David Henry Hwang’s Views On Asian Identity

David Henry Hwang is considered as one of the most excellent Chinese American playwrights by literary critics.His first play F.O.B.won the Broadway’s Obie Award and his masterpiece M.Butterfly won the Tony Award,the most honorable drama award in America.Hwang becomes the first Chinese American playwright who has ever won this award.The fluidity of identity is a common theme of almost all of Hwang’s plays.He himself also maintains a fluid attitude towards Asian identity,which can be proven by the works of his three writing stages: hostility towards Asian identity in the early period,improved attitudes towards Asian Identity in the middle period,acceptance and active defense of Asian identity in his late period.This thesis selects three representative plays from his three stages respectively,combining with reality to analyze his changing attitudes towards Asian identity with some factual anecdotes.The part of introduction provides a brief introduction to Hwang’s writing experience and his three plays,followed by the literature reviews on his works at home and abroad,and then the significance of this thesis.Chapter One points out that Hwang had forgotten his Asian identity because of his utter American growth environment;he regarded himself as a full American,which was admitted by Hwang in some of his review articles and literature interviews.When he grew up,he experienced the bias cast by the American society on the Asians and he was once labeled as Asian playwright.The original cognition was impacted,so he felt confused about his own identity,which compelled him to face forthright his Asian identity and continued such an exploration in his works.Chapter Two studies Hwang’s early attitude toward Asian identity in his early work FOB.By analyzing the identity crisis of the first and second generations,the thesis manifests Hwang’s views on Asian identity: one must abandon his Chinese identity to truly integrate into the American society,which shows Hwang’s hostility towards Asian identity.Chapter Three analyzes Hwang’s attitudes towards Asian identity from his masterpiece M.Butterfly in his middle writing period.It is a deconstruction of the traditional opera Madame Butterfly.In the play,Hwang deconstructs the “delicate,humble and exotic” image of the Oriental woman and the “bold,intelligent,powerful” image of the Western man.However,his deconstruction is not complete,so to some degree,this play indicates Hwang’s partial acceptance and approval of Asian identity.Chapter Four studies Hwang’s views on Asian identity in Yellow Face,selected from his third stage.In this play Hwang makes himself as one of the play’s character and leads a movement to struggle for Asian actors’ equal right.What’s more,he gives the Caucasian actor Marcus’ s an Asian identity and Siberian ethnic background,which certifies Hwang’s total acceptance of Asian identity.The conclusion sums up the factors that lead to Hwang’s change towards Asian identity,pointing out that in the era of globalization today,Hwang’s gradual acceptance of Asian identity is not only beneficial for him to cultivate a proper view on identity in an alien culture,but also has a positive exemplary value for other ethnic groups who attempt to construct their identity in the American main-stream culture.