Assimilation
Because the novel focuses on the experiences of multiple generations of an immigrant family, assimilation and resistance to cultural assimilation become important themes. The grandmother represents the desire to hold onto the ancient traditions of China, while the children who narrate the novel represent the willingness to embrace Western cultures even at the expense of losing those traditions most cherished by their grandmother. The parents are where the meeting of the past and the future coincide, and they experience the most conflict about assimilating versus maintaining cultural traditions. Since the characters who are most eager to assimilate are children, Choy may be hinting that assimilation is an idealistic or even short-sighted project, and that, as individuals grow and mature, they gain a deeper appreciation of their traditions and heritage. As a theme, assimilation is also reflected in Choy's choice, as a Canadian-Chinese individual, to write his novel predominantly in English. As Maria Ng notes, "Whether the Chinese Canadian world is written about by an outsider or an insider, it remains undeniable that the Chinese Canadian experience is written in a non-Chinese language. Thus, all Chinese Canadian writing is inevitably hybrid" (174).
Tradition versus Modernity
The conflict in the novel is not limited to the conflict of different cultural identities. Grandmother is much more traditional in her values and worldview than her children or grandchildren. She is also comfortable with beliefs that cannot be supported by modern scientific and technological explanations of the world around her, such as her belief in ghosts, and refuses to give them up. On the other hand, her grandchildren experience important markers of modernity, such as a focus on education, exposure to Western medicine, and technology such as movies. They also have to grapple with a world where events like World War II have a destabilizing and dangerous effect. The grandchildren have more choices and some advantages available to them because of the time in which they live, but they also have to contend with specific threats, and a general sense of alienation, while their grandmother is able to retain a very solid worldview and sense of identity because she is anchored in tradition.
Family
The value of family is a vital theme within the novel. For all of the children, their family unit is both a source of support and care, and something which they struggle against. It both makes them who they are, and becomes the thing they try to define themselves against as they build more independent identities. The novel also develops the theme by exploring ideas of what family can mean: the family is blended, with half-siblings and adopted siblings. This shows that families are flexible and adaptable, and don't need to be defined by a rigid emphasis on biology. The idea of families being encompassing is important because it hints that if families can be formed in different ways, national communities can also be formed in different ways (i.e., through immigration as well as people who have lived there for generations).
Maturity and Loss of Innocence
In each of the three sections, the different narrators experience growth, maturation, and a loss of innocence. By choosing to narrate the novel through characters who are children and adolescents, Choy has an ideal set-up from which to explore this theme. Jook-Liang loses some of her innocence when she is separated from her beloved friend Wong Suk, while Jung-Sum loses some of his innocence as he confronts his attraction to another boy. Sek-Lung loses his innocence as he witnesses the illicit relationship between Meiying and her Japanese boyfriend. While these various losses and transitions towards maturity often cause pain for the young characters, they also lead them to have a more complex and nuanced understanding of the world around them.
War and Conflict
The novel develops the theme of war and conflict by showing large-scale political conflict, as well as more localized conflict between different ethnicities and communities. While they don't always have a full understanding and context, the children are aware of violent geopolitical conflict such as the war between China and Japan, and eventually World War II. They enact some of this violence through toys, propaganda, and the games they play. The children are also aware that more subtle and less violent, but still hateful, conflict exists between different groups. For example, the novel depicts deep tension and hatred between the Chinese and Japanese communities.
Education
Because they are children, the three narrators are constantly learning new things about the world around them, and being exposed to a variety of lessons and influences. The novel does represent the experience of traditional education taking place in a school setting (particularly in Sek-Lung's section), but it also shows education happening in other settings. Jook-Liang learns a lot from her grandmother, especially because she is a girl and is therefore expected to learn about domestic tasks. All of the three children learn from stories and traditions that are shared with them in a domestic and familial context, and which are sometimes at odds with what they learn in more formal and educational settings. Jung-Sum also forms close ties outside of the family as he learns about boxing. Education is a force that helps the children to mature, and it both connects them to, and pulls them away from, their family of origin.
Poverty
In addition to the experience of being largely ostracized by white Canadian society, the children's family and many other members of the Chinatown community have to endure poverty. Laws restrict what type of jobs Chinese individuals can hold, and therefore largely restrict how much money they can earn. While the children are not focused on money because it does not necessarily have much meaning for them, various hints reveal that their family is struggling with their income, and lives in some degree of poverty. Interestingly, because the main characters are children and have their own concerns, poverty does not necessarily make them unhappy, and they find creative ways to play and enjoy themselves. Therefore, Choy shows that poverty does not always make children unhappy in the short-term, although the children may have felt more restricted and resentful as they grew older.
