conflicts in society, and then generate class struggles for the sake of economic power. In addition, the storyline that rolls is consciously determined by Kwan’s
ideological intention. The socioeconomic class that struggles from the conflicts indicates which side of class he stands. Therefore, his authorial ideology can be
discovered. To ease in presenting the findings, analysis of the class structure is broken down into two sections based on the conflicts that happen to the Chinese
characters. The first is between the Young and the Chu families, and the second is between the Leong and the Teo families.
1. The Youngs vs. The Chus
In this class structure, The Chus comes from the proletariat class, whereas the Young family belongs to the bourgeois class. The members of the Chu family
analyzed in this section are Rachel and her mother Kerry, meanwhile Nicholas Young, his mother Eleanor Young and his grandmother Shang Su Yi are analyzed
as representatives of the Young family. The main substance concerning the distinction of class structure between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats is the
means of production, which are controlled by private ownerships Eagleton, 1976b: 3. As the bourgeoisie, the Youngs own material qualities, such as
resources, lands, assets and properties. Their ownerships place the family at the upper position in Singaporean society, to the extent that they are regarded as
aristocratic elites. Furthermore, the Youngs are considered old money because their wealth has
been inherited since many generations before them. In a society as urban as
Singapore, the old-moneyed families are more respected than the new moneyed families, who usually come from Mainland China and display their wealth
vulgarly. As a long-lineaged family that has been long savoring prosperity, the Youngs are severely secretive. Their secretiveness creates an exclusive social
sphere among Singaporean and Asian bourgeoisie that is untouchable for the proletariats. On top of the family tree provided at the beginning of the novel is
Nick’s grandfather, the majestic Sir James Young.
“The Youngs are descended, I believe, from a long line of royal court physicians, going all the way back to the Tang dynasty. James Young––
Sir James Young, actually––was the first Western-educated neurologist in Singapore, trained at Oxford.”
… “So if James Young never made money, how did––“ Wye Mun began.
“You didn’t listen, Wye Mun I said that James Young wasn’t interested in making money, but I never said he didn’t have any. The Youngs had
money, generations of money. …”
Kwan, 2013: 232-233 In their culture, arranged marriages are common among Chinese bourgeoisie.
The ultimate goal is to tie up the fortunes of both bride’s and groom’s families Ji, 2010: par.9. It can be seen when Sir James Young was married off to Shang Su
Yi. The Young family’s wealth is accumulated because Su Yi also comes from a prosperous family. The unification of these two long-pedigreed bourgeois families
constructs an even greater economic power, which set them further apart from the proletariats.
Furthermore, traditional Chinese principles are known to be patriarchal. The means of power only rely on, and for the advantage of, men. For example,
family’s inheritance is divided only among male siblings with the eldest son receives the biggest amount. Daughters only obtain dowries given when they are
married, and rarely have additional portions upon the death of their parents Windows On Asia, 2014: par.2. Conversely, the novel puts a twist on this male-
dominated ideology because Su Yi is characterized as the heiress to her father’s wealth.
“… Besides, James married Shang Su Yi. And she, I can tell you for a fact, comes from a family so unfathomably rich, it would make your eyes
water, Wye Mun.” “Who is she then?” Wye Mun asked, his curiosity piqued to boiling point.
“All right, I will tell you and shut you up once and for all. She is the daughter of Shang Loong Ma. Never heard that name, either, right? He was
an enormously wealthy banker in Peking, and before the Qing dynasty fell, he very smartly moved his money to Singapore, where he made an
even greater fortune in shipping and commodities. The man had his tentacles in every major business in the region––he controlled all the
shipping lines from the Dutch East Indies to Siam, and he was the mastermind behind uniting the early Hokkien banks in the thirties.”
“So Nick’s grandmother inherited all of that,” Peik Lin surmised.
Kwan, 2013: 233-234 Within traditional Chinese families, elder widows with adult sons or
grandsons hold the cores to authority and control Windows On Asia, 2014: par.2. Throughout the novel, Su Yi is portrayed as the matriarch of both the
Young and Shang affluences. It can be said that Su Yi is imperative over the family’s affairs. This value of filial piety or respect for elders implies that
Singapore is governed by Confucian ideology. Another instance of Confucianism found in the novel is shown by the vital
role of family in individual life. Social status is defined by pedigree of the family a person was born into. Nick possesses the privilege of having born into this
established family. Moreover, he is the only grandson with Young last name, and thus unmistakably the sole heir apparent to the family’s fortunes. To get the
essence of how many legacies he will inherit, a comparison to his best friend
Colin Khoo is drawn. The Khoos are one of the wealthiest families in Singapore, yet the Youngs are wealthier than them.
Colin fished out Nick’s New York State driver’s license and held it in front of his face. “Tell me what this says.”
Nick rolled his eyes but played along. “Nicholas A. Young.” “Yes, that’s it. YOUNG. Now, out of your entire family, are there any
other male cousins with this surname?” “No.”
“My point exactly. Besides your father, you are the only Young left in the line. You are the heir apparent, whether you choose to believe it or not.
What’s more, your grandmother adores you. And everyone knows your grandmother controls both the Shang and Young fortunes.”
… “Why do you think my grandfather, who treats everyone so dismissively,
treats you like a visiting prince every time he sees you?” “And here I thought your grandfather just liked me.”
“My grandfather is an asshole. He only cares about power and prestige and expanding the fucking Khoo empire. That’s why he encouraged this
whole thing with Araminta, and that’s why he’s always dictated whom I could be friends with. Even when we were kids, I remember him saying,
‘You be nice to that Nicholas. Remember, we are nothing compared to the Youngs.’”
Kwan, 2013: 115-116 Among Singaporean bourgeoisie, the numbers of family business and the
percentage of them that will be inherited assign how much one is worth. Nick’s
birthright, in form of the means of production, confers him economic supremacy that heightens his social standing. Additionally, the legacies that are going to be
bestowed upon him also come from his mother’s side of family, Eleanor Young.
She was born “a Sung––a respectable” and “rich family” Kwan, 2013: 335. It has allowed her [and her husband, Philip] to “live very well, mostly due to the
legacy she received from her parents.” Kwan, 2013: 346. This economic
authority boosts her dominance on family’s matters, which at some points creates tension between her and her mother-in-law, Su Yi. However, these women have
the same understanding and ally together upon meeting Nick’s girlfriend, Rachel Chu.
Coming from a different economic class, the Chus are far below the Youngs in social strata. As a proletariat, Rachel was born into neither an established
family nor an old-moneyed one. She is a Mainland Chinese descendant whose mother Kerry took her to United States when she was a baby. This background
designates them a lower social status as well as economic inferiority in the face of Singaporean urban society.
“She was born in Mainland China and went to America when she was six month old.”
“So?” “Did you hear me? Mainland China’
Phillip was baffled. “Doesn’t everybody’s family ultimately originate from Mainland China? Where would you rather her be from? Iceland?”
“Don’t be funny with me Her family comes from some ulu ulu village in China that nobody has ever heard of. The investigator thinks that they
were most likely working class. In other words, they are PEASANTS”
Kwan, 2013: 80 To Singaporean bourgeoisie, American Chinese, even worse that come from
secluded rural regions in Mainland China, are considered as the poorest socio- ethnic group among all Chinese ethnicities. This preconceived judgment has been
constructed since the big Chinese immigrations to the United Stated back in the 19
th
century. Their willingness to work with underpaid wage create cheap labor force, which define their social status in the society as proletariats. Barely having
skill, they ended up as manual labors who had to restart their life from scratch. Rachel and her mother also have to go through this immigrant struggle. Kerry,
who does not have any means of production, relies only on her manual labor force to earn money. She only graduated from Junior High School, thus does not
qualify for white-collar occupations. She ends up waiting tables at Chinese restaurants in several states with Rachel tagging along.
“I realized that, Mom. I know it’s different because you were a single mom, and you took me everywhere,” Rachel mused. Back when she was a child, it
seemed like every year or so her mother would answer a classified ad in World Journal, the Chinese-American newspaper, and they would go to a
new job in some random Chinese restaurant in some random town. Images of all those tiny boarding house rooms and makeshift beds in cities
like East Lansing, Phoenix, and Tallahassee flashed through her head.
Kwan, 2013: 52 As Rachel grows up, she and her mother strive to improve their financial
condition through education. Kerry attends night schools and then works as a real- estate agent. Meanwhile, Rachel goes to Stanford and Northwestern University.
After she got her doctorate degree, she teaches at New York University under Economic Department Kwan, 2013: 164. However, this financial improvement
does not make them new moneyed family, thus their socioeconomic status still belongs to the proletariats. University professors in the United States do not earn
as much as that of in Singapore. Singaporean citizens are mostly High-Net- Worth-individuals, high-skilled labors are not enough to consider the Chus as
bourgeoisie. Even though Rachel possesses intellectual labor power, she does not have the privilege of having born to an established family, thus she has no
birthright.
“So Rachel, I hear you teach at NYU with Nick?” Lorena cut in. This Francesca girl is getting on my nerves. We’re here to interrogate RACHEL,
not Astrid. “Yes, I do,” Rachel replied.
“Which department?” Nadine asked, fully knowing the answer since Eleanor had read the entire dossier on Rachel Chu to all the ladies while they were
getting hour-long reflexology massage in Shenzhen. “I’m in the Department of Economics, and I teach at the undergrad
level.”
“And how much did you get paid a year?” Nadine inquired. Rachel was dumbstruck.
“Aiyah, Mummy, to Americans, it’s very rude to ask how much somebody makes,” Francesca said at last, clearly delighting in seeing Rachel
squirm. “Oh, is it? I was just curious to know how much a college teacher in
America could possibly earn,” Nadine said in her most innocent tone. “Would you consider working in Asia?” Daisy asked.
Rachel paused. It seemed like a pretty loaded question, and she figured that the group would dissect whatever answer she gave.
Kwan, 2013: 248-249 Furthermore, the economic relation between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariats in the novel can be comprehended when the family members of the Youngs and Chus interact. From the interactions between these two different
classes, a class conflict is raised. The conflict begins when Nick brings Rachel home to meet his family. She is scrutinized by from every angle, especially from
the economic assessment. The fact that she does not come from a wealthy family makes them worried that she is probably a gold digger who is going to suck up the
Young fortune or a social climber who is looking for financial security from Nick’s money. Therefore, the economic relation between the Youngs and the
Chus does not run smoothly. She caught sight of Rachel and forced a smile. “Oh, hello there Look, Philip,
it’s Rachel Chu” In another designer dress. Every time I see this girl, she’s wearing something more expensive than the last time. My God, she must be
draining Nicky’s money market account.
Kwan, 2013: 281 As seen vividly, Eleanor bears classism in her mind. The bourgeois ideology
contrives her to limitedly deem Rachel as an individual based on her background as American Chinese immigrant. As a result, her classist perspective sees Rachel
by way of a proletariat who is seeking economic advantages out of her son.
Nevertheless, this classist ideology is shared among other Singaporean bourgeoisie. Rachel is not welcome with open arms by Nick’s family as well as
by his friends from his bourgeois circle. They, particularly the girls, treat her a little less dignified. Rachel’s economic inferiority becomes their ultimate weapon
for these Chinese ‘Mean Girls’ to undervalue her. The reason is discernibly to make her feel small about herself in Singaporean society.
As Rachel was trying on the white blouse in the dressing room, she overheard two girls in the next dressing room chatting away.
“Did you see what she was wearing? Where did she get that cheap-looking tunic top?––Mango?”
“How can you expect her to have any style?” Think she gets it from reading American Vogue? Hahaha.”
“Actually, Francesca says that she’s not even ABC––she was born in Mainland China”
“I knew it She’s got that same desperate look that all my servants have.” “Well, here’s a chance for her to get some decent clothes at last”
“Just you watch, with all that Young money she’s going to upgrade pretty damn quick
” “We’ll see––all the money in the world can’t buy you taste if you weren’t
born with it.
”
Kwan, 2013: 180-181 Nick is the scion of this bourgeoisie clan, thus is similar to a crown prince.
His social position makes all Singaporean Chinese women at marriageable ages want to be Mrs. Young. As his girlfriend whom he brings home from the United
State, Rachel consequently becomes the sole object of jealousy from these women. Nonetheless, Nick is expected to marry a woman from the same strata,
and his mother does her best to secure that. She asks for help from Francesca, the daughter of her best friend, Nadine Shaw. Francesca and her friends insolently
display that Rachel is not accepted by Singaporean bourgeoisie. As such, the class conflict is not longer only between the Youngs and the Chus, but has broadened to
involve the whole Singaporean bourgeois society as well. To scare Rachel off, they put a bleeding dead fish in her bag.
What the hell happened? She turned on the lamp by the table and opened the front flap of her bag. She screamed, jerking backward in horror and knocking
over the table lamp. Her bag was filled with a large fish that had been badly mutilated, blood
seeping out from its gills. Violently scrawled on the vanity mirror above the chair in fish blood were the words “CATCH THIS, YOU GOLD
DIGGING CUNT”
Kwan, 2013: 206 This nasty prank can be taken as class oppression. Explained by Lott 1995:
13, oppression often takes form in everyday practices, such as attitude and mannerism of the bourgeoisie towards the proletariats. The oppressive action done
by Francesca and her bourgeois friends is meant to put Rachel back on her proletariat position. As a victim, Rachel wants to confront them for what they do,
but she knows for sure that with their economic superiority they can pretty much act in anyway they like. Moreover, she is a tough woman who has experienced
life struggles as a Chinese immigrant in the United States, thus the girls’ bitter behavior does not compare to that.
Knowing her mischievous deed does not shock her in a big way, Francesca creates a scheme to sabotage Rachel and Nick’s relationship, and then steals him
for herself. She thinks she is the one who deserves to be Nick’s wife, because she also comes from a long-pedigreed family. In order to make Rachel jealous, she
reveals a story about her sexual encounter with Nick and his girlfriend at the time, Amanda Ling. To make her feeling worse, Francesca hyperbolizes how much
Nick was sexually into her.
Francesca smirked. “Of course. That’s why she brought up the whole Capri story––I was there too, you know, Mandy’s never gotten over how
into me Nick was when we had our threesome.” Rachel could feel her face get hot. Very hot. She wanted to bolt from the
table but her legs seemed to have turned glue. Sophie and Lauren stared at Francesca, mouths agape.
Francesca looked straight into Rachel’s face and kept on chattering lightly, “Oh, does Nick still do that trick with the underside of his
tongue? Mandy was far too prissy to let him go down on her, but my God, on me he would stay down there for hours.”
Kwan, 2013: 319 This time, Francesca’s effort to break Rachel down is paid off, hereby the
conflict starts to demonstrate its effect. Rachel starts to realize that their differences on socioeconomic background are too enormous to conquer and Nick
deserve a woman as wealthy as he is. However, Nick assures Rachel that this foul teenage story is in the past and shall not affect their relationship. No one of these
Singaporean girls, including Francesca, catches his attention, even though they all come from the same bourgeois class like his family. Matter-of-factly, Rachel is
the only woman he has ever thought of being married with. Marriage is an essential stage in both Chinese men and women. In Chinese
culture, marriage is not simply a matter between two people, but rather a union between two families. Therefore, there are lots of things to be considered, from
financial situation to breeding, which romance is out of the consideration. Although in urban Chinese society parents do not strictly arrange marriages for
their children anymore, parental authority remains important factor and the approval of family is strongly influential in the choice of a spouse Ji, 2010:
pars.2-7. Nonetheless, the class conflict between the Youngs and the Chus reaches its climax when Nick is going to propose to Rachel. His mother and
grandmother disapprove of their relationship because her family is neither established nor old-moneyed like theirs.
Eleanor was seething inside, but she tried to speak in a measured voice. “I’m sure Rachel is a nice girl, but she can never be your wife.”
“And why is that?” Nick leaned back in his chair, amused by the absurdity of his mother’s words.
“She is just not suitable for you, Nicky. She does not come from the right background.”
“Nobody is ever going to come from ‘the right background’ in your eyes,” Nick scoffed.
“I’m only telling what everyone is already thinking, Nick. You haven’t heard the horrible things I’ve heard. Do you know her family comes
from Mainland China?” “Stop it, Mum. I’m so fed up with this ridiculous snobbery you and your
friends have toward the Mainland Chinese. We are all Chinese. Just because some people actually work for their money doesn’t mean they
are beneath you.” Eleanor shook her head and continued in a graver tone, “Nicky, you don’t
understand. She will never be accepted. And I’m not talking about your dad and me––I’m talking about your dear Ah Ma and the rest of the
family.
Kwan, 2013: 334-345 In addition, a class conflict is about the decisiveness of power to reconstruct
social life in certain rules of conduct Isaac et al., 2008: 6. Eleanor and Su Yi try
to stir Nick’s personal life and future to the kind of life they deem decorous. To do so, they set up a scheme to sabotage Nick and Rachel’s relationship. According
to Scott in Isaac et al., 2008: 19-20, hidden acts of resentment, such as feigned ignorance and sabotage, are identified as forms of class conflict. Eleanor hires a
private investigator to dig up Rachel’s family background. The reason of Eleanor and Su Yi’s disapproval of Rachel marrying Nick is even more augmented when
they find out about the truth about her complicated past. It is found out that her surname is Zhou, while her mother’s is Ching, and that the man she was married
to is imprisoned.
“Well, I’m sorry to be the one to break the news to you, Rachel. Your father did not die. He’s in prison outside Shenzhen. I met him myself a few
weeks ago. The man was rotting away behind rusty bars, but he still had the nerve to demand an enormous dowry in exchange of you”
Eleanor took out a faded manila envelope, the same envelope she had been given by the investigator in Shenzhen. She placed three piece of paper on the
coffee table. One was a copy of Rachel’s original birth certificate. The next was a 1992 press clipping about jailing of a man named Zhou Fang Min, after
he had ordered illegal cost-cutting measure that led to a construction accident that killed seventy-four workers in Shenzhen HUO PENG CONDO
TRAGEDY UPDATE MONSTER JAILED AT LAST The headline screamed. The third was a notice from the Zhou family, for the safe
returns of a baby named Zhou An Mei, who had been kidnapped by her mother, Kerry Ching, in 1981.
Kwan, 2013: 351-352 At this stage, the members of a particular class act in society as
representations of their class, which influences
their decision-making Eagleton:
1976b: 19. The actions of these Chinese characters signify their social position in Singaporean society. As the bourgeoisie,
Eleanor and Su Yi, who usually are not close, team up to prevent Rachel from marrying Nick by playing their economic
superiority. They even try to match him up with Amanda Ling, who also comes from a rich family. Meanwhile, Rachel, who at first acts carelessly towards the
wealth gap between her family and Nick’s, starts to feel her economic inferiority. As a proletariat, she feels socially subordinate to the extent that she is kowtowed
in the presence of Eleanor and Su Yi and breaking up with Nick. In result, the conflict between the bourgeois Youngs and the proletariat Chus estranges Nick
from his mother and grandmother because he is not giving up on Rachel.
“I know you’ve been in pain. I don’t want to hurt you, but I think it’s really for the best.”
“To break up? You’re not making any sense, Rachel. I know how much you’re hurting right now, but breaking up won’t make it hurt any less.
Let me help you, Rachel. Let me take care of you,” Nick pleaded fervently, hair getting into his eyes.
“What if we have children? Our children will never be accepted by your family.”
“Who cares? We’ll have our own family, our own live. None of this is significant.”
“It’s significant to me. I’ve been thinking about it endlessly, Nick. You know, at first I was so shocked to learn about my past. I was devastated by my
mother’s lies, to realize that even my name wasn’t real. I felt like my whole identity had been robbed from me. But then I realized … none of it really
matters. What is a name anyway? We Chinese are so obsessed with family names. I’m proud of my own name. I’m proud of the person I’ve become.”
“I am too,” Nick said. “So you’ll have to understand that, as much as I love you, Nick, I don’t want
to be your wife. I never want to be a part of a family like yours. I can’t marry into a clan that thinks it’s too good to have me. … I’ve had
enough of being around this crazy rich Asians, all these people whose lives revolve around making money, spending money, flaunting money,
comparing money, hiding money, controlling others with money, and ruining their lives over money. And if I marry you, there will be no
escaping it, even if we live on the other side of the world.”
Kwan, 2013: 368-369 Add to the socioeconomic distinctions that trigger the class conflict in the
novel, ideological differences play a crucial part as well. Stated by Kimeldorf in Isaac et al., 2008: 11, the class conflict arises is not merely a formation of to
which class a person stands, but more significantly of what that person stands for. In this case, the ideology Nick believes in places himself against his own mother
and grandmother. Eleanor and Su Yi are conventional Chinese women who spend most of their time in Singapore and toughly defer to Eastern values. Their
ideological perspective is limited by capitalist ideology, which put a strong barrier between the bourgeoisie and proletariats.
“It is one thing to be polite to your guest, but I can assure you that if they really thought she had any chance of being your wife, they would not be so
nice.” “That’s nonsense.”
“No, Nicky, that is a fact,” Eleanor snapped. “Ah Ma will never allow you to marry Rachel, no matter how accomplished she is. Come on, Nicky,
you know this It’s been told to you a thousand times since you were a little boy. You are a Young.”
Nick shook his head and laughed. “This is all so unbelievably archaic. We’re living in twenty-first century, and Singapore is one of the most
progressive countries on the planet. I can assure you Ah Ma doesn’t feel the way she did thirty years ago.”
“Alamak, I’ve known your grandmother a lot longer than you have. You don’t know how important bloodlines are to her.”
Kwan, 2013: 335 On the other hand, Nick was educated in the United Kingdom and mingles
around racially mixed society in the United States. His ideology has become more Westernized and liberal-minded. Therefore, Eleanor and Su Yi have distinctive
takes from Nick upon having Rachel in their family. It can be concluded that the young and elder Singaporean Chinese have contradictory perceptions towards
other Chinese ethnics, especially Mainland and American Chinese. It is because these fractions of bourgeois class have different ideological principles, which
cause them to have different interest as well.
“Well, at least we succeeded in stopping that Rachel Chu from getting at Nicky,” Nadine commented.
Eleanor shook her head sadly. “What’s the use? My Nicky has stopped talking to me. I don’t have a clue where he is––he’s even broken off
contact with his grandmother. I tried calling Astrid to find him, but she’s missing too. Sum toong, ah. You love your children so much, you do
everything to try to protect them, and they don’t even appreciate it.” “We’ll even if he doesn’t want to see you right now, at least you succeeded in
saving him from that girl,” Lorena said comfortingly. “Yes, but Nicky doesn’t realize how much damage he’s done his
relationship with his grandmother. I trained him to never, ever offend her, but he hurt her terribly in Cameron Highlands. You should have seen the
old lady––she didn’t speak once all the way back in Singapore. And take it from me, that woman never forgives. Now all the sacrifices I have made will
have been for nothing,” Eleanor said sadly, her voice cracking a little.
Kwan, 2013: 390-391 The fact that the ideological differences drift Nick apart from his own
bourgeois family indicates that the conflict is an intra-class conflict. Explained by
Isaac et al. 2008: 3, the inter-class conflict creates a tendency to divide a particular class. The bourgeoisie in this class structure are split in two fragments:
Nick and his family. Nick is disappointed by his family’s snobbery, and he is to leave their extravagant life behind to be with Rachel. Meanwhile, his family let
him go thinking that he cannot survive without their economic power and will eventually come back to them.
Additionally, the way this conflict ends shows at which side of class the author stands for Kurniawan, 2012: 51. Nick succeeds in overcoming Rachel’s
discomfort about the wealth gap between them and saves their relationship. Although he is going to lose the great fortunes he will inherit from both of his
mother’s and grandmother’s side of family, the assets he has owned personally are more than enough from him and Rachel to live a sustainable life. One way or
another, Rachel will still be savoring wealth. Therefore, the change of economic condition Kwan leads his character into shows his extol for the bourgeois class,
thus support the capitalist ideology.
2. The Leongs vs. The Teos
