The term “yellowface” refers to a practice in which white performers use makeup or prosthetics to imitate East Asian features—often in an exaggerated or cartoonish fashion. It was a common practice in the early days of cinema, though it is now widely condemned as racist and offensive. However, the concept provides an apt comparison for June’s actions in the novel: By changing her name and author photo to be racially ambiguous and publishing a novel about Chinese laborers—which she also stole from her deceased Chinese American friend—June dons a figurative form of yellowface. She does not physically alter her features, but she nevertheless perpetuates a racist mistruth to gain credibility as an author. 

While June is guilty of racism and cultural appropriation, she is not the sole decision-maker behind her rebranding as Juniper Song. Her publishing company and agent devise the scheme, certain readers will respond better to The Last Front if readers believe June is Chinese. This speaks to the pervasive whiteness and inherently capitalist nature of the publishing industry as a whole: While they vocally advocate for diverse stories and authorship, their primary concern will always be sales—no matter the communities they harm in the process. 

Yellowface is a satire of the publishing industry, featuring pointed instances of exaggeration drawn from the very real experiences of both Kuang as an Asian American author and her contemporaries from other marginalized backgrounds. June remarks:

But enter professional publishing, and suddenly writing is a matter of professional jealousies, obscure marketing budgets, and advances that don’t measure up to those of your peers. Editors go in and mess around with your words, your vision. Marketing and publicity make you distill hundreds of pages of careful, nuanced reflection into cute, tweet-size talking points… You, not your writing, become the product.

June also fixates heavily on the commercial failure of her debut novel. She frequently compares her experience of publishing The Last Front to the process of publishing her debut novel, realizing that “bestsellers are chosen” in advance by publishers. The resources given to The Last Front reinforce June’s perception that the industry wants “the new and exotic, the diverse,” not her perspective as a “plain, straight white girl.” Rather than reflecting on her privileges as a white woman, June instead becomes bitter and develops a victim complex. She resents Athena and other successful authors of color, believing the industry has rewarded them for being “diverse” while punishing her for being white.

In a more traditional narrative, June’s redemption would have been the climax of the novel. However, despite multiple opportunities to admit the truth and redeem herself, June instead commits to maintaining the lie that The Last Front is fully her own work. She clings to the lie that she has done nothing wrong and even details her plan to reclaim the public’s sympathy by implying that she is a victim of “nasty, selfish, overdemanding people fabricating a tale of racism where there isn’t one.”

The decision to give June a non-redemptive character arc exemplifies the pervasive toxicity of her ideals. June is addicted to her newfound stardom, finding that she thrives on conflict: 

But, my God, I want to be back in the spotlight. You enjoy this delightful waterfall of attention when your book is the latest breakout success. You dominate the cultural conversation.

June alternates between deep-seated insecurity and an inflated sense of self-importance, but at the core of her self-deception is the fact that she has genuinely convinced herself that she deserves all of the success The Last Front has garnered her. She would rather die—or even commit murder—than let go of what she views as her rightful place as the “hero” of the story. That Kuang leaves June’s villainy unresolved is symbolic of the publishing industry and the greater context it operates within; white privilege not only still exists but also supports itself, intentionally ignorant of the reality it cannot face.