Mammon Inc. is above all a novel about morphing cultural identities in an age of global capitalism, particularly among the jet set, as well as the degree to which some people simply are impervious to change. Reading this book, one immediately recognizes the high-octane yuppie energy of the late 1990s and even 2000, when Tan wrote the novel. Reading it in the post-bubble period makes the book seem practically retro.
All those surrounding Chia Deng, with the exception of Tock Seng, are hopelessly racist and ignorant and seem perfectly comfortable this way. Chia Deng, on the other hand, is too uprooted to lose her objectivity vis-a-vis any culture, which makes her perfectly suited to be an "adapter."
Mammon CorpS runs Chia Deng through a series of tests in her recruitment phase in which she is asked to remake herself, or adapt in Mammon CorpS terms, as a New York socialite and then adapt Steve as a Singaporean and her sister as a typical, anglo Oxford student. The tests involving Steve and Chia Deng's sister's end in utter failure, as both come up against unshakable prejudice. This improbable recruitment process smacks of gimmickry, but it nonetheless allows Tan to expose and exaggerate latent racism and also provides for the oddest and ultimately pivotal scene, the test in New York.
During Chia Deng's adaptation process in New York, the city is described as a type of high-tech, hellish, Philip K. Dick megalopolis, perpetually dark and dominated by cold towers housing the great powermongers of the world. Chia Deng is at once drawn and intimidated by the malevolent energy of the city. This is in stark contrast to the poetic elegance used to describe the Medieval town of Oxford or the polished sophistication of Singapore.
Through wild coincidences and grating fast-talk dialog that test the reader's patience, Chia Deng weasels her way into an exclusive party hosted by the hipster magazine Gen-Vex, an apparent take on England's two main definers of cool The Face and Q. There, she is surrounded by the world's most attractive and successful movers and shakers and, to her surprise, they accept her despite her glaring Chineseness. Among the glitterati she claims to have found her "tribe," and as superficial as they may be, the sense of community she feels overcomes any revulsion she may feel toward them.
Far from a paean to the American melting pot, Chia Deng's easy assimilation into New York society is due more to the city's full-bore pursuit of materialism and narcissism, where no one cares where you're from but only cares about your line of work and how up-to-date you are on the latest trends and gadgets.
Chia Deng discovers in the end that the Gen-Vex scene is a type of simulacrum of Singapore, with the same materialistic values and she finds that this familiarity promises comfort.
Mammon Inc.'s success is in complicating the voice of the young, cosmopolitan elite. They are ambitious, polyglot and move effortlessly between cultures. But despite their surface sophistication, Tan forces one to question whether they are truly as enlightened as they seem.
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