顺从到反抗——从成长小说视角对比分析《喜福会》和《紫色》中女主人公的自我发现历程

From Obedience to Resistance——Comparative Analysis of the Heroines' Self-discovery Journey in The Color Purple and The Joy Luck Club from the Perspective of Initiation Story

作为美国当代文学界杰出的两位族裔女作家,爱丽丝·沃克和谭恩美都对女性的生存困境表现出极大的关注,她们作品中的女主人公都是不懈追寻自我的勇敢女性。从成长小说角度来看,爱丽丝·沃克的《紫色》和谭恩美的《喜福会》实质上描绘了族裔女性在美国社会中的生存困境及其努力寻找自我的艰辛历程,且二者的综合研究更能体现出美国社会的多元文化特色。以女性的自我发现历程为切入点,从成长小说视角对《紫色》与《喜福会》展开对比研究。通过比较主人公成长三个阶段的异同,表明非裔作家爱丽丝·沃克和华裔作家谭恩美在女性生存困境及其解放事业上的一致态度,进而揭示女性从顺从到反抗艰难的自我发现历程的普遍性。

Deemed as two prominent spokeswomen for the minority experiences in contemporary American literature, Alice Walker and Amy Tan consistently concentrate on women＇s living predicaments in their works, triggering their portraying the heroines as courageous women in constant struggle for self-hood. Viewing from the perspective of Initiation Story, the two works virtually describe ethnic women＇s living plight and their strenuous journey for self-hood in American society, and a combined research of them can give a better expression to American multicultural society. Revolving around women＇ s self-discovery journey, this paper intends to make a systematic comparative study between Walker＇ s The Color Purple and Tan＇ s The Joy Luck Club from the perspective of Initiation Story. Through analyzing the similarities and differences among the heroines＇ three initiation stages toward self-discovery, the author of this paper comes to a conclusion that Alice Walker and Amy Tan share more commonness and consistence on their attitudes toward women＇ s living plight and liberation course, and further reveals a fact that the enduring journey from loss to awakening these ethnic women take is not specialized but rather universal for women as they take it toward self-discovery.