《加州名匪穆里埃塔》中的华人“他者”形象分析

The Image of Early Chinese Immigrants as the“Other”in The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta,the Celebrated California Bandit

《加州名匪穆里埃塔》揭示了19世纪60年代美国加州的社会状况和族群关系,再现了早期华人在种族主义语境下的悲惨遭遇。作家表现出矛盾的族群观和价值取向:一方面,同情华人遭遇的种族迫害,控诉暴力和私刑;另一方面,又默认族群间的不平等,表现出尚武的价值取向。作家通过情节、语言和对比手法塑造了华人作为“他者”和受害者的形象,该形象的成因主要有四个:西方针对华人的“认知暴力”、种族主义思想、早期华人的“寄居者心态”、作家对武力的崇尚。以文史结合的方式探析文本中的华人“他者”形象有助于解构负面的华人形象。

Ridge’s The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta represents the sociocultural conditions and racial relations in California during the 1860s.As an Indian American author,Ridge exhibits contradictory views towards racial relations.On the one hand,he sympathizes with the sufferings of Mexican and Chinese immigrants,and accuses racial violence and lynching.On the other hand,he denies racial equality and advocates violence against violence.The novel depicts early Chinese immigrants as racial and cultural“Other”through plot and language.The image and sufferings of early Chinese immigrants in the novel are rooted in the cultural tradition of epistemic violence,sociocultural context of violence and lynch caused by social anomie,the“sojourner mentality”of early Chinese immigrants,and the author’s propensity to valor.Analyzing the image of early Chinese immigrants can help us rethink racial relations in contemporary America to avoid the recurrence of racial violence and shed light on the reconstruction of positive Chinese image.