Cultural Identity

One main theme of the novel is cultural identity. Throughout her life, Casey has identified herself as strictly American, not Chinese, her cultural heritage. When she moves to Chinatown, however, she is forced to see herself as part of a larger community, the Chinese community. When Casey first arrives in Chinatown, she has a total identity crisis and says, "I knew more about racehorses than I knew about myself - I mean myself as a Chinese. I looked at my hands again, thinking they couldn't be my hands ... Maybe it was because I thought of myself as American and all Americans were supposed to be white like on TV ... but now I felt like some mad scientist had switched bodies on me like in all those monster movies, so that I had woken up in the wrong one" (Page 35).

The theme of cultural identity is especially highlighted...