Expressing Americanness: The Other Image Of China In The Woman Warrior And China Men

Maxine Hong Kingston is no doubt the most outstanding Chinese American writer. No other Chinese American writers have surpassed her in the American literary world. Her two books, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghost and China Men, both commercially and critically successful, won National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction and American National Book Award in nonfiction separately at the time they came out. She is thought to be the living author whose books are most taught in colleges. Her books are taught not only in Literature departments, but also in American Studies, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, History, and Women's Studies. In the anthologies of American Literature compiled recently, Kingston and her books are an indispensable part. Kingston has been the representative of Chinese American Literature in the eyes of American scholars and readers.Coming from Kingston's familial stories, The Woman Warrior and China Men express the desire of the female Chinese American searching for self and the Chinese Americans searching for home. Although the two books are both classified as non-fiction by the publishers, the critics still argue about the complexity of their genres. Many of them believe that the two books are novels. Even though some regard them as non-fiction, they admit there are fictional plots in the two books. Besides, due to the bi-cultural background of the author and her profuse borrowing from Chinese myths, stories and classics, the comments on the two books are various, including the issues of identity construction, male/female studies and the employment of Chinese materials and the like. There has not been, however, a systematic study of the image of China in Kingston's books.Since Kingston had never been to China before she wrote the two books, the image of China in the two books comes from Kingston's imagination. With the help of theories in imagologie, this thesis discusses the other image of China Kingston has constructed in her books from the aspects of food culture, superstition characteristics,concept of self and social relationship, and analyzes Kingston's orientation in her cultural identity and her attitude toward Chinese culture.The first chapter deals with Chinese food culture and the famine image of China in The Woman Warrior and China Men, and the second chapter the description of Chinese superstitious conditions. Kingston's depiction of Chinese food culture and superstitious character is the continuance of the American stereotypes of China. Since stereotypes come from social imagination, Kingston's expression of such stereotypes shows her purpose to claim her Americanness by aligning herself with American social imagination. The third chapter elaborates Kingston's delineations of suppressed self and interdependent selves which compose the Chinese concept of self. The fourth chapter focuses on Kingston's presentations of the hierarchal social relationship in China. The analysis in the two chapters reveals Kingston's refusal of the Chinese concept of self and social relationship. Altogether, the four aspects—food culture, superstition characteristics, the concept of self and social relationship—present the image of China which reflects Chinese cultural values. Through her denial of the image of China, Kingston shows her denial of Chinese cultural values, the foundation of which is American cultural values.According to the above analysis, further confirmed are Kingston's purpose of affirming her Americanness through building the other image of China and her desire of understanding China in her American way. Kingston, who had never been to China before, constructs the other image of China to express her Americanness.