He never said it, but I knew he liked the fact that Lelia was white. When I first told
 him that we were engaged I thought he would vehemently protest, but he only
 nodded and said he respected her and wished me luck. I think he had come to view
 our union logically, practically and perhaps he thought he saw through my
 intentions, the assumption being that Lelia and her family would help me make my
 way in the land. (Italics mine, 58)


 Henry's intention to find a niche in a white-dominant society by marrying a

Caucasian reveals what Karen Homey would call the "basic anxiety," which accounts for

"a profound insecurity and vague apprehensiveness ... in a world conceived as

potentially hostile."276 The need for safety and belongingness, which is one of the basic

but powerful components of human motivation,277 dominates both Henry's and his

father's life. Whiteness for them becomes a property they acquire vicariously by a civil

union, which they think will guarantee their sure foothold in society.

 This attempt to redefine one's identity through a marital relationship is quite

ironically "American" in nature, though. As Werner Sollors argues, the conflict between

"descent" and "consent" relationships runs throughout American history from the very

beginning of the country. Americans have often tried to override the constraints and

discrimination imposed by nativity and the hereditary hierarchy in society or "descent"

relationships by contractual and volitional allegiance or "consent" relationships.278 In

addition, since romantic love requires severing the ties with a protective native

environment and often involves overcoming difficulties or obstacles in obtaining

gratification, it has played a key role in American ethnic interactions, becoming a fitting

example of the consent relationship that is closely associated with American identity.279

In marrying Lelia, Henry thinks that he has kept at bay all the negative baggage coming

from his Asian descent. So it is no wonder that when his son Mitt is born with visibly