（英语语言文学专业论文）《接骨师之女》的原型分析.pdf

vii 摘 要 摘 要 谭恩美是当今美国华裔文坛中最为卓越的女作家之一。 她的处女作 喜福会 一出版即好评如潮，获得巨大成功，可以说她的出现标志着美国华裔文坛的再次 崛起。她又是一位高产的女作家，其他作品有灶神之妻 、 百种神秘感觉 、 接骨师之女和拯救溺水鱼 ，均获得广泛关注和赞誉。她的作品以其对女 性形象和母女关系的细腻描绘打动了无数读者， 而她以非同一般的洞察力和高超 的写作技巧享誉美国文坛。 接骨师之女 是继 喜福会 后又一部探讨美国华裔移民母女亲情的力作， 有着浓厚的自传风格。她以其亲身经历以及其祖母与母亲的经历为素材，用生动 的笔墨将华裔移民母女两代人的感情纠葛描述的感人至深。 目前国内对这部作品 的研究多集中在母女关系、文化冲突、身份建构、叙事技巧等方面，而本文则尝 试地运用以神话-原型的文学批评视角对这部作品的人物、 主题及象征进行探讨。 全文共分为三部分，包括引言、主体和结论。引言部分首先对谭恩美及其作 品接骨师之女进行简要介绍后，概要回顾了学术界对该部作品所作的相关评 论，最后介绍了神话-原型批评理论的起源和发展并分析用该理论解读此部作品 的可行性。 主体部分主要从三个层面来分析作品中出现的原型，包括原型主题，原型人 物和原型象征。 第一章详尽阐述了小说中反复出现的原型主题，即“替罪羊”和“女儿之恋 母情结”的主题。宝姨受过良好的教育，而且貌美如花。她被两个男人爱上，却 最后为其所累， 最终选择自杀。 从原型的理论来看， 宝姨只是这一封建社会的 “替 罪羊” ，是人本性中的阴影迫使她走向死亡的道路，成为集体无意识的燔祭。这 部小说讲述了三代母女之间的情感交流， 尤以女儿对母亲的依恋和反叛之复杂感 情的交织感人至深。荣格对“女儿之恋母情结”的阐述是女儿试图认同母亲,包 括自己的个性;她一方面沉湎于母爱中，一方面又予以排斥。 第二章分析小说中主要人物宝姨和露丝的原型。在原型批评理论中， “大母 神”是西方神话中兼具创造性与毁灭性双重特质的女性形象，而这两种特质在宝 姨的身上得到生动而具体的再现；露丝在身份建构过程中所经过的心路历程与 viii 圣经中的“浪子回头”的原型相吻合。 第三章分析了小说中出现的原型意象，有“龙骨” ， “鬼魂”和“书法” 。路 玲和宝姨的故事以“龙骨”相连，在这里它被视为历史的积淀和传承。同时由于 中国人被称为“龙的传人” ，所以 “龙骨”即成为中国民族精神的象征。小说中 的母女三代人的生活都与“鬼魂”冥冥相关，小叔的“鬼魂”帮助宝姨在刘家生 存下来；宝姨的“鬼魂”则是路玲和露丝的精神指导。 “书法”在中国传统文化 中被视为瑰宝。小说中这一艺术象征着宝姨珍贵的精神遗产，于路玲有着深邃的 意义和影响。 最后，本文得出如下结论，因为原型批评的特点是整体性和系统性，用这一 视角欣赏作品有利于从整体上把握作品的思想精髓。谭恩美在接骨师之女中 对于神话和原型的运用，不仅展示了谭恩美个人独特的生活经历，更增强了小说 的深刻性和艺术性，丰富了小说的内涵，彰显了小说的艺术魅力。文章结尾部分 指出了有待继续研究和探讨的问题。 关键词：关键词：原型 主题 人物 象征 iv abstract amy tan is one of the most prominent writers in chinese american literary circle at present. her maiden work the joy luck club caused an immediate sensation and received a great success after its publication. it is safe to say it is a milestone marking that chinese american literature is on the rise. she is also a prolific writer with other works such as the kitchen wife, the hundred secret senses, the bonesetters daughter and saving fish from drowning. her works move thousands of readers by its delicate description of the female images and the mother-daughter relationship; and tan herself is noted in the field of american literature for her extraordinary thoughts expressed in her novels as well as her excellent writing techniques. the bonesetters daughter is another successful novel which deals with the mother-daughter relationship in overseas chinese family. it has strong characteristics of autobiography since it is conceived on the experiences of her own grandmother, mother as well as herself. tan, with her superb narrative skills, writes about the emotional entanglement of three generations of women in a moving manner. so far in the domestic literary sphere, comments on this novel are centered on the mother-daughter relationship, cultural conflicts, identity construction, narrative devices, etc. this thesis is inclined to attempt a tentative analysis of the text using myth-archetypal criticism. as a whole, the thesis is classified into three major parts, namely introduction, main frame and conclusion. in the part of introduction, after having a brief introduction of amy tan and her work the bonesetters daughter, it looks back the literature review on the novel in the academic sphere. then it introduces the theory of the myth-archetypal criticism and analyzes the feasibility of using it in interpreting the novel. the main body part comprises three chapters which interpret the archetypes including archetypal motifs, archetypal characters and archetypal images occurred in the novel. v chapter one devotes itself to the analysis of the two archetypal motifs, among which one is the scapegoat motif while the other focuses on the motif of daughters mother-complex. precious auntie, who has rare beauty and a good education, is pursued by two men but the love turns out to be a burden to her. out of despair, she finally commits suicide. according to the archetypal criticism, precious auntie is only the “scapegoat” of the feudal society. it is the humans shadow, the dark side of the ego, murders her and makes her become the sacrifice of the collective unconsciousness. this novel also narrates the emotional exchange between mothers and daughters of the three generations, in which the daughters mother-complex is especially moving and touching. the daughters mother-complex is stated by jung as follows: the daughter tries to identify with the mother and project her personality on to the mother; she is content to cling to her mother in selfless devotion, while at the same time unconsciously striving to tyrannize over her. chapter two interprets the archetypes of the leading characters，precious auntie and ruth, in the novel. according to the archetypal criticism, there is an archetypal female image called the great mother existing in western mythology, who possesses the dual power of creation and destruction. this double characteristic can be easily found in precious auntie. whats more, ruths spiritual process during which she resumes her chinese american identity is similar to the psychological journey the prodigal son experienced in the bible. chapter three mainly dwells on the archetypal images occurred in the novel: “the dragon bones”, “ghost” and “calligraphy”. the stories of precious auntie and luling are linked by the dragon bones which symbolize ancestry and heritage and are also considered as the spirit of chinese ethnicity; in the novel the ghost haunts the life of the women of the three generations: precious auntie herself is protected by the ghost of her belated husband and the ghost of precious auntie functions as the spiritual guidance in the quest of luling and ruth; calligraphy, which is regarded as the marvelous art through which practitioners cultivate mind in chinese traditional culture, symbolizes precious aunties spiritual heritage which has multiple significance to luling in the novel. vi finally, the concluding part of the thesis makes it clear that the application of the myths and archetypes in the bonesetters daughter not only demonstrates tans peculiar personal experience relating to the world of mythical elements, but also greatly heightens the readability and profundity of this novel through further enriching its connotations and displaying its artistic creation. by studying from the perspective of myth-archetypal criticism, it is helpful to enhance our literary appreciation and understanding of this novel. it touches something in the soul of everyone. at last pieces of advice are given for a further and sophisticated study on the archetypes in this novel. key words: archetype motif character image iii 学位论文原创性声明 本人所提交的学位论文的原型分析 （an archetypal interpretation of the bonesetters daughter）是在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工 作所取得的原创性成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他 个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。 对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和 集体，均已在文中标明。 本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师确认（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解河北师范大学有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构 送交学位论文的复印件和磁盘，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权河北师范大学 可以将学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩 印或其它复制手段保存、汇编学位论文。 (保密的学位论文在 年解密后适用本授权书) 论文作者(签名)： 指导教师(签名): 年 月 日 年 月 日 1 introduction a. a brief introduction to amy tan and the bonesetters daughter the chinese american literature began to make its presence in the american literary arena from a series of campaigns like rights of the minority, feminism and etc. which made the cultural milieu favorable to its further development. in 1976, maxine hong kingston published her memoir the women warrior to critical acclaim in mainstream and asian american communities. her critical acclaim and media exposure promoted, in part, the growing interest in chinese american writers. then in the 1970s and 1980s more chinese american writers began to show their brilliant writing talents, among which amy tan held a notable position. tan seized the western world imagination and contributed to the canon of feminist literature by her maiden work the joy luck club in 1989. key to her success is the ability to energize pidgin english and to squeeze dramatic irony and humor from the miscommunications between native-born chinese and their first-generation american daughters. on february 19th of 1952, amy tan was born to an immigrant family of chinese ancestry in oakland, california. reared in an insular home, tan treasured her family circle very much. but unfortunately tragedies struck the family in succession in 1968 for both her father and brother died of brain tumors. her mothers explanation of family turmoil was that the tans labored under a curse. to escape the forces that harried them, the family moved frequently and finally settled in switzerland where tan finished high school. as her family moved into better neighborhoods, tan was further isolated as the only chinese girl in class or in school. she describes her early childhood as nomadic and she often felt like an outsider at a new school. against her mothers will of being a neurosurgeon by profession and pianist by avocation, she changed majors from medicine to a double concentration in english and linguistics. then in 1973, she graduated with a b.a. in english and began graduate work in linguistics at the university of california. it was not until the early 1980s that she became a full-time writer. 2 amy tan is highly praised as a famous cross-cultural literary lion in the world. she wrote five novels altogether in which she has mined much of the rich seam of her personal experience. her maiden work the joy luck club (1989) was a great success because the story “hit a nerve because women had begun to think themselves and their mothers”.1 exploring the stories of mothers and daughters of the chinese ancestry vividly, the novel contributes to the canon of feminist literature. greeted with a chorus of praise, it remains on the new york times bestseller list for thirty-four weeks and wins a number of influential awards in america. in her second novel the kitchen gods wife (1991), a story-within-a-story on the themes of exile and redemption, amy tan attempts a more incisive view of womanhood by focusing on a single mother-daughter pair. inspired to a large extent by her mothers life in china, it is regarded as her autobiographical writing which deals with the theme of a daughters growing understanding of and respect for her mother more profoundly and sensitively. her third novel the hundred secret senses (1995) earned kudos from numerous reviewers. amy tan draws on a prickly sisterhood between an amerasian and her chinese half-sister in the novel. unlike her first two novels, which derive from simple memories, this novel relies on spectacle and spiritualism that connect thoughts and experiences one hundred and thirty years apart. her fourth novel is the bonesetters daughter. in her latest novel saving fish from drowning (2005), tan expresses her idea that respect and care are indispensable in the relationships between humankind and animal, one country and the other and etc. it reflects her profound ethical thoughts on the problem of cultural conflict. she also ventured into childrens literature with two attractive books: the moon lady (1992) and the chinese siamese cat (1994). they are also beyond praise by the readership all over the world. this thesis concentrates on tans fourth novel the bonesetters daughter, which is dedicated to her mother daisy tan and her maternal grandmother gu jingmei. this novel returns to her previous subject: the mother-daughter relationship incorporating her own mother and grandmothers life experience. the author once explained the biographical elements that reflect the life of her mother, who died of alzheimers 3 disease before the work was finished: “the regrets are hers, the fear of the curse, the sense of danger she instilled in me while wanting me to have a better life. asking forgiveness is in the book as well.”2 tan was influenced greatly by the discord and tragedy in her maternal family line. though both her mother and grandmother were born in a wealthy family, their lives were miserable and sorrowful. her grandmother was raped by a wealthy industrialist and became his concubine after she was widowed. out of despair at being a concubine of lowly rank, she committed suicide in front of her nine-year-old daughter daisy, tans mother. daisy married an abusive womanizer at age nineteen and then run away, leaving behind three daughters ranging in age from four to eleven. she met john tan on the love-atfirst-sight and they arrived in america in the hope of living a better life. beyond all doubt, the turbulent life of her mother has fed tans imagination to write this emotionally engaging classic. the novel describes stories of three generations and “parallels two narrators, mother and daughter, in a story of skewed family dynamics and recovered memory.”3 the story shuttles in time and space between the past and the present, the united states and china, traditional beliefs and modern lifestyle. tans most autobiographical novel to date, the novel centers on ruth young, a middle-aged chinese-american woman dealing with a mother who desperately needs to remember and share the story of her own life in pre-revolutionary china. the whole book can be divided into two parts: stories of luling and ruth in america, stories of precious auntie and luling in china. the first part, set in present-day california, introduces ruth young, a disobedient daughter who resented her chinese mothers otherness and longed for independence in childhood and now a ghostwriter whose ten years relationship with her lover art is deteriorating for reasons she herself is not quite clear. in this part ruth learned that the peculiar answer that her mother gives the physician reveals the onset of dementia as well as secrets from lulings past that have haunted her from girlhood. through the translations of the recovered manuscript, ruth accesses a second recovered narrative, the story of lulings first marriage, widowhood, escape from a besieged orphanage, and emigration to california to marry pre-med student edwin young. having gone through numerous twists and turns, her lover art kamen 4 transforms from a cad to a loving and generous husband, the tense mother-daughter relationship becomes relaxed and luling finds happiness with the old chinese scholar mr.tang. the second part is the memoir written by luling. it depicts her childhood routine with precious auntie, the maimed and mute woman who nursed her and who is later known to be her birth mother. reared as the dear daughter and apprentice of bonesetter gu, precious auntie masters reading, writing and folk healing. the accidental death of the groom plunges precious auntie from a promising position as daughter-in-law in the house of liu to the mother of an illegitimate daughter. this part also describes what happened to luling after she is driven out of the family and how she arrives in the united states. in the epilogue, ruth sits in the cubbyhole silently with the picture of her grandmother in front. she is no longer a ghostwriter but a real writer to write “for her grandmother, for herself, for the little girl who became her mother.”4 b. literature review on the bonesetters daughter with the rising fame of amy tan, she has become the interest of the academic circle both in american and abroad. after the publication of the bonesetters daughter (2001), lots of reviews and comments begin to appear. for instance, statesman journal sings the praises of the book as “a moving examination of the very core of what it means to be human.it is concerned with the true power of myth, with the meaning of the past as it interacts with the present, with the voids that separate and bind cultures.the prose is deeply textured, the flow of dialogue and action hypnotic.”(p1) st. louis post dispatch applauds “this is a novel about many things-how the past shapes the present, how family and cultural history influence the direction of our future. it is about the importance of language and memory, the relationship of words and perception and experience. but it is, most of all, about mothers and daughters. ” (p1) in america, the majority of the academic research on tans novels focuses on the themes of mother-daughter relationship, cultural conflicts and cultural identity. 5 among the research books, e. d. huntleys amy tan: a critical companion (1998) should be firstly mentioned. in the text after giving a close study of the life of amy tan and asian american literature, huntley makes a thorough analysis of her novels in terms of plot development, character development, theme, and other generic conventions. by integrating contemporary literary approaches, huntley also offers alternative readings of tans works, such as cultural criticism of the joy luck club and archetypal criticism of the hundreds secret senses. in 2004, mary ellen snodgrass followed the suit with the work amy tan: a literary companion. it is a highly comprehensive reference book providing readers with analysis of tans works from the central elements of characters, plots, allusions, literary motifs, and classic themes. snodgrass believes that tans writings are a model of the writers truism. furthermore, her works are filled with engaging images of strong girls and women who also flourish with valor and pride. to snodgrass, tans novels, stories and essays brim with support for strong mother-daughter and woman-to-woman relations. as far as the academic journals are concerned, there are several articles which are worthy of mentioning. in “excavating memory, reconstructing legacy”, carol cujec, professor of lesley university, argues that the bonesetters daughter deals with the typical theme of the relationship between chinese mother and american born daughter, with the mothers past as a key to understandin