The Emperor of Gladness

HomeMarket, the fast-casual franchise where Hai works, provides an example of Circumstantial Kinship and Found Family. Hai comes to work at HomeMarket with his cousin’s help. When he is initially offered the job, Hai feels overwhelmed by the notion that HomeMarket is a place he can find community and belonging. Hai encounters this community at a time in his life when he both lacks and craves human connection and support. The HomeMarket crew offers him companionship without needing to interrogate him about his past—relationships based purely on their proximity and their shared work in the restaurant.

As the novel progresses, HomeMarket acts as a symbol of The Precarity of Working-Class Life. Despite its promises of selling its customers “homemade” food or the deep pride that BJ takes in the crew’s performance, Vuong ultimately positions the franchise as a cog in the corporate wheel. The illusion is initially shattered for Hai when he sees that the “fresh” food they serve their customers is the same, factory-processed dishes one finds at any other fast-food restaurant, an implicit critique of capitalist corporations that sell their customers a fabricated narrative to increase profit.