从边缘化到文化融合——探究《喜福会》中美国华裔文化身份的建构

From Marginalization to Cultural Fusion: Exploring the Construction of Chinese-American Cultural Identity in The Joy Luck Club

一直以来"文化身份"都是华裔美国文学中的主题,《喜福会》是华裔女作家谭恩美的代表作,作品中4对华裔母女处在中国文化背景和美国文化的边缘地带,她们生活在美国但因为是少数族裔而进不到美国的主流社会中,她们是黄色人种。4对母女之间持续不断的矛盾冲突,展现出中美文化的碰撞,突出表现美国华裔在两种文化下的迷惘。第一代移民为适应新的生存环境,不得不融入强势的美国文化,但对于传统文化仍旧恋恋不舍。而对他们的华裔子女而言,他们出生在美国,接受的美国精英教育,不理解传统文化,致使母女关系僵化,但是经历过一系列人生波折后,她们对本民族文化感到好奇,并对文化身份有了新的认知。基于此,文章试图从美国华裔所处的边缘化状态中探究新的文化身份,以期打破中西文化之间的二元对立局面。

Cultural identity has long been a keen theme in Chinese - American literature. The Joy Luck Club is the masterpiece of Chinese - American writer Amy Tan, which describes four pairs of mothers and daughters who lived in the United States of America, a cultural marginal area between Chinese culture and America cultural for them. Because they belonged to the ethnic minorities of the United States and yellow race, it was hard for them to enter the mainstream of society. The constant conflicts between the four pairs of mothers and daughters show a collision of Chinese and American cultures, especially Chinese - Americans＇ puzzlement in the two cul- tures. The first generation of immigrants had to integrate into the American culture to adapt themselves to the new living environment, but they were reluctant to part with Chinese traditional culture. However, as for their children, they were bern and received the elite education in the United States and they do not understand Chinese traditional culture, which resulted in a rigid mother - daughter rela- tionship. After a series of twists and turns in life, the children became curious about Chinese culture, and had a new cognition of cultur- al identity. Based on this, this paper attempts to explore a new cultural identity from the Chinese American＇s marginalized situation inorder to break the binary opposition between Chinese and western cultures.