58 pages • 1-hour read
Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)
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Symbols & Motifs
Food and Tea
Descriptions of cooking and tea-making are a recurrent motif in the novel, and they illustrate the theme of The Importance of Community and Found Family. Vera often uses her food and tea to build relationships with people, cutting through their defenses with her delicious cooking. For instance, TJ is indignant when Vera storms into his office, but the moment he eats the roasted pork belly offered by Vera, he realizes “it is quite possibly the best thing [he] has ever put in his mouth. His eyes close and a sound that’s almost scandalous comes out of him” (55). Lulled by Vera’s food, TJ accepts her dinner invitation. Sharing food is shown to be central to creating familial networks. Not only does Vera’s family gather at her table on Sundays, little Emma bonds with Vera by helping her cook. Aimes and Robin record Vera’s videos while she is cooking, signifying another way food creates linkages.
Food and tea also function as symbols in the text, representing warmth, sanctuary, and physical as well as emotional nourishment. Some characters describe themselves as brought back to life through Vera’s food, while others note that the food is like a dose of truth. For instance, when Aimes sips on some tea that Vera has brewed for her, she is struck by its authentic taste. Yet, when she looks down at it, she notes: “It looks completely unremarkable, something utterly un-Instagrammable” (59). She continues to relish the tea, symbolizing her own shift from performative appreciation to genuineness.
Chinese Mothers
In an interview with Writer’s Digest, Sutanto describes herself during her writing process as a “Chinese mother: My outlines listen to me because my characters are scared of me” (Jones, Amy. “The WD Interview: Jesse Q. Sutanto.” Writer’s Digest, 27 Dec. 2024). Vera, too, similarly loves to describe herself as a Chinese mother, noting: “I always know, because I am Chinese mother, there is nothing we don’t know” (61). Both Sutanto and Vera subvert the stereotype of the over-ambitious, authoritarian Chinese mother by using these traits to achieve important results. Sutanto uses her knowledge of her characters to create tight outlines of chapters, while Vera uses her snooping skills as a Chinese mother to crack cases. The symbol of the Chinese mother thus comes to represent wisdom, intelligence, attention, and efficiency in the novel.
Sutanto also explores how Vera both fulfills and contradicts the stereotype. Though Vera happily accepts that she is an all-knowing and nosy Chinese mother, for instance, she respects Tilly and Selena’s space. Despite their frequent offers for her to stay with them, Vera stays away, so the couple can have the privacy to “make babies” (213). Vera also backs away from Millie when she senses Millie’s growing discomfort with her questions. These examples suggest that the symbol of the Chinese mother in the novel simultaneously confirms and dismantles the stereotype.
Perfect Appearances
Perfect appearances are an important motif and symbol in the novel, illustrating the theme of The Clash Between Online Personas and Reality. Inhabiting the hyper-visual world of social media, characters in the novel often feel the pressure to maintain a perfect front. Millie, Xander, Aimes, and even other characters have a façade that is at odds with the messy reality of their lives. Millie is not on social media, yet her peculiar circumstances mean she has to constantly pretend to be someone else. Even her name, “Millie,” is a construct forced upon her. Further, she is conditioned to make herself appear far younger than her 27 years, so she looks “like she could be a high school student” (154). Xander, too, works to appear perfect on social media, with “[w]hat looks like a roaring social life filled with fancy parties and private jets” (43). Aimes tries to portray a similar life, as well, even describing Xander as “the perfect boyfriend” to Vera (58). The word “perfect” recurs often in the book, with characters aspiring to an unattainable ideal.
The ideal has become such a big part of their aspirational reality that they tend to constantly scrutinize each other’s appearance. Millie, for instance, notices Aimes’s poreless skin and pouty lips, which is typical of social media influencers. It is only when Aimes tells her the look is the result of artful make-up and the clothes bought from a second-hand shop that the illusion of perfection breaks. Moreover, the novel also contrasts Aimes and Xander’s lived realities with their curated online lives. Thus, the novel uses the motif of perfect appearances to highlight how unsustainable they tend to be.
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