Ethnic Identity Formation In The Namesake And Typical American

The Namesake and Typical American are classical in immigration novels andvaluable in Asian-American literature. Both two novels mainly demonstrate howcharacters pursue their ethnic identity atfer confusion and struggle in the wake ofimmigrating to America. This thesis attempts to link such major concern in immigrationnovels as identity formation, with intercultural communication studies, in the hope ofanalyzing the texts from a new perspective. Because of fluidity in ethnic identity, whichresults from a series of subjective and objective factors, this thesis will, based onContextual Theory of Interethnic Communication contributed by Y.Y.Kim, perform anarratological textual and contextual factor analysis of how characters construct theirethnic identity. The literary term “”spaces are understood as literary construction.Characters in the novels, through recalls and statements, recontextualize the spaces. Thepast，present and future are linked to trace how ethnic identity is formed and transformed.Academic significance lies in a combined trial between intercultural communicationparadigms and literary textual analysis, which may hopefully broaden the visions of twodisciplines and attract more research on this combination.This thesis will be made up of five parts: first, a brief introduction of the thesis willbe made; second, there will be a review of Asian American literature and novels ofimmigration as well as a survey of critical work on the two novels with focus on ethnicidentity orientation; besides，a mention of the theoretical framework and methodologymakes for an understanding of how this thesis will work and how far it will go. The thirdand fourth parts account for a detailed narratological and factor analysis of the two novelsone by one, of which, in The Namesake, an analysis of functional adaptation of the firstgeneration and conflicting identification of the second generation will display howcharacters form their ethnic identity within the context of American society; in TypicalAmerican, at school and at home characters exhibit various ethnic identity orientations,which will constitute the fourth part of the thesis. These two parts above are the main b’ody of this thesis. Characters to be analyzed at stake wont be confined to merely theprimordial protagonist. This structure trial may possibly present the strength of thetheoretical framework at issue, without the suspicion of mechanically adhering to thosefour strategies, on grounds that the novel has a long-term span, witnessing how charactersidentify themselves all over; the process may also indirectly lend credentials to or give’new meanings and thinking to Kims four identification strategies. In chapter five isembraced a possible combined discussion of the two novels, followed by a briefconclusion.