Trauma And Construction Of Chinese American Identity In Bone By Fae Myenne Ng

American literature has always been fascinated with the issue of identity. Identity has also become a heated topic in Chinese American literature since its coming of age in the past decade or so. After its publication, Fae Meynne Ng's Bone has received the deserved critical attention, but few of the critics pay attention to the construction of Chinese American identity in narrative of the novel. In this thesis, combining identity with the theory of trauma, I argue the main characters in Bone had been experiencing identity crises which are epitomized in the traumatizing event of Ona's suicide and have ultimately negotiated a hybrid Chinese American identity by working through the trauma.The thesis consists of five chapters and a conclusion. Chapter one is an introduction of Chinese American literature and the perspectives on Chinese American identity. Chapter two locates the phenomena through which that the main characters of the novel have experienced identity crises. Chapter three mainly concentrates on the causes of their identity crises before the traumatizing event crops up. American racism against the marginalized Chinese Americans plunges the Leong family into bankruptcy, estranges the relationship between the family members, and leads to the traumatizing event of Ona's suicide. Chapter four deals with the main characters' working-through of the trauma by hooks and crooks. Chapter five depicts how the construction of a hybrid Chinese American identity gets under way. In the conclusion, the theories and methodology are briefed again. Together with the working-through of the trauma and the construction of a hybrid Chinese American identity, the hidden Chinese American history is restored. In the end, the limits of the hybrid identity and the contribution Ng has made are also pointed out.