Growth In The Vagrancy

Gus Lee(1947-)is a famous Chinese American writer who is hailed as one of the four masters of American Chinese literature by American critics and he enjoys equal popularity with Amy Tan,David Wong Louie and Gish Jen.His China Boy is regarded as one classic work of Chinese American Literature.It shoots to fame as Gus Lee's first novel.Many critics have interpreted this novel from the perspective of culture conflict,but few have analyzed it from the perspective of initiation theme.This thesis attempts to interpret China Boy by application of Initiation Story and explore how the novel manages to use the specific literary genre,Initiation Story,to show the growing progress of the protagonist and the revelation it brings to us.Chapter One briefly introduces Gus Lee and his novel China Boy.Chapter Two is the literature review which presents the current researches on China Boy at home and abroad.The significance of this thesis is also presented in this chapter.Chapter Three is about relevant theory including the origin and development of Initiation Story as well as definition and the characteristics of it.Chapter Four concentrates on interpreting the main features of Initiation Story embodied in the novel China Boy,mainly analyzes the protagonist's mental growth and physical growth.Protagonist Kai Ting is abused by his stepmother and bullied by Big Willy after the death of his mother.Kai Ting is confused about the American culture and his natural Chinese culture.Then he revolts to his fate instead of passively receiving it with the help of his friends and finally he grows up from innocence to maturity.Chapter Five is the conclusion of this thesis.China Boy is an Initiation Story reflecting the growing process of Chinese American male and it has its own characteristics in terms of initiation theme.With the identity as an ethnic male marginalized by the American mainstream culture,Protagonist Kai Ting faces racial and cultural discrimination.However,he faces to the difficulties and revolts to the fate bravely in the growing process and he finds his own identity in the end.Analysis of this novel from Initiation Story enriches the study of it and the growing experience of Kai Ting is meaningful to other ethnic American youth and American adolescents.