Daughters from another shore: Maternal influences in selected fiction of Chinese-American daughters of immigrant mothers

The complexity of the mother/daughter bond is explored in four novels and four short stories written in the late twentieth century by Chinese-American women who were born in the United States of Chinese immigrant mothers. The study postulates that the authors, by underscoring the attachment to their ancestral roots in their fiction concerned with mothers and daughters, reveal a common link which addresses the pain of assimilation of non-white immigrant women. They further touch upon the complexities of women's relationships, feelings of self-worth, place in community and family, and need for autonomy, all of which may reflect their own female consciousness as "invisible" members of a subculture determined to be recognized. Elusive and lost identity of the fictional mothers is linked to the outside influences which worked against the traditional familial cultural roles of females. As the fictional American-born daughters negotiate their positions as "the teachers" of American culture to their mothers who resist assimilation, they find themselves in the dilemma of needing to transcend cultural differences within the host culture in order to establish an American identity, yet feel bound to retain their cultural ties to their mothers.;The fictional writings are analysed from a feminist perspective which takes into account the social, economic, ethnic, psychological, and racial impact of Chinese immigration to America as it pertains to women, and the effects of experiential disparities between European and Chinese immigrants to America are examined in light of racial prejudices and American foreign, domestic, and economic policies. The study posits the mother/daughter relationships as a central trope for alienation and identity crises which are played out against the backdrop of familial cultural history within a patriarchy. Secondary research which is cited concerning cultural development of females and their primary identification and strong ties with their mothers and other women suggests a commonality which traverses ethnic and racial boundaries. Mediated rapprochements between American individualism and Chinese collectivism as portrayed in the stories hold out possibilites for establishing social cohesion among America's diverse ethnic groups.