From China Men to Typical American: An American Dream for Chinese Americans

• Main Authors: Lin, Yi-ling, 林奕伶
• Other Authors: Hao-Jung Shieh
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1998
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/87940189803235255025

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 外國語文學系研究所 === 86 === The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the cultural identity of Chinese Americans. In examining the two novels, Maxine Hong Kingston's China Men and Gish Jen's Typical American, I try to discern how Chinese Americans posit themselves between the two poles, "Chinese" and "American." The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first and the last chapters are "Introduction" and "Conculsion" respectively, designed to offer a summary and a review on the content of the main body. Chapter Two is concerned with the identity transformation of Chinese Americans. From the revision of a multicultural canon, we infer the importance and necessity of a cultural identity with multicultural meaning. Most of my discussion is based upon Stuart Hall's observation and statements on the issue of cultural identity. Being in a white dominant society, Chinese Americans should mainfest their cultural differences for distinction and in order to find for themselves a unique place. Sustaining both their differences and similarities with the mainstream society, they would thus be prevented from genocidal cultural assimilation, or being considered as permanent unassimilable aliens. The subject of Chapter Three is China Men. In this book, Kingston attempts to reconstruct an American history in Chinese Americans' perspective. It is composed with various resources, such as Chinese legends, stories, and anecdotes about Chinese immigrants' contribution on the nation building and development, which are not recorded in official history. In reconstructing the alternative history, Kingston not only manifests Chinese Americans' cultural differences, but also confirms their validity and legitimacy in American society. The major concern of Chapter Four is Typical American. Instead of Kingston's reconstructing a history, Gish Jen concentrates on narrating the story of a Chinese immigrant family. In this book, Jen also inverts the meaning of "typical American": from white Caucasian American to multicultural, multiethnic American. Owing to the inversion of meaning, Jen therefore challenges the assumed conception and stimulates more reconsideration and redefinition on the term "American." Moreover, the juxtaposition of the two books' titles is an interesting comparison. At the first glance, it seems that "Chinese" or "American" in an either/or choice for Chinese Americans. In fact, their differences make it impossible to categorize them into either group. As Hall points out, the cultural identity is not permanently fixed. Fluctuatinhg between the two poles, Chinese Americans have to find a balance in order to locate themselves. And this request has to do with a multicultural identity.