Positive And Negative Dimensions Of "Harmony"

This dissertation makes an analysis of the mother-daughter relationship in five novels written by Amy Tan, a contemporary American-Chinese writer, from the perspective of ethics, and proposes that "harmony" is at the core of the ethical ideas of her novels. However, the "harmony" presented in her novels is characterized by two dimensions: the positive dimension and the negative dimension. It is the coexistence of both that results in the emotional fascination and ideological tension in her novels.This important ethical idea is expressed through the presentation of the mother-daughter relationship, which is the basic framework and important concerns of all her novels. The conflicts and reconciliation between mother and daughter not only have a basic meaning but also a profound metaphorical meaning: the process of contact and exchanges among different countries and civilization is full of conflicts, pains and reconciliation. Mother-daughter relationship demonstrated in Amy Tan's novels develops from conflicts to reconciliation, which represents her original concept of aesthetics and ethics. Reconciliation between mother and daughter is a very nice and delicate emotional resonance; mutual understanding of different civilizations is the terminal target of humanity—the realization of reconciliation and peace. Based on the above understanding, this dissertation proposes that the ethical concept of "harmony" is the core of Amy Tan's novels as well as the goal of her creation. This dissertation not only illustrates the sexual relationship suffered by the mother in the mainland, cruel wars and mysterious oriental culture as well as ethical relations kept in dark memories, but also explores the important cause for mother-daughter conflicts, taking sex, war and culture into consideration as well as deep maternal love and its fundamental oriental ethical traditions as the major reasons for mother-daughter reconciliation, thus raising the ethics in Amy Tan's novels to a new height.This dissertation consists of four chapters besides Introduction and Conclusion.The Introduction makes a summary of the domestic researches on Amy Tan's novels from five aspects, i.e., "mother-daughter conflict", "identification", "cultural conflict", "orientalism" and "narrative strategy". Researches abroad on her novels are also summed up from the following aspects: "feminist criticism", "narrative point of view", "ideology", "identity and family history" and "feudal superstition". On the basis of the above summary, this dissertation puts forward that analyzing the ethical idea of her novels from the aspect of mother-daughter relationship is of great significance. This helps to understand not only Amy Tan's novels but also her ideas about the history of her family, cultural conflict between the East and the West and many problems in relation to the contemporary world like peace of human being. Research methods of this dissertation include "close reading of the text", "aesthetic point of view", "psychoanalysis", "ethical criticism" and "geographical space". Lastly, definitions are given to such keywords as "ethical imbroglio", "psychological pattern", "memory chain", "emotional convolution", "multi-cultural coexistence", "sense for yin-yang", "narrative orientation", "ethical concept" and "aesthetic ideal", which are significant to understanding the approach of the dissertation.The title of Chapter One is "Anxiety and Sorrow: Mother-Daughter Conflict in Amy Tan's Novels". This chapter is composed of five sections, in which the mother-daughter conflicts and their causes are discussed.First of all, four types of mother-daughter relationships in her novels are examined, which are " departure and peruse "," attachment and love", "bewilderment and conflict" and "understanding and reconciliation". The opposition and conflict between mother and daughter form the kernel relationship of all the ethical relations in The Joy Luck Club, which is demonstrated in four aspects, namely, "the emphasis of one's self-independence and interference in his/her private affair", "the freedom and criteria of love and marriage", "the choice of using Chinese or English in everyday life" and "the differences between Chinese ethical tradition and Western ethical tradition". "Furious quarrel", "talking with friend", "lasting cold war", and "grief confession" are four modes of mother-daughter conflict.Second, The Bonesetter's Daughter reflects the convergence and deepening of mother-daughter conflict. On the one hand, "mother-daughter relationship is expanded to the relationship of women of three generations". On the other hand, "more breathtaking mother-daughter relationship of three generations is depicted". What's more, the focus of mother-daughter relationship is on the second generation who are born in America. "The emotional contradiction between Lucy and Ru Ling", "the emotional contradiction between Ru Ling and Aunt Bao" and "six suicide events", which reflect an extremity of mother-daughter emotional contradiction, are explored in particular.Third, The Hundred Secret Senses is a reflection of "heteromorphosis" of the mother-daughter conflict, because the apparent sisterhood is essentially a mother-daughter relationship. "The sisters' story-telling", " Olivia's harm to her sister Li Kuang", "Li Kuang's regretless love", and "Unbounded love from pre-life fate " are examined respectively.Last, factors leading to the mother-daughter conflicts are explored. The factors include differences in living environment, in ideal, in codes of behavior, between family tradition and individual tradition, and in choosing a husband.The title of Chapter two is "Memory and Resonance: Mother-Daughter Reconciliation in Amy Tan's novels." The process, the mode and the cause of mother-daughter reconciliation are analyzed in the four sections of this part.Firstly, mother-daughter reconciliation is realized in memory links of the mothers and daughters of three generations; The Joy Luck Club is mainly about mother-daughter conflict, as well as mother-daughter reconciliation; "Historical interlink of women of three generations" is the actual mother-daughter relation pattern in The Joy Luck Club.Secondly, the mother-daughter chorus of three generations portrayed in The Bonesetter's Daughter suggests that reconciliation between mother and daughter is an emotional resonance in the process of seeking for memory. Through the exploration of mother-daughter images of three generations, the paper points out that Lucy is puzzled and anxious, that Liu Ruling is terrified and remorseful, and that Aunt Bao is forthright and rebellious. Therefore, stories of three generations in the novel are concentrated demonstration of the mother-daughter relation pattern.Thirdly, the absence and variation of maternal love are two key factors influencing mother-daughter relationship. The absence and the variation of maternal love in The Joy Luck Club, the seeking and the pain of maternal love in The Kitchen God's Wife, and the ignorance and the fascination of maternal love in The Bonesetter's Daughter are examined, as well as the influences of maternal love upon mother-daughter relations in the novels.Lastly, sibling love beyond individual and race is also an important factor interrupting mother-daughter relations. "The Joy Luck Club " symbolizes Chinese women's longing for happiness of life. Besides, "Foundling Hospital" indicates that spreading evangel of love and beauty is the ideal of both Chinese and American people. What's more, Hu Lan and Grand Auntie Du are symbols of justice and courage in Chinese women.The third chapter is entitled "Painful Memory: Tangled Sexual Love". The ethical problems in sexual relationships as well as their impact upon mother-daughter relations are discussed.To begin with, the cruelty of sexual maltreatment in The Kitchen God's Wife presents a kind of special ethical relations in sexual relationships. First, the sexual relationship between Jiang Wenli and Wen Fu is one focus of the novel, and it is also the starting point and the center of Amy Tan's artistic design. Second, through the description of Wen Fu, a typical self-centered image in the particular age, Amy Tan fiercely attacks male chauvinism. And last, the shocking sexual maltreatment Jiang Wenli suffers from Wen Fu is both a reflection of Amy Tan's deep sympathy towards women and a reflection of her feminist idea.Secondly, in The Kitchen God's Wife and The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan exposes profoundly the incest custom and its evil consequences in the old times of China. The incest in The Kitchen God's Wife, the evil consequences in The Bonesetter's Daughter, and women's lack of sexual knowledge are examined claosely.Lastly, pursuing for sex as well as harmonious sexual life is discussed. The Joy Luck Club provides negative examples of harmonious sexual life. In addition, happiness of sexual life and the affirmation for sex-pursuing of the old couples portrayed in The Bonesetter's Daughter reflect Amy Tan's exploration of sexual relations. What's more, sex and sexual harmony pursued by contemporary Americans which is vividly portrayed in The Bonesetter's Daughter and Saving Fish From Drowning represents the recognition and affirmation of a new ethical idea.The title of the fourth chapter is "Terrible Memory: Warfare in Mother-Daughter Relationship". The three sections of this chapter analyze the ethics of the war incidents in the first half of the 20th century China and their influences on mother-daughter relationships.First of all, this dissertation suggests that motif of The Joy Luck Club is mother-daughter relations. The life tragedies in wartime and their causes are discussed. These life tragedies include "the incident of Wu Suyun fleeing from a disaster in Guilin", "Unusual spectacle of fleeing", "the symbol of fish", "regrets for losing the twins", and so on. The war also brings about the mother-daughter opposition and conflicts.In addition, there is a structural duality of sexual opposition and duel of war in The Kitchen God's Wife. Opposition between beauty and ugliness is reflected by the sexual relationship between Jiang Wenli and Wen Fu; Unequal contest between good and evil is reflected by the war between Chinese and Japanese; What's more, five incidents happened in the Anti-Japanese War are examined. This dissertation believes that incidents such as "bombing of Nanjing", "Nanjing Massacre" and "bombing of Kunming" produced by Japanese army are extremely brute crimes. The dual structure of sexual opposition and war is an embodiment of Amy Tan's own ethical idea.Next, the pains and hopes of the Chinese women fleeing from the war in The Kitchen God's Wife represent the fate and the psychological condition of all the Chinese people at that time. Images with rich symbolic meanings such as "The hopping children", "Wen Fu killing the pig", "red skirt in fog", "observing stars" and "looking for scissors" are analyzed in detail.Lastly, incidents depicted in The Bonesetter's Daughter are discussed as follow: "fighting against the Japanese Army in 'Foundling Hospital'", "The July 7th incident", "the Anti-Japanese War led by Eight Route Army", "the American national flag knocked out by the Japanese Army", "Pan Kaijing martyred by the Japanese Enemy" and "the disappearance of Peking Man skull". The battle against Japanese enemy took place in the North of China is of great ethical significance.The last part of the dissertation draws a conclusion and offers further explorations to some other questions relevant to Amy Tan's ethical idea of "harmony". This dissertation thinks that it is by the very ethical idea of "harmony" that Amy Tan conquers both the readers and the critics. As a moralistic writer, Amy Tan always regards herself as an American writer, so it is marvelous that she keeps exploring the ethical idea of "harmony" in her novels. The concept of "harmony" in Chinese and Western traditional culture is inherited and developed by her novels accompanied with abundant ethical descriptions, which is essential to the coexistence of the world, as well as to the peace and development of human society.