What is an important motif in the novel, Warcross?

Throughout the novel, debt is a huge source of concern for Emika. The author shows how debt weighs down on Emika's entire life, influencing every decision that she makes. Her fear of debt stems from what she saw her father go through regarding his own debt when Emika was a child.

Emika's father, in trying to provide for her and win his wife back, fell into a deep pit of debt from gambling illegally in Warcross. As a result, he spent countless days and hours trying to find a way to pay off the debt and make more money. His worry over money spread to Emika, who like many little kids, picked up on everything and internalized it. As a result, Emika herself had to work to pay off her father's debt before she turned 18 lest his creditors come after her.

While Emika was successful in paying off her father's debt, she also inherited his money troubles - but instead of gambling, Emika is simply trying to pay her rent and find a steady job. Yet because of the money she owes, Emika is forced to take jobs that she finds less than savory and that would definitely not be her first choice, simply to survive. However, when she interviews with Hideo and wins a job with him, Hideo wipes her debt clean in one fell swoop as though it was no big deal. Emika is even irked "at Hideo's easy dismissal of [Emika's] debt" (89). In fact, to Hideo the few thousand dollars that Emika owed is nothing, while for Emika it was "an unconquerable mountain" (89).

Lu speaks to the tremendous burden of debt because it is an issue that is affecting millions of people around the world in the reader's world, as people struggle with mounting student debt, mortgages etc. Thus the author grounds her work in details from the reader's world and ensures that the reader will empathize deeply with the protagonist.