| The distinctiveness in subject matter and writing style has earned Amy Tan a worldwide attention. For her special concern about the lives of Chinese female immigrants in her masterpiece The Joy Luck Club, Tan is granted many honors including the National Book Award and the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award, the accomplishment of which has claimed her position in Chinese American literature.The identity crisis of the female protagonists in the novel, which results from their sojourning in a heterogeneous environment, has been one of the focuses for many literary critics. Though a considerable amount of case studies have been done on the pursuit of identity of female characters, a major part of those studies limit their researches on the cultural identity construction of the protagonists by applying post colonial theories. This thesis therefore, intends to probe into the reasons for protagonists’ identity anxiety and dilemma through a detailed analysis on the dialogues in the novel by applying for Bakhtin’s dialogic theory, in the mean time, reveal how the Chinese American protagonists resist against the hegemony of the mainstream white culture and gender oppression through reconstructing history and culture.Besides Introduction and Conclusion, the paper consists of three chapters. In the Introduction part, a brief review will be firstly given on the author and the plot of the novel, afterward, the subject and research methodology are also mentioned.Chapter One mainly reveals the marginalized living condition of American born daughters and points out their sandwiched position is determined by their role of being the “double other” in the patriarchal mainstream white society.Chapter two focuses on the analysis of mother-daughter dialogues in the novel and the introspection of both mothers and daughters. Through analysis, it brings forward the root of mother-daughter conflicts lies in the different consciousnesses which the two generations have respectively received. For instance, the daughters regard the Chinese female consciousness which their mothers attempt to instill in them is nothing but aform of constraints influenced by patriarchy. Furthermore, in the daughters’ eyes, the Chinese traditions that their mothers are promoting are no different from groundless feudal superstitions. Yet it is precisely through years of confrontations and dialogues, the American daughters gradually are made aware of their mothers’ past and inspired from which, to break silence and walk out of their current predicaments by reconstructing identity.Chapter three firstly concentrates on the discussion of dialogue between feminist consciousness showcased by the female protagonists and the prevalent patriarchal consciousness in the mainstream society. Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism promotes the idea of offering “the other” equal rights to voice out in dialogues which has provided a theoretical basis for breaking the dominance of patriarchy. Tan conveys her feminist appeal in the dialogue that an equal society needs to be established in which women are endowed with the same footing as men in communication rather than under the oppression of men. The dialogue between Chinese and American culture is also studied in this chapter. The American daughters’ critical review on both cultures, which, to some extent, can be viewed as a form of dialogues between Chinese culture and American culture. Through such dialogues, American daughters have gained a better understanding on their unique ethnic identity of being Chinese Americans. In the meantime, the author’s aspiration that a open and inclusive dialogue should be launched among different cultures is also expressed.This thesis explores the internal dialogues in The Joy Luck Club by applying Bakhtin’s theory of Dialogism and argues that dialogue-building is a feasible channel for the bewildered daughters to break the dominance of patriarchal consciousness and bridge the gap between two different cultures and finally establish their identity as independent Chinese American women. |
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