The Dilemma In Cultural Identity Seeking

Maxine Hong Kingston is one of the most well known woman writer in contemporary American literature, and her masterpiece The Woman Warrior:Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts won a great success upon its publication in 1976. The pursuit of cultural and gender identity is the common thread running through the book of The Woman Warrior. As a Chinese American woman, a key problem she wants to solve in this book is how to establish the cultural identity in America.From the subtitle of The Woman Warrior:Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, this thesis analyzes the image of "ghost" by close reading and reveals the profound meaning of it. The "ghosts" represent not only the male oppression on females in Chinese tradition but also the racial discrimination and oppression existing in American society. In the process of identity seeking for Chinese Americans, "ghost" also serves as the symbol of anxieties and dilemma made by the conflicts between different languages and cultures. Through the analysis of the image of "ghost", this thesis is trying to reveal the Chinese Americans'sense of insecurity in American society and their paradox in seeking their identity. The special position as a Chinese American in the multi-cultural environment urged Maxine Hong Kingston to make an attempt to forge a distinctive identity for Chinese immigrants who are living in America. The only way of establishing new cultural identity, according to Kingston, is to erase gender and ethnic boundaries; to advocate the integration but conflict of cultures. With the sword of words, Kingston becomes a woman warrior who promotes cultural globalization and creates a tentative new identity of Chinese American.The paper is divided into five parts as follows:The part of "Introduction" presents a brief biography of Maxine Hong Kingston and a brief introduction to The Woman Warrior:Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts and the previous critical reviews on this book.Chapter One "Theory of Cultural Identity":This chapter aims to make a general introduction to Post-colonial criticism and theory of identity; and discusses the connection between the concept of "ghost" and "other".Chapter Two "The Symbolic Meaning of'Ghost'in The Woman Warrior":This chapter introduces the cultural meaning of "ghost" in Chinese and Western cultures and analyzes the symbolic meaning of this image.Chapter Three "Two Patterns of Cultural Identity Pursuit in The Woman Warrior":This chapter introduces two patterns of cultural identity pursuit of mother and daughter."Conclusion":This part summarizes the thesis and points out the significance of Kingston in forging identity.