What is the theme in Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston?

Pop Culture is another theme. Kingston uses a plethora of icons of American pop culture to illustrate how firmly rooted in American culture Wittman is, despite his knowledge of and appreciation for Chinese culture, especially Chinese theater, classical and modern Chinese Literature and Chinese myth. It must be noted that Kingston's work encompasses the entire Western cannon as being part of American culture in this sense. Educated at Berkley, Wittman is thoroughly versed in the classics, from Aristotle to Shakespeare to LeRoi Jones. As someone who is 100% American, Wittman's knowledge of American culture is encyclopedic, from the writings of Rudyard Kipling, to Father Junipero Serra, the Jesuit founder of California's missions, to Presidents Truman and Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, King Kong and Captain Marvel. An English literature major at Berkley, Wittman is familiar with Rimbaud, Samuel Pepys, and Shakespeare. He's also a fan of Rilke.