谭恩美作品中体现的中美文化的冲突与融合毕业论文.doc

内江师范学院本科毕业论文（设计）contentsabstract.2introduction3i. brief introduction of the author and the novel3a. brief introduction to the author3b. background of writing the novel3c. brief introduction of the novel4ii. culture differences between chinese and american which cause the conflicts between the mother and daughter4a. different ways of education4b. different views on marriage5c. different senses of value5iii. ways to relax the relationships between mothers and daughters when cultural differences exist5a. mothers changed their communication methods and education style5b. daughters understanding and respect of their mothers6iv. exploring the methods of the harmonious coexistence of china-us culture from the joy luck club7a. to enhance political and cultural exchanges while promoting commercial intercourse7b. to show understanding and respect for foreign cultures7c. to seek common points while reserving differences8conclusion8notes9bibliography10acknowledgements11abstract: the joy luck club demonstrates the cultural conflicts and blending embodied in it. firstly, through contextual analysis of the differences of education, marriage and value between those two generations which were caused by their diverse living conditions. secondly, alluding to the culture acculturation by describing the moderated relationship between the two generations through their communication, understanding and self-change which based on the story of the original. finally, this paper indicates that in the age of globalization a balance should be kept among different cultures, and a positive attitude towards culture conflicts should be taken, that is communicating, understanding, and end with reaching the purpose of collaborative development.keyword: chinese cultural; american cultural; cultural conflicts; cultural acculturation; mother-daughter relationships; the joy luck club摘要:本论文主要研究谭恩美作品中体现的中美文化的冲突与融合。首先，分别剖析两代人在不同的成长环境下形成的不同的教育观、婚恋观及价值观，并借此折射出中美两种迥异的生活环境和文化背景之间的冲突。其次，根据原著中剧情的发展，描述两代人通过交流、理解及适当的改变自己来使之冲突关系得到缓和，由此影射中美文化冲突也能在一定程度上得以融合。最后，预示在全球化时期，不同国家、民族和文化如要共存，应采取积极的态度，即：沟通、理解，最终达到共同发展进步的目的。关键词:中国文化；美国文化；文化冲突；文化融合；母女关系；喜福会10the cultural conflicts and acculturation from the mother-daughter relationships in the joy luck clubintroduction in this paper, i would like to analyze the full-of-gap relationships between those 4 mothers and their daughters, and demonstrate the deeper meaning of culture behind the happiest and saddest family stories, and find out a right attitude towards different cultures. it is of very important meaning to analyze the cultural conflicts and acculturation. cultural conflicts and acculturation is always the most-watched issue of those chinese-american authors who live in the two cultures. to investigate the contradiction and conflicts between the two cultures and to analyze the possibility or inevitability of their communication and acculturation is of great importance.i. brief introduction of the author and the novela. brief introduction to the author amy tan is a chinese-american writer. she was born in oakland, california, 1952, and grew up in santa clara. both of her parents were chinese immigrants. her family is a typical immigrant family, her parents are the first generation immigrants, and she is the second-generation immigrant. she has experienced the same kind of conflicts which she portrayed in the novel. she and her mother were in constant conflict when she finished the high school in switzerland. she and her mother didnt speak for six moths after amy tan left the baptist college her mother chose for her to follow her boyfriend to san jose city college. tan further defied her mother by abandoning the pre-med course her mother had urged her to pursue the study of english and linguistics.1 b. background of writing the novelthe joy luck club was written in 1987 and published in 1989. it was set in the age of globalization and in the multicultural american society. during the period of 1980s, amy tan turned to be a freelance especially for commercial intelligence, and participated in writer training camp, and began to publish short stories and essays. the story based on amy tans mother and grandmothers experiences. and amy tan wrote this novel for memorialize her mother who was a great influence on her. c. brief introduction of the novel amy tans novel of many voices has become required reading in high school and college contemporary literature courses - and for good reason. its intimate look at chinese immigrants and their children opens up a wealth of questions about cultural acclimation in a country dominated by another race.2 set in san francisco and china, the novel begins with jing-mei (june), who has been asked by her father to take her recently deceased mothers place in the joy luck club, ostensibly a mah-jong gathering of her mothers closest friends, june agrees, although she doesnt feel she makes an adequate substitute for a woman who seemed so unlike her. when her aunties urge june to tell her sisters, women she has never met and who were left at the side of a road in china, about her mothers life, they are troubled when she confesses that she did not know her mother except as a mother. she sees that they fear that their own daughters might not know about them, and so she impulsively promises to find her mothers long lost children and tell them about their mother. although the stories of jing-mei and her mother suyuan frame the others, those of an-mei, rose, lindo, waverly, ying-ying, and lena are no less important.3ii. culture differences between chinese and american which cause the conflicts between the mother and daughter it is known to us that different countries have different cultures, and people live in different cultures may have different ways of education, different views on marriage and different senses of value. then, so many differences must cause the conflicts among people grow in dissimilar places. a. different ways of education ways of education is quite different between chinese and american. mothers teach their daughters in old ways, which ask that children should obey their traditional chinese parents absolutely instead of getting admire from them. while these american daughters keep democratic education on their minds and are angry with their poor-english-speaking mothers. the mothers in the the joy luck club hope that their daughters can get close to them as they were so close to their own mothers in china. for instance, am-meis grandma tells her that her mother is a ghost to make am-mei forget her mother. although am-mei hasnt seen her mother for years, she gets to love her mother when her mother combs her hair, and all these things they do are as natural as they do them everyday. and am-mei says, “this is how a daughter loves her mother. it is so deep it is in your bones.”4 when she has seen her mother cutting her flesh to cook soup for her grandma. but in america, children always do not follow all that their parents tell them and behave what they want to. they emphases their individuality and do not think they have such a deep relationship with their mothers. so when lindo asks her daughter waverly to finish her coffee, waverly says:” dont be so old fashioned, ma. im my own person. however, lindo thinks she is always beside her daughter, and she never gives her daughter up.b. different views on marriage marriage is also the apparent differences between chinese and american in the story. mothers come from traditional china were deeply affected by the feudal culture of china. in their belief, the ethics of marriage should be fu chang fu sui, that is to say, the wife must follow her husband all the time; the husband was god to his wife. in that time chinese girls took love as their lives. when they fall in love, sometimes they would lose themselves. whereas daughters live in america since they were born, they learn from american, and transmit american culture. so they believe that people are equal even in a marriage. in the story above, there are two affairs. one is that ted against the parents will and choose the asian wife, another is that the meek rose learns to say no to her husband. these two affairs have shown the different views of marriage between chinese and american.c. different senses of value every one keeps his own sense of value, even twins, let alone people who grow in two cultures. traditional chinese values humility as a virtue, when we receive praise from others, we usually deny it in a polite way. we do not like to show off our accomplishments. whereas american advocate self-struggle, they will feel happy when someone praises them and say thank you to the person.iii. ways to relax the relationships between mothers and daughters when cultural differences exist the different cultural background behind the mother-daughter relationships is the cause of their conflicts. however, the love urges mothers to change their communication methods and education styles, and ultimately, they understand each other. a. mothers changed their communication methods and education style mothers transform their communication methods and education style from asking their daughters to do what they want to moving them by their own stories. obviously, daughters appreciate this way. the mothers finally discover that storytelling is the best communication method to reach the hearts and minds of their daughters after having tried many different strategies throughout their lives. significantly, in the joy luck club, the section in which daughters and mothers achieve the beginning of conciliation is called queen mother of the western skies. realizing that sharing their past with their daughter might be the last and the only trump card they have in order to save their daughters, they decide to give it a try. in order to make the daughters know them and the chinese culture, the mothers seize every opportunity to talk to their daughters about their past experiences.5 whats more, when wavely jong and lena st. clare face difficulties in their marriage, their mothers still do their best to communicate with them, thought they often complain and criticize them. thanks to the pain-taking efforts, their daughters gradually understand them and the chinese culture. when jing-mei woo succeeds to meet her sisters in china again, she says, now i also see what part of me is china. it is so obvious. it is my family. it is in our blood. after these years, it can finally be let go. b. daughters understanding and respect of their mothers the maternal love of the joy luck club mothers exists almost everywhere. the four daughters come to realize that their mothers are always loving them in every possible situation. they find out that their mothers would express maternal love at any moment. at the crab dinner, suyuan would not let her daughter jingmei pick the crab with a broken leg after every guest has taken away the good ones. in suyuans eyes, a crab with a broken leg is a symbol of bad luck. she does not want her daughter to suffer from bad luck. in order to protect jing-mei from bad luck, when there are only two crabs in the plate, suyuan picks the one with a broken leg for herself, and gives her daughter the better one. again, the maternal love of a chinese mother is vividly shown here. the mothers would always protect their daughters and make any sacrifice for them at any moment. the love of chinese mothers is not as direct as that of american mothers. chinese mothers do not kiss or hug their daughters and say i love you. thanks to their great changes, on one hand, the joy luck club mothers gain understanding from their daughters; on the other hand, they impart the chinese culture to their american-born daughters, which is of the most significance. in the process of communication, cultural barriers that cause misunderstanding between mothers and daughters are being removed little by little, and in the end the understanding and blending of the two cultures are achieved. although these american daughters still cant agree their mothers in some places, this wont sway the respect for their mothers. the joy luck club mothers are the carriers of the traditional chinese culture, the media of history and memory and the bridges that link the past and the present. it is just because of the respect for their mothers that the chinese culture can be extended; chinese history and memory can be rebuilt for the daughters. when no more repugnance to their mothers, rose feels takes her mothers advice and does speak up for herself, and she not only astounds her arrogant husband, but also saves her marriage. from the assistance that their mothers provide them, the daughters feel the powerful strength of their chinese mothers, although sometime they may feel annoyed. rose finally realizes that her mother is more enthusiastic and helpful than an american psychiatrist in pulling her out of psychological troubles. when time flies, the joy luck club daughters finally accept their mothers and the chinese culture their mothers represent, they never say or do anything against their mothers. to sum up, the different cultural backgrounds behind the mother-daughter relationship is the cause of their conflicts. however, these conflicts reveal the very essence of love. no matter in china or america, all the characters in the joy luck club have ever sacrificed for their beloved daughters or mothers. it is the power of love that conquers the culture gap, and forms the bridge of cultural understanding.iv. exploring the methods of the harmonious coexistence of china-us culture from the joy luck club when analyzing the conflicts between the mothers and the daughters, we can come to the conclusion that the different cultural backgrounds play an important role in these conflicts. nowadays, there are more and more opportunities for communication among different countries. we must find the right attitude toward cultural conflicts.a. to enhance political and cultural exchanges while promoting commercial intercourse after china took part in wto, the connection between china and america has become much tighter, the usa is regarded as the most developed country in the world, which is also the important trade partner of china now. b. to show understanding and respect for foreign cultures these years, there are more and more chinese who put themselves into the totally new american context while leaving their homeland, being separated from the historical and cultural background they used to live in. as the living environment is gradually changing, these chinese immigrants has something changed in their mind, in other words, they feel that their history is gradually fading away, especially their offspring, lose the relation to their native culture. to face with this phenomenon, we should neither be negative nor be arrogant. the right attitude should be objective and placid. to further improve our own culture in comparison with the reference in other cultures. chinese people should have confidence on chinese culture while learning the excellent cultures from other countries; our own culture should be transmitted to others so that there will be less difficulties in the process of communication. although chinese people are deeply affected by the western culture, especially american culture, in the process of globalization, more and more people realize that chinese culture has its own value, and it cannot be eliminated. chinese culture can absorb other cultures essence and can keep pace with the worlds development despite the backward aspect of it.c. to seek common points while reserving differences finding the same part in chinese and american cultures is so called seeking the common points. to seek the common ground we have already discovered several methods, such as holding the american cultural festival and food festival in china or starting the confucius institute in america. we have build up a good relationship between america and china in the past few years according to the commercial intercourse and cultural communications. anyhow, people in different cultural should tolerate and understanding each other, and learn from each other. in this way, can different nationalities, different cultures reduce conflict when get together, and finally realize the dream of build a harmonious world.conclusion in the novel the joy luck club, tan describes the conflicts bet