Crazy Rich Asians

As mentioned in the previous theme, the wealth disparities between the characters in Crazy Rich Asians add to the conflict in their lives. This plays out with three of the couples in the book: Nick and Rachel, Astrid and Michael, and Alistair and Kitty. For the wealthy Youngs, Leongs, and Chengs, finding spouses that come from similar backgrounds is crucial because of the importance of familial status in Singaporean society. Cousins Nick, Astrid, and Alistair all have made romantic choices that fall outside of what their family wants, particularly matriarch Shang Su Yi. Money affects each of these relationships in distinct ways.

Nick and Rachel are the main romantic pairing in the story, and their story is paralleled by Astrid’s relationship with her husband Michael. Just like Rachel, Michael does not come from money, and he enters a relationship with someone who comes from an exceptionally privileged background. Nick and Astrid, on the other hand, are from the same incredibly wealthy family, and both struggle with the pressure from their families to marry someone considered a suitable match in terms of wealth and class. Eleanor expresses such fears about Rachel to Nick’s father Philip in Chapter 13: “You know as well as I do that your son can never marry someone like that. Can you imagine how your family is going to react when he brings this gold digger home?” (113). Kwan uses Alistair and Kitty’s relationship to show that Eleanor’s fears are not entirely unfounded; Kitty claims to love Alistair, but after hearing a rumor that he won’t inherit anything, she runs off with Bernard, whose boorish personality is nothing like Alistair’s.

While Nick and Rachel and Michael and Astrid are parallels, the two couples differ in how Nick’s and Astrid’s family wealth affects their relationships. Nick and Rachel have a very healthy relationship overall, and their struggles with each other lie not in their class differences but in their lack of communication. They entered their partnership on equal terms and developed a true affection for each other before Rachel became aware of Nick’s background. Their love is true, but Rachel struggles with Nick concealing things from her to protect her. Michael and Astrid met at a charity fashion event where Astrid watched Michael model. Michael entered the relationship knowing that Astrid was a wealthy heiress, and he was still figuring out how to make something of himself. In the end, Michael finds Astrid’s wealth emasculating, and he feels reduced by her family to the role of IT guy, even though he has a degree and works for the military.

Rachel’s mother immigrated from China shortly after Rachel was born. The Asian American experience in American culture is often that of an outsider, both in the country the individual’s family is from and in the mainstream culture of the United States. Asian Americans also tend to be viewed as perpetual foreigners, even if they have been a part of their community for generations. This is shown through flashbacks of the Young family experiencing discrimination despite their wealth and perfect, British-accented English. Likewise, while Rachel doesn’t exactly express these feelings, it’s evident in her experiences in Singapore. Despite speaking Mandarin and being connected to her Chinese culture, she is still made to feel like an outsider in Asia.

While there’s ample evidence of Rachel’s othering in Singapore, the book doesn’t explicitly state what her feelings are about her experiences in New York. However, inferences can be made based on how difficult things were for Kerry while Rachel was growing up. Kerry moved around a lot and worked in kitchens at Chinese restaurants to support herself and her daughter. She struggled in a society that wasn’t immediately welcoming to her. Similarly, Rachel experiences discrimination outwardly from the people in Singapore, who constantly look down on “ABCs,” or American Born Chinese: “‘Everyone knows these ABCs are descended from all the peasants that were too stupid to survive in China!’ Nadine cackled” (115). Rachel’s struggle to fit in with the Singaporeans in Nick’s upper-crust world mirrors the way Asian Americans sometimes find it difficult to fit in with either their heritage culture or American culture completely. Rachel’s experience also represents what Asian Americans who have never, or rarely, gone to Asia might feel upon traveling to their parents’ home country.