Pilgrimage To A Right Gesture:Being Chinese American In Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone

Thanks to American multicultural atmosphere and the unremitting effort ofChinese American writers, Chinese American literature flourishes and becomes theimportant branch of American literature in the past thirty years. This thesis focuses onthe newly-emerging Chinese American female writer Fae Myenne Ng and her maidenwork Bone (1993), which became an immediate blockbuster as soon as it saw light inthe world and was well received by critics and the public. Owing to the roaringsuccess of Bone, Fae Myenne Ng successfully edges herself into the forefront ofcontemporary Chinese American literature after the well-renowned writers likeMaxine Hong Kingston, Frank Chin and Amy Tan.Though Bone enthusiastically arouses favorable review, both abroad and athome, the research by critics and scholars is primarily confined within theautobiographical framework: the recurrence of the authentic life and miserableexperiences of the pioneering Chinese immigrants. Few of them have an insight intoexamining the deep connotation beneath the literary text. Based on her personal lifeexperiences, Fae Myenne Ng makes full use of the technique of symbolism to extendthe familial problem to the historical and cultural level: a national allegory of ChineseAmerican that personal experiences, familial secrets and ethnic trauma are interwovenwithin Bone.The pursuit of self-identity and national culture identity is the importantthematic concern in Diaspora literature. In Ng’s Bone, Grandpa Leong, as a goldmountain coolie, sets foot on America for economic success with the belief of “luoyeguigen”. However, his bones permanently float like a spectre in the alien world. Leonand Dulcie are resolute to pursue the illusory American dream with the hope of “luodishenggen”. What a pity, they descend to the slave of the thorny life. As for Americanborn Chinese, they make painstaking exploration for their sense of belonging in thedilemma between worlds because of their double culture background. Ona, as therepresentative of “shigen qunzu”, lingers between the two polarized cultures andresults in suicide. Nina, as the representative of “zhancao chugen” adopts the totalassimilation as her strategy for her self-identity and has to endure the bitter fruit ofemotional loneliness. Leila and Mason, as the representatives of “xungen wenzu”,find “the Third Space” between Chinese and American cultures and successfullyestablish their hybrid cultural identity: Chinese American. Therefore, this thesis makes an attempt to make a further and detailed analysisof Ng’s Bone from the perspective of symbolism. We can arrive at the conclusion thatNg’s Bone is not only an autobiographical literary text that reveals the personal andfamilial experiences of early Chinese immigrants but also a historical text thatrewrites the ethnic trauma of Chinese American in the marginalized position ofAmerican mainstream society in the past more than one hundred years and apilgrimage to the right gesture: being Chinese American.