Cultural Conflicts And Cultural Coexistence

Fae Myenne Ng's first novel Bone is about the middle sister Ona's suicide, a jump off the thirteenth floor of the Nam, a local housing project named Nam Ping Yuan. The novel tells of how the first and second generations of Chinese-Americans deal with cultural conflicts, how they find their own social attribute, and how they struggle and survive in American society.Bone is full of conflicts and contradictions between two different cultures and two generations of Chinese Americans. Therefore, this thesis is intended to explore the novel from the perspective of intercultural communication and differences between Chinese traditional culture and American mainstream culture.The thesis firstly explains the miserable experience of first-generation immigrants who maintain the traditional Chinese culture.It also explores the different characteristics of Chinese and American culture that make the three daughters struggling between the generational and cultural conflicts. Then, it analyzes the first-generation parents'lifestyle in Chinatown and points out the importance of keeping one's national culture in intercultural communication. After analyzing a series of clashes and conflicts and Leila's own choice, the thesis concludes that people from two different cultures inevitably understand and communicate with each other. Chinese traditional culture and American mainstream culture will ultimately coexist harmoniously, accepting differences, appreciating similarities, and developing together in the world.At last, the thesis restates the importance of a tolerant and understanding attitude towards the cultural differences. Maintaining our culture's merits and understanding American culture's features are the preconditions of a successful intercultural communication.