The Plight And Pursuit Of Diasporas

With the development of the globalization, diaspora has become a worldwide phenomenon, and as its consequence, a large number of diasporic writings and diasporic writers have emerged. Diasporic writing and diaspora literature has attracted much attention from people and has already become one of the hot subjects in the academic circle. Diasporic writers are usually in two or more cultural worlds, floating between ancestral culture and the residential one. Their dual-identity endows them with unique perspectives, and in their works, they have described the sense of loss and anxiety that diasporas have felt, explored the perplexity of identity that diasporas have suffered from and involuntarily showed much concern for issues of cultural conflicts and integration. The survival experiences and cultural psychology of diaspora have been fully shown in diaspora literature.Amy Tan is a representative diasporic writer in Chinese Ameriean literature. Based on her own experience of diaspora, her keen insight, and her excellent writing skills, Amy Tan has produced many novels which describe the lives of those Chinese American diasporas in a foreign culture. The Bonesetter's Daughter is the fourth successful novel written by Tan, which is highly autobiographical and most of it emerges out of the experiences of her own grandmother, mother as well as herself. In this novel, Tan focuses on a pair of Chinese American diasporic mother and daughter, describing their survival plight in a foreign land, exposing the clashes and conflicts they have encountered and the loss, perplexity and choice of cultural identity they have confronted when wandering between different cultures and values. From the perspective of diaspora, this thesis attempts to explore Chinese American diasporas'cultural identities in this novel with the help of the theory of post- colonialism and diaspora criticism. This thesis is composed of six parts: the first part is a brief introduction to Chinese American literature, Amy Tan and her major works, as well as a literature review on Amy Tan from both home and abroad. The second part makes a survey of the diaspora criticism ranging from the concept of diaspora and diasporic phenomenon to the development of diasporic literature. The third part mainly discusses the survival state and the identity plight of Chinese American diasporas, illustrating their embarrassing situation and perplexity between traditional Chinese culture and American culture. The forth part analyzes the clashes between the immigrant mother and the American-born daughter as well as the conflicts between Chinese diasporas and white Americans. The fifth part explores how the characters in the novel develop from conflicts to reconciliation, and how Chinese diasporas pursue their cultural identities in the collision and communication between Chinese culture and western culture. Finally, a hybridized cultural identity is constructed and the harmonious co-existence of different cultures is realized. The last part is the conclusion.