| From the postcolonial perspective and the perspective of East-West communication, this dissertation intends to expose the true nature and the negative effect of the Chinese stereotypes that exist in Euro-American literature. Through careful reading of Amy Tan's works, the author attempts to point out that the Chinese women images created by Tan serve as rebellion against the distorted stereotypes.Chapter one is a brief introduction of Chinese American literature as well as literary position and achievements of Amy Tan. Chinese American literature, like other ethnic literature, has long been discriminated by the American literary cannon. At the end of the nineteenth century, Chinese as an ethnic group, together with its literature, were excluded from the mainstream culture in the United States. The twentieth century saw increasing number of Chinese immigrants into America as well as the budding of Chinese American literature. Some early Chinese American writers (mainly in the 1940s and 1950s) seemed to cater to the tastes of a predominantly white readership and went against their mother culture in their creation as they wrote during a period of severe discrimination. The situation changed till the latter half of the 20th century when the Civil Rights Movement took place in the United States, during which more Chinese writers emerged onto the literary stage and the mainstream of American society began to pay more attention to the Chinese American literature. Among the most well-known ones are Maxine Hong Kinston, Amy Tan, Gish Jen and many others, who have earned recognition for the excellence and importance of their works. The 1980s and 1990s saw the flowering of Chinese American literature, there have been so many works by Chinese American writers that American literary criticism has come to recognize "Asian literature" as a separate genre, of which literature about American Chinese is a most important part.Among all the Chinese American writers, Amy Tan undoubtedly occupies asignificant position. With her four bestseller works, The Joy Luck Club (1989), The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) and The Bonesetter 's Daughter (2001) respectively, she not only enjoys the high compliments from the critics but also gains great popularity among common readers and her name becomes a household word throughout the United States.Chapter two starts with exposing the Chinese stereotypes in Euro-American literature, including "Charlie Chan", "Fu Manchu", "Dragon Lady" and "Shy Lotus Blossom". The author then continues to explore the true nature of these stereotypes. From the perspective of postcolonial theories, the stereotypes are nothing but the product of Orientalism. As Said puts it, the East has been "gazed" by the West for long. The Western representation of the East is actually a process of creating an "other" in contrast with the "self. The "fatuous, undeveloped" "other" is by no means the authentic representation of the East, but the product of Western superiority. As far as Chinese women are concerned, they are not only the racial "other" but also the gender "other". Being othered means being marginalized, they are therefore deprived of the right to voice and are driven to silence. They cannot represent themselves but be represented.On the other hand, from the perspective of East-West communication, the Chinese stereotypes are the result of the decadency of China as a nation. The Chinese image in Western eyes has undergone a series of changes but the most negative one was shaped during the Opium War, when China suffered defeats at the hands of the Western powers. An overview of Chinese ancient and modern history has revealed the fact: the Chinese image in Western eyes is closely connected with its national power. As long as it is weak in economy and military, it will be prejudiced against.Based on these assumptions, the author further points out the negative influence of the stereotypes in the field of literature as well as social life.Chapter three discusses the images... |
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