An Interpretation Of The Joy Luck Club From Post-colonial Perspective

Amy Tan is a famous Chinese American woman writer. Her first novel TheJoy Luck Club (1989) caused an immediate sensation after its publication andwon the wide acclaim from both readers and critics.The present thesis is a tentative attempt at a post-colonial study of The JoyLuck Club with the focus on identity issue that few scholars have examinedbefore. It includes five chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief overview of thedevelopment of Chinese American Literature, Amy Tan and her The Joy LuckClub. Chapter 2 first gives the literature review of the novel and then sets up thetheoretical framework in which some post-colonial notions will be adopted in theanalysis of the novel, meanwhile the writing purpose is pointed out. In Chapter 3,the notion of "Other" in Orientalism is applied in the detailed analysis of thenovel from the ethnic, gender, language and cultural perspectives. The charactersin the novel were marginized and regarded as "Other" leading to the issue ofidentity lost. Chapter 4 addresses how the Other allies with each other toreconstruct the lost identity. The above analysis contributes to the conclusion ofthis study in Chapter 5, through the reconstruction, the identity is found that itneither belongs to China nor America, but "Third Space".The study of this issue may offer a new perspective to the study of Amy Tanand other Chinese American writers.