Reconstructing New Identity For Chinese Americans In Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book

Tripmaster Monkey by Chinese American woman writer Maxine Hong Kingston tells the story of a fifth-generation Chinese American youth, Wittman Ah Sing's life in two months. The mainstream society marginalizes Wittman as well as other Chinese Americans even though they identify with American values and contemporary ideologies of counter-culture and anti-war. Avoiding being marginalized, Wittman needs to break the stereotype and create a new identity for Chinese Americans. Concerning identity theories reveals that identity is the outcome of the negotiable interaction between the self perception and the social recognition. In the new era, identity should be bestowed with new content. The Chinese American identity should consist of elements from both the Chinese and American cultures. The intertextual reference of the book to Chinese and American literature demonstrates this equal relationship between the two in creating the new Chinese American identity.Besides Introduction and Conclusion, this paper consists of three chapters.In Introduction, the research method, the aim, and the structure of the paper will be stated. A small proportion will be attributed to the introduction of the author and the novel.Chapter One lays the theoretical foundation for my discussion on the novel. The concerning identity theories to be adopted in the analysis will be introduced. Identity undergoes constant changes. It is the result of interaction between the self-perception and social recognition. Old identity disrupts and new identity is created through the process of negotiation. The negotiation in the literary text is represented by the exploitation of intertexutuality.In Chapter Two, with the theoretical foundation, I will begin my discussion by reviewing the setting of the novel so as to explain the context for identity negotiation. The national pride of the minority groups in America had been rising and the government and the public had been aware that racial discrimination was unjust and was against the founding principles of the United States. The environment is mature for an identity negotiation of breaking the stereotype and creating new identity.In Chapter Three, Whitman's strategy of negotiation and creating the new identity will be discussed. Wittman draws inspiration from the Chinese and American literature. The Americanness and Chineseness coalesce to create the Chinese American identity. Both are quintessential and their indispensability is expressed in Wittman's opera marathon.In Conclusion, I state my conclusion from the above analysis, that is, Chinese culture and American culture are equally important in creating the new Chinese American identity. The bi-culture is no longer the hindrance but the gift for the protagonist to take a new perspective in forming his identity as a Chinese American.