Throughout the beginning of the novel, there is a significant amount of attention and emphasis on Akiko's body. She wants to have children but is unable to because she is so thin and fragile. Akiko sees Suzie as a typical American woman who is strong and able to bare children, as is stated by the quote on page 20:
"Canned peas, Suzie suggested. Easy. Done. Suzie bent over the oven. Her children pushed between her sturdy, mottled legs and hung off her hem. They must have just poured out, Akiko thought, one after the other, in frothy bursts of fertility. It was a disturbing thought, squalid somehow, and made her feel nauseous."
We see here that Akiko almost feels envy for what Suzie has, although she states that "it's not spite...or my contrary nature. She tried a smile again at Suzie, tried to feel happy-go-lucky." It is obvious that Akiko thinks highly of Suzie because of what she has and, more specifically, because of what Suzie has that Akiko cannot. It goes to show the cultural differences seen between women in America and women from other countries such as Japan. Women in America pride themselves on their families and raising their children and this is something Akiko cannot have. Akiko therefore cannot find her identity and almost struggles with her own mind to find who she really is.
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