From Mochou To Lady Sorrowfree-the Interpretation Of Winnie’ Initiation In The Kitchen God’s Wife

With the development of cultural diversity, the fusion, collision and intercommunication of culture has been injecting a flow of fresh blood to literature. The study and appreciation of literature works is not confined to the classification of nationality or genre as the single standard any longer, an increasing number of scholars and critics have focused their attention on the ethnic minority writers and the related works. America, which is long been called "the melting pot", is the fertile soil to this kind of new emerging literature, among which Chinese American literature holds a significant position and earns the incomparable attention of Chinese scholars and critics. As "model minority", what kind of trial and suffering that Chinese Americans have been through; what kind of spiritual journey they have experienced? One could find clues in Chinese American literal works.With the development of Chinese American literature and the deepening of its thorough research, works about "initiation" has gradually become the focus."Initiation" is a type of fiction; it is more of an eternal theme, an inevitable practice that one must experience which includes not only pain, suffering, tear but also relief, epiphany and smile. Chinese American women particularly, as the ones who are struggling under the cultural conflict, the discrimination of both racial and sexual, the embarrassment of marginalization, they have their own understanding and comprehension of "initiation". This thesis takes Winnie, the protagonist of Amy Tan’s second work The Kitchen God’Wife, as the objective of study. The study of Winnie’s initiation has its special meaning:the previous Chinese American literal works which focus on female initiation always lay emphasis on the "American daughter", aiming to show the collision, conflict and fusion between eastern and western cultures with the embodiment of the confusion, desperation and realization in Chinese American descendants’initiation; while in The Kitchen God’s Wife, Amy Tan’s energy goes to the "Chinese mother" Winnie, three fourths of the book is on the growth experience of Winnie in the pre-war time old China. Amy Tan, the writer herself accomplishes her initiation with the nurture and cultivation of both western and eastern cultures, while the protagonist Winnie she creates is a genuine Chinese woman who is born in China, grown in China and moves to America after so many sufferings. Winnie is complicated one full of co-action. In brief, this is a typical traditional Chinese woman’s initiation portrayed by a Chinese American writer whose heart is both western and eastern. This is original in Chinese American initiation story; it is a kind of innovation. Winnie’s initiation is much more specific, elaborate and comprehensive compared with "four Chinese mothers’ old Chinese days" in Tan’s first work The Joy Luck Club. These two works could not be mentioned in the same breathe from this perspective. What’s more, the names of Winnie’s children are highly worthy of attention, they represent Winnie’s attitude and spiritual state in her different life stages. The analysis of these names will be included in this thesis.There are six chapters in this thesis. The first chapter is a brief introduction to the purpose and significance of the research, the author Amy Tan and the work The Kitchen God’s Wife. Chapter two is the abroad and domestic research status of Amy Tan and The Kitchen God’s Wife. Chapter three explains the definition and basic characteristics of bildungsroman, female bildungsroman,American initiation story and Chinese American initiation story; briefly illustrate that The Kitchen God’s Wife belongs to the canon of this genre; and Winnie’s initiation is a typical one which highly worth of study. Chapter four chiefly discussed the figures which influenced Winnie’s initiation and the companions who are on her side in the growing process. Initiation guide, which could be either positive or negative, is the key factor in initiation story since it changes the pointer of the protagonist’s compass of life. In this part,"double-sided initiation guide" as a new concept will be innovatively put forward. There is no absolute good and evil about human nature, hence, someone may play a somewhat negative role this minute while the next minute, a pure positive one. The putting forward of "double-sided initiation guide" will do good to the perfection of the original concept of "initiation guide". In addition,"nature and god" as a kind of guiding power will also be discussed in this part. Chapter five focus on the analysis of Winnie’s initiation as a case study. The name of Winnie’s children is a kind of sign or mark which could represent the spiritual stage of her initiation journey:ignorance, temptation, expectation, rebellion, compromise and self-identification. Chapter six is the conclusion to this thesis and to stress the point once again that The Kitchen God’s Wife is a masterwork of this genre and the protagonist Winnie’s initiation is a case highly worth of study. The significance of this work as an attempt of Chinese American female writer’s to portray the initiation of a genuine traditional Chinese woman will also be re-emphasized.