Masculinity Building In China Boy And Honor And Duty

Gus Lee is an important Chinese American writer since 1990s. China Boy and Honor and Duty, his first two novels based on his own experience, depicts Kai Ting, a weak Chinese American boy's struggling up American social ladder while dealing with Chinese and American cultures, and domestic and street violence. Lee shows how Kai adapts to American culture and build his masculinity under the influence of not just race, but also class. The purpose of this thesis was to explore Kai's masculinity building in historical context. Different from earlier critics, the author for the first time focused on influence of female characters on Kai's masculinity building employing theories of identity, assimilation models and gender. It was found that women are the main shapers of Kai's masculinity. Kai's cultural identity becomes a cultural pluralist model with the core of prevailing white American values surrounded by an Asian cultural heritage finally. It was realized that to take up Asian American cultural heritage is a necessity to fight against discrimination and live better in America for Asian Americans.