An Analysis Of The Identity Issue In Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior From The Perspective Of Space Theory

Maxine Hong Kingston is one of the most influential and representative female writers in the prosperous period of Chinese American literature.In 1970 s,the Chinese American literature has gradually attracted academic circle's attention and it has obtained good reputation,and it can be said these achievements are closely related with Kingston's literary achievement.Kingston's first literary work The Woman Warrior also occupies a very key and important position in the history of Chinese American literature.This novel mainly tells a girl's growing experience in America and her exploration for her identity.This thesis applies Edward Soja's third space theory as the theoretical framework to analyze the girl's experience of identity confusion,identity pursuit and identity construction in three different spaces.The girl actually lives in three different spaces: physical first space,imagined second space and practical third space.The change of these three spaces reflects the girl's thoughts and exploration of her identity.In the first space,through analyzing the physical space like Chinatown,laundry and American school,the girl's identity confusion can be known;in the second space,the girl imagines herself as Fa Mu Lan and by analyzing the new Fa Mu Lan's characteristics and the new plot,the enlightenment and direction the girl gets for her identity construction can be made clear;in the third space,the girl creatively constructs her own proper identity-cosmopolite.Through the analysis,it can be found that when the girl deals with her identity problem,she positively deconstructs her identity confusion in the first space that identity is like a multiple choice and one can only choose one specific identity,reconstructs the enlightenment about identity construction that she gets from the second space and finally creatively constructs her identity as a cosmopolite in the third space.The concept of cosmopolite provides a very inclusive solution to people who have identity problems.This identity will give them more confidence and sense of belonging which is crucial to personal development.Besides,with the rapid development of globalization,there are some adjustments to the notion and connotation of cosmopolite which are helpful for people to adjust to the communication between different countries,races and cultures and the development of globalization.This thesis' analysis to the girl's identity issue will enrich and expand the research of Maxine Hong Kingston's literary works,and it will also expand the research of identity study from space perspective.