“鬼”无处不在——《女勇士》中“鬼”的多重意象解读

Ghost Is Everywhere——An Interpretation of the Various Ghost Imageries in The Woman Warrior

当今美国最有影响力的华裔作家之一汤亭亭的处女作《女勇士》,被盛赞为美国华裔文学的开山力作,并成为国内外文学界的讨论热点。其中,它的副标题为"一个生活在鬼中间的女孩的童年回忆",由此引出对"鬼"的诸多意象解读。鉴于作者所生活的特殊历史与文化背景,使得文中对"鬼"的形象描写既不完全是中国传统文化意义上的"鬼",也并非是纯粹的美国文化意义上的"鬼",而是赋予了其新的涵义。该文试图重新解读"鬼"的意象,说明"鬼"具有替罪羊的形象,"鬼"言说了女性对性别歧视的反抗,以及"鬼"展现了华人处在两种文化背景中的困境。

The Woman Warrior, the first novel written by Maxine Hong Kinston, who by far is one of the most influential Chinese-American writers in America, has been regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese American Literature and become a discussion hotspot within literary circles at home and abroad. Its subtitle is“Memories of a Girlhood among Ghosts”, which stimulates a great variety of interpretations of the ghost appeared in the novel. Given the special historic and cultural background of the author, the descrip?tion or meaning of ghost is neither the pure ghost in traditional Chinese culture, nor the pure ghost in American culture, but it is en?dowed with new connotative meanings by the author. This paper aims to interpret the new image of ghost in the following three as?pects:the archetypal image of the ghost;an expression of the female resistance of gender discrimination;and the display of difficult situations that Chinese Americans faced under the backdrop of two different cultures.