The Other Representation

Colleen McCullough is one of Australia’s most influential contemporary writers. The Touch, published in 2003, is believed to be her best known novel after The Thorn Bird and the most successful family saga and romance. In The Touch, McCullough describes the Chinese gold miners’ life in the 19th century in Australia. She sympathizes the Chinese gold diggers’ unfortunate encounters under the white discrimination, and shows her good feelings towards the Chinese people from various aspects. McCullough not only praises the Chinese diligence, wisdom, kindness, integrity sincerely. As a medical scientist, she also admires the traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese food highly. In the novel, all Chinese are very beautiful in both outlook and soul. Besides, McCullough successfully shows the great contribution that Chinese have made to the Australian society in the 19th Century.Based on the theory of Orientalism, the thesis is intended to analyze how McCullough gets rid of the previous literary view on "stereotype" and "Other" image of the Chinese in her novel, and proves that the author is in a conscious position to describe the Chinese and Chinese culture in a positive way. This thesis will be divided into four parts. Firstly, the author exhibits the reasons for choosing this topic, research questions and relevant theories adopted in this thesis, as well as a brief introduction to The Touch and its author. Secondly, the author will explain McCullough’s positive attitude towards traditional Chinese culture and Chinese image against the background of real conditions in the 19th century. In addition, the author discusses the characterization under the theory of Orientalism to illustrate how McCullough casts off the "stereotype" or "The Other". The conclusion is drawn in the last part, which demonstrates that McCullough is not influenced by the White Supremacy and portrays the Chinese characters in The Touch truly and objectively.