Cultural Assimilation
If the book can assertively be said to be about one theme above all others—or about one theme which all others connect back to—it is the idea of cultural assimilation. More precisely, it situates the consequences of this theme into a Hamletesque query: to assimilate or not assimilate, that is the question. Some characters eagerly seek to blend into the new dynamics of Australian culture while others vehemently reject it. The crux of this decision is, as always, how much is one willing or expected to give up of their native cultural identity in order to conform to the conventions of the adopted identity.
Storytelling
Another theme pursued with not quite as much vigor, but perhaps a bit more subtlety is the idea that identity is inherently based upon telling the story of that identity. The narrator credits her grandmother with passing along a natural gift for storytelling to her, even going so far as to attribute her grandmother’s talent to a kind of magical gift. Also important to the narrative is that the narrator realizes early on she is destined to become a certain type of storyteller not exactly looked upon in a positive light. She is what the family refers to as a “word-spreader” which someone who tells stories that shared by women within a family with the expectation that they will go into the family vault and never be pulled out of public dissemination. That the book even exists, of course, proves the author’s inability to stick to this private agreement.
The Complexity of Whiteness
The word “white” pops up pervasively throughout the book, but not always carrying the same connotation. In fact, it is the very fluidity of its symbolic value that elevates to the sphere of thematic application. The toxicity of white oleander, for instance, endows it with symbolic meaning applicable to the effect of Australian culture on Asian identity. As for Australian culture, it is as likely to be referenced simply more comprehensively as “white” culture than anything specific to the national charter. One of the issues related to resistance of assimilation is the practice of giving children “whitewashed” Anglo names rather than traditional Asian ones. An Australian boyfriend is referred to as a “white ghost” but a white dress carries the traditional positive symbolism of purity and chasteness. Even the white color of Zoloft anti-depressant mediation enters the mix with its suggestive of whiteness authority to control the emotions of the Asian patient to whom they are prescribed.
