A New Historicist Interpretation Of Maxine Hong Kingston's China Men

Maxine Hong Kingston(1940-)is one of the most influential Chinese American writers since the 1960 s.Her second work,China Men,has aroused the overwhelming concern of a good many critics and scholars at home and abroad since it was published.Previous studies are mainly from such perspectives as identity,feminism and racism narrative strategies,post-modernism,rationalism and cross culture in this work.In China Men,Kingston doesn't use the traditional historian's recording methods to narrate the history of Chinese immigrants;instead,she combines reality and imagination,and integrates stories,historical records and myths together.This unique way of writing coincides with the idea of New Historicism,which has rarely been studied.According to New Historicism,history is a narration and literature acts as a supplement to history.There is no single history.History can only be reconstructed.In the American official records,the mainstream literary works and other cultural media,Chinese Americans are treated and described unfairly,whose great contributions to America are covered and obliterated.Thus,China Men perfectly fills the vacancy in the history of American literature.This thesis,an attempt to interpret China Men from the perspective of New Historicism,not only explores the subversion of the discourse power of the official American society,but also examines the reconstruction of Chinese American history,so as to provide a new way to understand the profound influence of this book on all Chinese-Americans.Photographs,laws and other official documents are most likely to be considered as true representation of history.But these are merely official records,one of the many “histories”.In China Men,Kingston rewrites myths and uses other subversive methods to subvert the discourse power of the mainstream society.Discourse power can not be separated from voice,thus Chinese American family's silence and struggling to rupture silence is also introduced in this thesis.Most importantly,Kingston's China Men is also to eulogize Chinese American ancestors' greatcontributions to America,especially to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and to reveal the sufferings of Chinese Americans under the Chinese Exclusion Act.Besides,diaries,newspapers,photographs and various stories of the Chinese American family are included to reconstruct the Chinese American history.This thesis provides a new way to understand the profound influence of this book on all Chinese-Americans,and a new vision for readers to comprehend Chinese American history.Besides,this thesis tries to shed light on some of the social problems that today's minority group are confronted with in America.