A Study Of Maxine Hong Kingston's Psychological Journey From The Perspective Of Post-Colonialism

As one of the most outstanding Chinese American writers,Maxine Hong Kingston attracts great attention in recent years.Her works have a profound impact on the American literary world.Her masterworks The Woman Warrior(1976),China Men(1981),and Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book(1990)received many literary awards.These three works reflect the sexuality,race and cultural identity predicament that Chinese Americans have to face.Post-Colonialism theory emphasizes the cultural invasion,knowledge penetration,language control,and culture hegemony that western world saddles on the third world counties and colonies.It is an academic theory of intensely political nature and literary critical nature.Because of Kingston's Chinese American identity and the predicament of Chinese Americans mentioned in her works,Post-Colonialism theory is a good perspective to analyze her works.For years,Post-colonialism researches on Kingston's works are fruitful.But,there are few achievements that study Kingston's inner struggle and growth in chronological order by analyzing her works of different periods respectively.Therefore,to explore Kingston's psychological journey,the thesis analyzes her three works of different periods from the perspective of Post-Colonialism.This thesis is divided into the following parts:Firstly,brief introductions to Maxine Hong Kingston and her three masterworks are given.The previous researches of Kingston's three masterworks are also reviewed.Also,it expounds the background and significance of this thesis.Secondly,the thesis reviews the Post-Colonialism theory and its branch theories Orientalism,Post-Colonial Feminism Theory and Hybridity Theory.Thirdly,the thesis analyzes Kingston's three works from the perspective of Post-Colonialism and finds out her inner state reflected in her works of different periods.To explore Maxine Hong Kingston's psychological journey,the thesis gives Post-Colonial Feminism analysis of No Name Woman,Hua Mulan,Ta'ai Yen in The Woman Warrior;Orientalism analysis of Chinese American males stereotyped image,their revolt against being treated as “the other”,and their image rebuilding in China Men;and the Hybridity analysis of Chinese American identity crisis,exploration and reconstruction in Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book.Finally,the conclusion of Kingston's psychological journey reflected in her works of different periods is given.It further analyzes the trend of her inner changes as time goes on.