Life, Writing, And Therapy

Amy Tan is a Chinese American woman writer who has special life experiences. She takes her and her mother's true life experiences as her novels'background and creative material. Because of cultural differences, Tan and her mother, Daisy, could not communicate or understand each other well. In addition to their lower ethnic position in America, they do not have chances to express their voices or claim their identity. In her novels, Tan discusses and solves these problems which she cannot deal with in her life. This thesis analyzes Tan's novels and her life experiences through the theory of literature and therapy that writing as a kind of art has therapeutic effect in releasing writers'mental tensions. Tan releases her spiritual sadness and breaks women's silent condition through her autobiographical novels.The thesis consists of six parts. The introduction starts from discussing a Chinese American woman writer, Maxine Hong Kingston, with her autobiographical novel, The Woman Warrior; Tan's life experiences, her novels like The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife and The Bonesetter's Daughter; literature review and the theory of literature and therapy. In Tan's novels, she tries to recall women immigrants'past experiences in the old feudal China, claim their voices and identity in America, and reconcile the conflicts between mothers and daughters. These topics make her novels have special and profound meanings.Chapter One analyzes women's breaking their silence and identity crisis through storytelling. Tan lets the characters tell their own stories which have been kept secret for a long time. When she was young, Tan often heard stories from her mother and her father. Growing up, she puts the mode of storytelling into her novels. Tan not only gives the characters voices, but also relieves her and her mother's long-term spiritual pressure through storytelling. Thus the mode of storytelling breaks the silenced state of Chinese American women who have been silenced for many years in the United States. Firstly they belong to the disfranchised and marginalized ethnic group, they do not have right to speak. Then the traditional patriarchal culture causes women to keep silent from voicing their opinions. Amy Tan claims women's voices by writing out their stories which overturn their quiet and passive state.Chapter Two concentrates on the topic about reconciling the conflicts between mothers and daughters. Tan and her mother, Daisy Tan, have a problematic relationship. In the novels, Tan deals with these problems through the characters'words and acts which are the key ones between her and her mother. While solving the problems in her novels, Tan better deals with the conflicts between her and her mother, Daisy. At last Tan finds that she is one part of the Chinese heritage, and comes to understand her mother. So the mothers and the daughters could narrow their gap by removing the doubts in their mind both in Tan's life and in her novels.Chapter Three explores the meaning of death and superstition. In their lives, Tan and her mother suffer much sadness from losing their relatives. The severe bitterness leads to great change of Daisy's personality. Especially after the death of her husband, John Tan, and her son, Peter Tan, Daisy once loses control of herself and has to pin the hope on her daughter, Amy Tan. And then Daisy wants to save her family through superstition and the divining power. This chapter discusses how Tan shows her attitude towards the meaning of death and superstition in her life and in her novels. Through these novels, Tan remembers the dead relatives, and understands her mother's superstitious acts.Chapter Four is about Tan's recalling women's traumatic experiences in the old feudal China. In that age, women have very little status in the society. Tan's mother, Daisy, experiences her evil husband's ill-treatment and the patriarchal feudal system's bondage, and she has no choice to claim her right. So she has to accept her fate, and does not rebel against it. In The Joy luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife and The Bonesetter's Daughter, Tan claims her mother's identity through describing the women characters'life experiences in the old feudal China. This is a kind of understanding of her mother. The conclusion concludes that by writing out their life experiences, Amy Tan understands her mother, bridges the gulf between her and her mother, and claims women's voices and identity. Through putting some of her autobiographical experiences into the novels, Tan not only releases her emotional sadness, but also communicates with her mother better from the mothers-daughters'lives and stories. The theory of literature and therapy provides a good way for readers to analyze and understand writers and their autobiographical novels.