Post-colonial Interpretation On Jade Snow's Identity Construction Dilemma In Fifth Chinese Daughter

Jade Snow Wong(1922-2006),an important ethnic writer in America,is praised as the Mother of Chinese American Literature by Kingston.Her famous work Fifth Chinese Daughter is one of the earliest Chinese American novels that are popular with a large number of American readers.The autobiographical novel reflects the struggle of career success about a Chinese American girl named Jade Snow in the first half 20th century.As an ethnic minority,protagonist has lots of confusion about life that is caused by the differences between Chinese culture and American culture.She also faces identity construction dilemma on how to choose between the two cultures.To present the objectivity of Jade Snow's identity construction,the thesis,based on the protagonist's conflict and integration with traditional Chinese culture and mainstream American culture,applies post-colonial theories,including Said's Orientalism,Spivak's subaltern,Bhabha's hybridity,qualitative analysis and close-reading to interpret the protagonist's identity construction dilemma from three aspects.Firstly,the dilemma Jade Snow faces during identity construction.Living between Chinese culture and American culture,Jade Snow is regarded as the Other and suffers American racial discrimination in education and job field;on the other hand,she is treated as an aphasiac subaltern before Americans and family members,and faces female identity construction dilemma.Secondly,it is the reality of cultural context of Jade Snow's identity construction.Living in the hybrid environment of Chinese culture and American culture from childhood,Jade Snow is deeply influenced by Chinese American food,education and thought,so she can not completely abandon Chinese culture or American culture regardless of the real living environment to live in a cultural island.Thus,she naturally chooses to construct hybrid identity at last.Thirdly,it is the process and significance of Jade Snow's identity construction.Influenced by hybrid culture and combining the advantages of Chinese culture and American culture,Jade Snow begins her quest of American Dream.During the quest,she deconstructs the opposition of cultural pattern between East and West,successfully rewrites cultural identity and reconstructs the images of Chinese Americans.Through the analysis of the dilemma,cultural reality and significance of Jade Snow's identity construction,the thesis indicates that ethnic minorities should abandon the backwardness of Chinese and American culture,and absorb essence of the two culture in the context of globalization and post-colonialism,and hybrid identity construction is in accordance with demands of times.