The Cultural Identity Construction Of The Protagonist Of Donald Duk

Chinese American literature germinated in the second half of the nineteenth century and bloomed in the1960s and1970s. As one of the famous Chinese American writers, Frank Chin reveals the inequality and distortion of Chinese Americans from the white mainstream society in his works. By rewriting the Chinese myths and the Chinese American history, he successfully arouses the ethnical pride of Chinese Americans.In his first novel Donald Duk, Chin characterizes a boy whose attitude changes from rejecting to Chinese culture and traditions to protecting the Chinese American history and dignity after his re-recognition and self identification, so as to correct the stereotype of Chinese and the distortion of Chinese American history created by the mainstream society. Through this novel, Frank Chin demonstrates the ambition of fighting for his marginalized ethnic, as well the desire of Chinese Americans to become a significant part of the society.This thesis will analyze the writing intention of Chin through the study on the cultural identity construction of Donald Duk via the theories of cultural identity and discourse power. It consists of five chapters:The first chapter is an introduction to the author, Frank Chin, and his works. A brief review of Donald Duk and contemporary researches on it is as well included. Meanwhile, there are illustrations of related theories and the structure of the thesis in this chapter.The second chapter deals with the rejection of Donald to his Chinese identity. It involves an introduction of the Chinese image of the mainstream society and then the discussion on the relations of discourse power of the teacher and Donald, who represent the American mainstream culture and the Chinese culture.In the third part of this chapter, it discusses the rejection of Donald to his Chinese identity.In the third chapter, the focus is on the changing process of the attitude towards Chinese culture and history as well his self identification of Donald. The reason to his change and the contradiction in his mind are discussed, together with the distortion of Chinese American history caused by the discourse power of the white culture. It reveals the social identity of Donald Duk and the mission he inherits from his Chinese American identity.The fourth chapter demonstrates the revival of Donald’s Chinese American ethnic pride and revival of Chinese American discourse power through the incident that Donald fights against the mainstream ideology by correcting the distortion of Chinese American history.In the last chapter, the writing intention of Donald Duk is reaffirmed as integrating into the society through the appropriate way of self re-recognition, cultural identification, and resistance to the distortion of mainstream culture. As enlightenment, people in the intense development of globalization should be cautious of the cultural invasion by keeping clear minds, respecting original cultures, and critically accepting the foreign cultures.