Inherence And Inheritance:Matri-nexus In Beloved And The Joy Luck Club

This thesis, mainly from gender and culture perspectives, looks into the mother-daughter relationship in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. In the lens of Addrienne Rich’s theoretical analysis on motherhood and mother-daughter relationship, the thesis focuses on two American ethnic female writers and their masterpieces, seeing to the following questions:In a white and male dominated society, how does motherhood as an institution confine the potential of women and deprive women of their basic human rights? How does mothering as an experience empower both mothers and daughters and by what means do mothers help their daughters find their cultural identity and gender voice? In what ways do American ethnic women’s maternal practices correspond to the dominant theories, and in which aspects do they differ from the mainstream ones? Through the comparative interpretation between the two novels, this thesis reveals the distinct and disparate practices of ethnic mothers beyond the bounds of Rich’s theories on motherhood and the mother-daughter relationship.