The Construction Of Chinese American's Identity In Amy Tan's Novels

Amy Tan is a famous Chinese American writer whose works attract a great number of readers and scholars.The Joy Luck Club,Tan's first novel,is published in1989 and then brings her great success and numerous awards.It is so popular that it has been on the list of “New York Times Best Seller” for ten months.Besides,Tan's third novel and also one of the most successful novels of her,The Hundred Secret Senses,receives wide popularity as well.As a member of the second generation of Chinese immigrants with two cultural backgrounds,Tan can sensitively observe the awkward situation that Chinese immigrants face in American mainstream culture.Besides,the experience of Tan's mother is another source of inspiration for her writing.Therefore,most of Tan's novels take the conversion of mother-daughter relationship from conflict to harmony as a tool to probe into the identity dilemma faced by Chinese Americans and to discuss the process of their identity construction.On the clue of identity theory,this thesis analyzes two of the most classic novels of Tan from post-colonial perspective,which points out that the changing identities of the mothers and daughters in Tan's novels reflect her supplementations to the identities of Chinese Americans.This thesis is divided into five parts: The first chapter examines the related information of Amy Tan and two of her most important novels,then it gives a review of the scholarship abroad and at home on Amy Tan.This section ends with a brief introduction to identity theory and postcolonial method,which is the theoretical foundation of the whole study.The second chapter analyzes the identity dilemma that Chinese mothers and American daughters faced in America.They cannot merge into either the American society or the Chinese one.By writing about the identity dilemma which the minority characters face,the necessity for the minority to build a new kind of identity is exposed.Therefore,the writing of identity dilemma acts as the driving force for the characters' construction of hybrid identities in the end.The third chapter analyzes the identity negotiation of Chinese Americans.During the process of identity negotiation,the immigrant mothers no longer stand in the opposite cultural stance with their daughters by storytelling;and the twogenerations finally get reconciliated by articulating the differences between Chinese culture and American culture.This chapter tries to suggest that identity is changeable and negotiable,and to prove that identity negotiation plays a crucial role in the construction of hybrid identity for the minority.The fourth chapter intends to discuss the identity construction of Chinese Americans.Through the depiction of conflict and reconciliation between the characters,Tan endows her characters with hybrid identities,which means that they do not simply designate themselves as a member of Chinese culture or American culture,but they start from other standpoints to achieve a temporary but reasonable identity.On this basis,the author further explores Tan's perception of identity reflected in her works,thus to figure out the motivation of identity construction in her works.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this thesis.After summarizing the content of this paper,it reiterates that Tan is deconstructing and reconstructing the identities of Chinese Americans.During this process,Tan is not to endow the characters with clear identities;instead,she intends to construct hybrid identities for Chinese immigrants in her novels so that they can receive a temporary but appropriate approval from two different cultures.This process reflects Tan's own understanding of Chinese Americans' identity,so Tan's writing of identity is also finding and constructing her own identity.