Yellowface

June begins the publishing process by working with her new editor at Eden Press, Daniella Woodhouse, to perfect The Last Front. As the two go through the novel, anything that Daniella criticizes June gleefully recognizes as Athena’s work: “Honestly, I’m relieved. Finally someone’s calling Athena out on her bullshit, on her deliberately confusing sentence structures and cultural allusions” (41). Daniella’s editing goes beyond the cosmetic, however, and she and June fundamentally alter the nature of Athena’s work. They change many of the Chinese characters’ names and cut untranslated Chinese phrases to make the text more readable to the general public. This is soon accompanied by altering white characters to make them less “cartoonishly racist.” Daniella encourages June to make these changes in the name of making the novel a more nuanced and humanistic work. This is in direct conflict with Athena’s intended message of presenting a true historic story as literature, but June, enthralled by Daniella’s attention, goes along with the changes.

After Daniella and June complete the edits on The Last Front, the book is completely different, and June views it as “a universally relatable story, a story that anyone can see themselves in” (45). She is critical of Athena’s focus and attention on the Chinese characters and her ruthless depiction of the white characters’ racism.