Dissertation > Excellent graduate degree dissertation topics show

Images of China in Amy Tan’s Novels

Author: LiuJunKai
Tutor: LuoZuo
School: Xiangtan University
Course: Comparative Literature and World Literature
Keywords: Amy Tan novels images of China Other
CLC:
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2009
Downloads: 191
Quote: 0
Read: Download Dissertation

Abstract


Amy Tan is a contemporary Chinese-American women writer. Standing on the Sino-US culture intersection, her ethnic identity inevitably becomes a hindrance for her to enter the mainstream of American society. However, it is this identity that lets her have the resource of Chinese origin experiential narrative. Her success to a large extent have benefited from the use of this resource. The images of China described by Amy Tan also become a complex and interesting research subject. At present, although a number of researchers have been looking at this research area, nobody has done research on all of her novels as a whole.So far, Amy Tan has published five novels in all, and each novel concerns with China. Although the images of China described by Amy Tan presented the complex contradictory feature, this feature is the real embodiment of author’s own contradictory emotion and attitude. First, a large part of The Joy Luck Club、Kitchen God’s Wife and The Bonesetter’s Daughter is about Chinese mothers who immigrated to the US. Mothers who once lived under patriarchy oppression in old China, experienced the suffering of war. For this China filled with pain in mothers’memory, the author’s attitude is both critical and pitying. Secondly, although the Chinese mothers fled from the geographical China, they can not flee from the ideal China. The brand of Chinese culture is more embodied on their body. While the daughters in the novels are born in the United States, they are more influenced by American culture. On the one hand, once there is a conflict between a mother and her daughter who represent China culture and American culture, the author in general is based on a sense of western superiority to affirm American culture and deny Chinese culture in the contrast between them. On the other hand, anyway, the daughters have Chinese blood circulating in their body, when they run into a wall in the mainstream of American society ever and again, they will show the initiative to some extent to the identification of Chinese culture. In her works, a large number of typical traditional cultural Chinese images are rendered, which reflected this identification, but we also shall treat this identity full of complex motives soberly after analysis. Finally, stemmed from speculation of racial discrimination pressure suffered by American citizen of Chinese origin in the mainstream of American society and worry about self-identity belonging, etc. issues, in the The Secret Girl, the author imagined and fictionalized a different spiritual utopia China. The utopian image of China reflects the author’s longing for an idealized stateless world, as well as the author’s discontent and resistance to the mainstream of American society.Theoretically, we research the images of China described by Amy Tan from a perspective of the image study, having the aid of other related theories such as post-colonialism meanwhile; methodologically, we strive for combination of close reading and overall grasp. After the research, we found that the author’s perception of China is mostly obtained through secondary sources, so no matter in what attitude when the author figuring China, the description of China presented by her is actually a kind of“imagination of homeland”. As it saying, it is“self”that is reflected behind“other”, in the author’s imagination or misreading, China has always been an“other”and the author always looks over and scans China subconsciously according to her actual needs, there are also underlying causes hidden behind the author’s creation in respect of society, economy and age. The figuring of foreign images also inspired us to ponder upon the cultural misreading and utilization, as well as the efforts that people still have to put into the true equal and mutually beneficial cultural exchange.

Related Dissertations

  1. The Research of Foreign Novels Teaching in Middle Schools,G633.3
  2. A Research of the Teaching Methodology of High School Lu Xun’s Novels: From the Standpoint of Words Life Representation,G633.3
  3. The Images of China in the Literature of Hill.justin and Qiu Xiaolong,I106.4
  4. Research about Commercial Culture in Novels of the Tang Dynasty,I207.419
  5. The Study of Dream Novels of Buddhism and Taoism in Tang Dynasty,I207.41
  6. The Study of Lessons of Appreciation of Foreign Novels,G633.3
  7. Study on Object Prepositions in Three Novels in Ming Dynasty,H141
  8. Chinese and Western Cultural Concept of Interwoven Destiny of Amy Tan’s Novels,I712
  9. Modern Romantic Novel of the Republic of China,I207.42
  10. Unity Achieved Through Integration of Diversity,I712.074
  11. Women’s Monologue: Amy Tan’s Subversion of the Male-centered Writing Tradition,I712
  12. On the Narrative Space of Luxun’s Short Stories,I210.6
  13. On the Character of Wang Luyan’s Local Novel,I207.42
  14. Novels Creation compassion consciousness,I207.42
  15. Works from the male image of Xiao Hong Xiao Hong 's novels,I207.42
  16. Articles of Fei Ming and his novel concept of influence,I207.42
  17. Hard Times in the Song of Youth,I207.42
  18. On the development trend of network literature,I206.7
  19. Broken Mirror,I207.42
  20. \,I207.42
  21. Political aspirations and artistic fusion of performance and contradictions,I207.42

CLC: >
© 2012 www.DissertationTopic.Net  Mobile