英语论文 the joy luck club collision and compatibility between Chinese and American Culture

1、The joy luck club: collision andThe joy luck club: collision and compatibility between Chinese andcompatibility between Chinese and American CultureAmerican Culture School of foreign languages Of Supervisor:Supervisor: April 13, 2012 ii AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements After times of revise this the

2、sis is finally finished. It would never have come to fruition without the support of my Supervisor who has given me prompt and expert advice as well as muchappreciated insights. In the preparation of my dissertation, he generously offered his constant counsel and comments, and his tolerance was most

3、 important to me when l was at low ebb with my progress in the writing of this thesis. His benevolence as well as erudition will be inscribed deep in my memory My deepest gratitude also goes to all the teachers in college of Foreign Language Studies who have taught and helped me during my four-year

4、study in this university. Besides,Ialsowouldliketoacknowledgethefriendshipand encouragement of my classmates for their constant encouragement and their ways of assistance. Simultaneously, I am deeply indebted to my parents, who have offered unstinting supports and saintly tolerance towards me during

5、 my writing of the thesis. I will always try my best to make myself worthy of their love. i AbstractAbstract The Joy Luck Club is the first novel of Amy Tan, a famous Chinese-American writer. In the novel she mainly describes the relationship between the Joy Luck Club mothers and their daughters and

6、 cultural conflicts. The novel is set in the age of globalization and in the multicultural American society; it represents the process of misunderstanding, conflicts, understanding and blending between the mothers and the daughters. Globalization not only brings many chances to china but also brings

7、 cultural challenges to China. As the degree of globalization is getting deeper, Chinese culture faces the danger of being integrated and changed by other cultures. Through contextual analysis of the Joy Luck Club and the cultural conflicts and blending embodied in it, this paper demonstrates that i

8、n the age of globalization a balance should be kept among different cultures, and a right attitude towards cultural conflicts should be taken, and it suggests that the native culture should not be thrown away when learning from others, and instead, it should be transmitted to others. Key WordsKey Wo

9、rds：The Joy Luck Club; conflict; understanding; cultural blending ii 内容摘要内容摘要 喜福会 是著名美国籍华裔女作家谭恩美的处女作，作者在小说中主要描 述了四对移民母女的关系和她们之间由于文化的差异而引起的冲突， 小说以全球 化时代和美国多元文化社会为背景， 呈现了 4 对母女由误会， 冲突到理解的过程。 在全球化环境下中国面临很多发展的机遇，但更多的是文化的挑战。随着全球化 的加剧，中国文化面临一种被融化，被改变的危险。本文通过对喜福会文本 及其所透视出的文化冲突与融合的分析，说明在全球化环境中，应该在不同文化 中找到一个

10、平衡点， 并以正确的态度来对待文化冲突， 同时不要轻易否定母文化， 在向全世界学习其他优秀文化的时候，也要向他们传播中国传统文化。 关键词：关键词： 喜福会 ；冲突；理解；文化融合 iii iv Contents Acknowledgements . i Abstract(English). ii Abstract(Chinese). 1 .Introduction. 2 .Amy Tan and Her Novel The Joy Luck Club. 3 .The Conflicts Between American and Chinese Cultures Embodied in the

11、 Novel. 3.1the misunderstanding. 3.2the different language. 3.3The different experiences. 4 .The Cultural Understanding and Blending. 5 .A correct attitude towards culture. 6 .Conclusion. . Works Cited. iii 1 2 3 3 5 6 6 8 1 0 1 2 1.Introduction1.Introduction In thenovelThe Joy Luck Club,AmyTan expl

12、orestherelationshipbetween mothers and daughters. In the novel there are 4 mother-daughter pairs, the mothers are the first generationimmigrants,and the daughtersare new generationborn in America. In the history of china, women has never gain the same respectful as man except inmaternalsociety, espe

13、cially duringthewar of liberation,chinawomenliveina difficult society(Zhang 137). The four mothers in the story are among those women, they go to American to find a new lives which is quietly different with other women who are just enduring to the end. But they dont forget their Chinese traditional

14、culture, while their daughters are born in America, they are the second generation immigrants, and they dont understand their mothersso called Chinese culture and their way of thinking, so misunderstanding oftenmakes them unhappy.In orderto make their daughters know them and the Chinese culture, the

15、 Joy Luck Club mothers have made pain- taking efforts to remove their differences. They seize every opportunity to tell theirdaughterstheirpastexperiences, demonstratetheircourageto challengethe feudal society and never stop extending maternal love to their daughters. Thanks to their greatefforts, t

16、heir purposeisfulfilled.Therefore, cultural understanding and blending between the mothers and daughters are achieved. In the contextof globalization,China facesmanychances to develop its economic power; meanwhile it facesmore challengesthan opportunityto its traditionalculture. Although learning ne

17、w technologies from othercountries and absorbingthe essenceof othercultures are necessary, Chinese culture shouldbe protected. The communication with other countriesand areas whose cultural backgroundsare totally different from Chinasis increasing rapidly. This paper, through the exploration ofThe J

18、oy Luck Club, mainly discusses the cultural conflicts, understandingand integration between the mothers and the daughters,and 1 metaphorically between Chinese culture and American culture. 2 2Amy Tan and her novel The Joy Luck ClubAmy Tan and her novel The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan was born in Oakland,

19、California. Both of her parents were Chinese immigrants. Her father, John Tan, was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister. In China, her mother who was forced to leave her three daughters from a previous marriage behind in Shanghai. Her marriage to John Tan produced three children, Amy was one

20、of them. Amy Tans 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 incompatibility which she described in the novel. When she finished the high school in Switzerland, she and her mo

21、ther were in frequent conflict. Tan further defied her mother by abandoning the pre-med course her mother had urged her to pursue the study of English and linguistics. In the novel, Jing-mei abandoned studying piano her mother asked her to study, because she cannot stand her mothers arrangement for

22、her. Amy Tan and the daughters in the novel have many things in common. They are the second-generation immigrants. But the mothers, as the first generation immigrants, they dont totally integrate in the American culture. They cannot speak English with fluency. They never discard the tradition and ne

23、ver forget their lives in China. They show their love for their daughters by interfering in their activities and planning the daughters future. To the mothers, they have the compulsory and responsibility to train their daughters to become perfect persons. They want to make their daughters combine th

24、e “American Context” with “Chinese Personality” perfectly. Their daughters, however, are often born and grow up in America, and are deeply affected by the American moral standard and acting principles. They cherish their independent spirits and characters, and they are not willing to be interfered a

25、nd controlled by others. Their narratives justify the puzzle, and the conflicts between two generations they face, when they span the different cultures. They view their mothers as the fossils of the old society, because they fear and hate their mothers interference 2 and negation on their activitie

26、s. When their mothers tell their stories in China they express their detestation on it, when their mothers want to pass their Chinese cultural tradition to them, they are against it firmly. With the clash of differentcultures, the two generations have difficulties in communicating and understanding

27、each other. But the novel doesnt end with the conflicts; instead, in the process of growing up they understand their mothers love and the cultural reasons of the conflicts between themselves and their mothers in a deeper level. Therefore, at the end of the novel, the reconciliation between mothers a

28、nd daughters forms naturally. Jing-mei takes her mothers place to travel back to China which proves the understanding between the two generations. When Amy Tan embarked on her new career her mother was ill, she promised herself that if her mother recovered, she would take her mother to China, to see

29、 the daughters who have been left behind almost forty years ago, Mrs. Tan recovered and they departed for China in 1987. The trip was a revelation for Tan, and it gave her a new perspective of her often-difficult relationship with her mother. 3.The3.TheconflictsconflictsbetweenbetweenAmericanAmerica

30、nandandChineseChineseculturescultures embodied in the novelembodied in the novel The Joy Luck Club presents many conflicts in the mother-daughter relationship. The conflicts are embodied in 3 aspects. 3.1 The misunderstanding3.1 The misunderstanding The mothers and the daughters are in different cul

31、tural backgrounds, and the daughters cannot understand their mothers. At the beginning, Jing-mei fears that she cannot tell her mothers story to her half-sisters, which, in fact, reflects the fear of other daughters of the Joy Luck Club members. They have identified themselves with Americans. Jing-m

32、eis fear also reflects the mothers common feelings. They offer the chance to go to America to their daughters, and make them self-sufficient; they wonder whether they have their daughters away from tradition. So in the story “The 3 Joy Luck Club” Jing-mei feels puzzled,“What will I say? What ca n I

33、tell them about my mother? I dont know anything.”(Tan 26)The way in which the mothers express their love cannot be accepted by the daughters. Jing-mei believes that her mothers constant blame is the embodiment of lacking of affection. However, in fact, the mothers severity and high expectations are

34、expressions of love and faith in her daughter. Other mother-daughter pairs experience the same misunderstanding. In some ways, this misunderstanding comes from cultural differences. The Chinese traditional concepts such as filial obedience, criticism-enveloped expression of love are all different fr

35、om the American concepts such as the individualism, freedom, self-esteem and direct expression. 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 Popo tells her that her mother is a ghost to

36、 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 bon

37、es.”(Tan 41) when she has seen her mother cutting her flesh to cook soup for her Popo. 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 notthink they have so deep relationship with their mothers. So

38、when Lindo asks her daughter Waverly to finish her coffee, Waverly says:“Dont be so old fashioned, Ma. Im my own person.”(Tan 227) However, Lindo thinks she is always beside her daughter, and she never gives her daughter up. Perhaps Lindo experiences the largest crisis of cultural identity among the

39、 characters. She regrets having given Waverly the American context, at the same time, given her Chinese character, but the two can never be combined. In the story of “Double Face”, Lindo says: 4 I wanted my children to have the bes t combination: American circumstance and Chinese character. How coul

40、d I know these two things do not mix? I taught my daughter how American circumstance work: If you are born poor here, its no lasting shameIn America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. She learnt these things, but I couldnt teach her about Chinese character How n

41、ot to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunitiesWhy Chinese thinking is best. (Tan 227) She thinks since she gives her daughter the American name (the name of the road they live in), she lets her daughter be too American, and this

42、becomes the barrier between them. But at the same time, she realizes the American characterin herself. She knows that she is no longer Chinese. When she travels to China, the Chinese treat her as an oversea traveler. She is very sad, and she wonders, in the process of changing herself, what she has

43、lost. Her strategies of concealing inner powers is like what Waverly says that it is related with her ability to maintain two aspects of characterAmerican and Chinese. 3.2 The different language In the novel, the communication problems also arise because the mothers are from China, while daughters a

44、re born in the United States, their cultural backgrounds are different, and also because they speak different languages. For example, June says, “My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each others meaning and I seemed to hear les s than was said, while my mother heard mor

45、e.”(Tan 27)June looks for meanings in what is stated and does not understand that her mother omits important information because she thinks that her daughter knows it; Suyuan, on the other hand, looks for meanings in what has not been stated and adds many things to what has been stated and comes up

46、with meanings that surprise her daughter June. Another example is that Rose cannot find the right English terms to meet with “Hulihudu” and “Heimongmong”. “A mother is b est. A mother knows what is inside 5 you,” she said“A psyche-atricks will only make you hulihudu, make you see heimongmong.” Back

47、home, I thought about what she said These were words I had never thought about in English terms. I suppose the closest in meaning may be “confused” and “dark fog”. (Tan 172) Rose thinks “hulihudu” and “heimongmong” cant be translated to English because they refer to the sensation only Chinese can ha

48、ve. 3.3 The different experiences3.3 The different experiences the mothers and the daughters have totally different experiences. The mothers have been to America during the World War, when China was intruded by Japanese army. They come to America with their American dream. They have suffered a lot b

49、efore arriving America, and they come to America to search a better life putting all their hope in America, but after living in America for many years, they feel that they lose some of their Chinese tradition and they try to hold fast of the Chinese tradition and pass it to their daughters. The daug

50、hters are born in America, they dont appreciate the Chinese tradition and view their Chinese history as a barrier to their dreams, they resent their mother pouring the Chinese tradition to them and their Chinese way of love, so they do things opposite to what their mother told them to do to disappoi

51、nt their mothers. In the story “Two Kinds”Jing-mei says, It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didnt get straight As. I didnt become class president.

52、I didnt get into Stanford. I droped out of college.(Tan 124） 4. The cultural understanding and blending4. The cultural understanding and blending Although Amy Tan mainly describes the cultural clashes in her novel, her real aim is to explore a balance of cultural conflicts. An important theme of the

53、 novel is the reconciliation of the multi-cultural clashes. From the beginning of the novel, Jing-mei views the gap between her and her mother from two aspects, and this double 6 point of view doesnt emphasize the generation gap, but instead, it works as the bridge of the communication between the t

54、wo generations. In the third part of the novel, the four daughters narrate their dilemmas after they grew up, -problems in their marriage and in their careers. Although they think their mothers ideas are outof date, when they search for the solutions, they inevitablycome back to the relationship wit

55、h the older generation. At last, mothers offer solutions and support to their daughters, for example, Rose Hsu Jordan finds herself unable to persist in her ideas, to protect herself or to make any decisions. Although she expresses her ideas by disobeying her mother to marry Ted, she still makes her

56、self the victim to Ted. At home, Ted decides everything. At last, she needs her mothers intervention to realize that to refuse to make decision is itself a decision. The last two groups of stories demonstrate that the cultural understanding and blending are formed. Although Jing-mei fears that she c

57、annot tell the whole story of her mother, Suyuan runs through the novel with Jing-meis voice, and Jing-mei speaks for her mother in the first and fourth sections. Suyuans story represents the struggle to maintain the mother-daughter bonds through cultural and general gaps. Jing-meis trip to China not only makes reconciliation between Suyuans two different life styles, but also the reconciliation between cultures and mother-daughter relationship. In addition, the journey