Construction Of An Ethnic And Gender Identity Of Chinese American Women: A Study Of The Mother-Daughter Relationship In Amy Tan's Works

From the postcolonial and feminist perspective, this thesis intends to study the construction of the identity of Chinese American women in Amy Tan's works. Chapter one is a brief introduction of Chinese American literature as well as literary position and achievements of Amy Tan. From the nineteenth century, Chinese American literature has been discriminated by the American literary cannon. Most early Chinese American works tended to cater to the tastes of the white readership. The situation changed till the latter half of the twentieth century when the Civil Rights Movement took place in the United States, during which more Chinese writers emerged into the literary stage and the mainstream of American society began to pay more attention to the Chinese American literature. Among the most well-known ones are Maxine Hong Kinston, Amy Tan, Gish Jen and many others. The 1980s and 1990s saw the flowering of Chinese American literature, there have been so many works by Chinese American writers that American literary criticism has come to recognize "Asian literature"as a separate genre, of which Chinese American literature is a most important part. Amy Tan is one of the most eminent among all the Chinese American writers. With her four bestseller works, The Joy Luck Club(1989), The Kitchen God's Wife(1991), The Hundred Secret Senses(1995) and The Bonesetter's Daughter(2001), she not only enjoys the high compliments from the critics but also gains great popularity among common readers and her name becomes a household word throughout the United States. Chapter two analyzes the layers of silence imposed on Chinese American women and the way of Tan's struggle to break the silence and construct the new identity for Chinese American women. Chinese American women are the victims of both American hegemonic ideology, which devalues them because of their race, and patriarchal ideology, which devalues them because of their gender. Moreover, patriarchal oppression comes not only from colonialist Americans, but also from their own patriarchal Chinese culture. The Civil Rights Movement and Feminist Movement prompted Chinese American women to break the silence and seek the unique identity of Chinese American women. Amy Tan explores the identity construction by telling the problematic relationship between mothers and daughters in her four novels. Chapter three dwells on the construction of ethnic and gender identity respectively. In analyzing the construction of ethnic identity, Homi Bhabha's "hybridity"and "Third Space"are utilized. The transition of the relationship between mothers and daughters from conflicts to reconciliation is the daughters'rejection and acceptance of the mothers and the mothers'Chinese culture. The integration of the two cultures creates a new hybrid one and thus, the unique ethnic identity of the Chinese Americans is constructed. As for the gender identity construction, Amy Tan emphasizes the empowering effects of the mother-daughter reconciliation in the face of the devouring patriarchy. The mothers'traumatic experiences in feudal China can empower both themselves and their daughters. Their experiences are the sources of the courage and strength. By telling the transition of the relationship between mothers and daughters, Amy Tan explores the construction of the unique identity of Chinese American women. This is the great contribution she makes to the development of Chinese American literature.