is exceptional. Thumbing through a rack, Rachel notes that there are no tags—that means the dresses are expensive, and she won’t let Peik Lin buy her a dress. Peik Lin scoffs. Coming to a dress with hand-painted flowers on it, Rachel says she likes it. But Patric appears and takes it from her, as it’s reserved for Mandy Ling.
This phase of the shopping expedition is wildly uncomfortable for Rachel: Patric gets awfully up close and personal with her body, while Rachel isn’t prepared to drop thousands of dollars on a dress. This manner of shopping is also entirely new to Rachel, who is implied to be more comfortable with an American department store experience (that is, she’s used to perusing racks and choosing what she wants to try, not having someone dress her like a doll).
Themes
Patric puts Rachel in dress after dress as Peik Lin reads the Singapore Tattle’s coverage of the wedding (it notes that Annabel spent more than $40 million on it). It lists some of the notable families who will be there—including the Taipei Plastics Chus. To her surprise, Rachel enjoys the experience. Finally, Peik Lin asks one of Patric’s assistants to wrap an entire rack of dresses and hands over her American Express card. Rachel argues that she can pay and insists she only needs one dress, since she has her black and white one. Noting that those are mourning colors and asking if Rachel is “really Chinese,” Peik Lin tells Rachel to save her money for souvenirs.
The Tattle is almost certainly referring to Rachel when it lists the Taipei Plastics Chus, reinforcing that simply because she’s Nick’s date, Rachel is already attracting a lot of attention. Peik Lin is perhaps being dramatic when she asks if Rachel is “really Chinese,” but she also highlights again that Rachel isn’t well-versed in traditional Chinese culture. She needs allies, like Peik Lin, to guide her through this event without making a huge, potentially offensive mistake.
Themes
Meanwhile, on the other side of Patric’s atelier, assistants are lacing Amanda Ling into an Alexander McQueen gown. Amanda is jetlagged and annoyed, and she tells her mom, Jacqueline Ling, that the dress is too tight and that she didn’t want to come to “Araminta’s silly wedding.” Jacqueline quips that Amanda had one job in New York and she failed, since Nick is obviously going to propose to “this girl.” Amanda proudly says she’s part of New York society now, and Nick isn’t going to propose. Jacqueline doesn’t care.
Amanda is very clearly happy with her life in New York and has little desire to dive back into Singaporean social politics. But just as Eleanor is trying to position Nick to carry on the family name and preserve the family’s fortune, Jacqueline is also trying to bully her daughter into bettering the family’s position. It doesn’t matter to Jacqueline that Amanda has no interest in marrying Nick (or that Nick is smitten with Rachel). The people in the younger generation are treated like pawns, not humans.
Themes
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