The Kitchen God's Wife, A Text Of Multiculturalism

The Kitchen God's Wife, compared with its predecessor The Joy Luck Club, seems to have received a cold welcome from critics. Taking an overall look at the criticisms upon The Kitchen God's Wife from home and abroad, we find it not uneasy to note that lots of the criticisms are meant to rebuke Amy Tan for having flattened the white community, and to label the novels with the uniform tag "Orientalism". But few have found the traces of cultural communication in the novel, let alone associate multiculturalism with it. This thesis is just meant to fill in this blank and exert itself to prove that the novel is actually a text of multiculturalism instead of an orientalist one.The thesis is organized in three parts. In chapter one, research background and purpose will be revealed. Chapter two encompasses an introduction to multiculturalism and Amy Tan's multicultural conception. Nowadays, the globalization of capital, the migrations of diverse peoples, and the creation of global information superhighways have witnessed a corresponding increase of communication and exchange between cultures in America. Inevitably American Eurocentrism and cultural nationalism are seriously challenged and multiculturalism becomes somewhat a necessity. Safe to say that by employing multiculturalism, cultures of the United States will be more diversified and colorful, people more devoted, and society more harmonious. This is a consensus of intellectuals in the late 20^th century, and Amy Tan is such a representative. To a large extent, Tan's multicultural conception is closely related to her dual identities as a Chinese American and the multicultural environment in which she lives. With her unique observation and avant-garde conception, Amy Tan has expressed multiculturalism in her writing and has become the era's pioneer. To further strengthen my point, this chapter will also go all out to refute the orientalist talks.Chapter three, divided into three sections, analyzes in detail and depth how Amy Tan, as a mature artist, constructs multiculturalism in her second novel. How to construct it? Tan has presented us readers the advantages of being a Chinese American. Making use of her dual identities and spanning over two cultures, Amy Tan has created a compound, Chinese American characteristic literary mode, in which Chinese and American cultures meet each other, make collisions, and finally reconciliate. Firstly, Tan's modeling of Chinese characters has reversed and subverted the stereotypes of the East for the West. Through the protagonists Winnie Louie and Jimmy Louie, Tan has set up the justified images of Chinese in the mainstream discourse. Also eye-catching are Tan's narrative strategies, which mainly comprise three parts: narrative technique—a mix of Chinese talk story and American multiple narratives, narrative language—a blend of Chinese and English, and Lady Sorrowfree—a hybrid of Chinese and Greek myths. All of these clearly manifest Tan's pursuit of combining the primes from two seemingly contradictory cultures. Finally, the theme is unique for Tan has magnified a Chinese American's family experience to the cultural spectrum. By depicting the transformation from misunderstanding and conflicts to communication and understanding between mother and daughter, Tan has presented her belief to the readers that the mutual understanding and reconciliation of Sino-American cultures are the future trend of society's development under the context of the multiculturalism.