Not only that, the social differences between Nick and Rachel's class became a racism conflict. In general, social class is divided into 3 namely upper class, middle class, and lower class. Upper class is the highest level of social class, usually occupied by people who have great and strong power in influencing something. Middle class is the level of social class below the upper class where they usually have jobs, finances that can support them, and have plans for the future. While the lower class is the lowest class, which is quite difficult to save money, find money to live today, and they tend not to think about what will happen in the future and usually with low education. The impact of this social class has an impact on the social environment, where there will be a sense of discrimination that occurs in the middle or lower social class. Because it is influenced by the upper social class which of course has more power in influencing something. In this novel Nick's family belongs to the Upper Class while Rachel Chu occupies the Middle Class. Marked with the following quoatation.
".........The youngs had money, generations of money. Besides, James married Shang Su Yi. ...........................She is the daughter of Shang Loong Ma. Never heard that name, either, right? He was enormously wealth banker in Peking, and before the Qing dinasty fell, he very smartly moved his money to Singapore, where he made an even greater fortune in shipping and commodities. The man had his tantecles in every major business in the region -- he controlled all the shipping lines from Dutch East Indies to Siam, and he was the mastermind behind uniting the early Hokkien banks the thirties......"
From the quote above, it shows that the Nick family has power because it has many branches of business in Asia. This social class has quite an impact on Nick's relationship with Rachel Chu, along with the quotation that indicates this.
"Nobody is ever going to come from 'the right background' in your eyes," Nick scoffed.
"I'm only telling you 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."
There are different social classes and backgrounds because a very rich man from Singapore has a relationship only with a woman who is an economics professor at a university. Although in the end they will be together but the journey they go through is not easy.
