A Study Of Identity Construction Of Marginal Men In Steer Toward Rock From The Perspective Of Collective Memory

Fae Myenne Ng(1956-),a Chinese American novelist,is a promising writer in the contemporary literary world.As a daughter of “paper son”,she pays close attention to the paper identity in most of her works.Steer Toward Rock(2008)is her second masterpiece,which takes her fifteen years to create.The novel tells a story about the painful marginalized experience of Chinese immigrants under the background of the “Confession Program.” The present research attempts to explore the identity construction of Chinese Americans from the perspectives of Halbwachs’ collective memory theory and Nora’s concept of “sites of memory.”The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One introduces Fae Myenne Ng and her Steer Toward Rock,summarizes the research both at home and abroad,illustrates the theory of collective memory and states the thesis statement.Chapter Two mainly analyzes the process of Chinese Americans using individual memory to construct their gender identity.They have successfully used the strategy of individual memory to subvert their distorted gender images in American official memory and complete the construction of gender identity.Chapter Three gives a thorough analysis of how Chinese Americans solve their social identity crisis with the help of collective memory.Under the background of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Confession Program,Chinese Americans constantly adjust their social frameworks of memory to satisfy their needs of acquiring a sense of belonging.Chapter Four employs the concept of “sites of memory” to analyze the first and second generations’ construction of hybrid cultural identity.Chapter Five serves as a conclusion that summarizes the whole thesis and discloses the significance of memory in revealing historical truth and its important role in identity construction.In this novel,Ng explores the interactive relationship between ethnic identity and memory and discloses that memory,as a bridge connecting the past,the present and the future,plays an important role in identity construction.In the meantime,Ng expresses her deep concern for ethnic groups.