From Typical Chinese To Yypical American

Gish Jen has come to the forefront of contemporary Asian American literature after therenowned writers like Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan. Nowadays, Gish Jen has beena Chinese- American novelist who has drawn much attention from American readers andcritics. Gish Jen is a second generation Chinese American and a graduate of HarvardUniversity. Jen's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New YorkTimes and Los Angeles Times, as well as The Best American Short Stories of the Centuryedited by an American famous writer John Updike. Her novels, Typical American (1991),Mona in the Promised Land (1996) and Who is Irish? (1999) have been regarded as the bestnovels on ethnic cultural identity. Typical American, Gish Jen 's first novel, is an excellent attempt to describe theexperiences of three young Chinese immigrants Ralph, Theresa and Helen, who moved toAmerica for a better life. The hero Ralph finished his Ph.D in mechanical engineering andobtained university tenure. Theresa, Helen and Ralph were traditional Chinese initially.When they met American-born speculator-Grover, everything started to change. Ralphdropped out his tenure as a professor in a university. He managed a Chicken Palace andstarted to make more money. In the end, they failed in their business and almost dissipatedhis fortune. Gish Jen narrated a tale of Chinese-American immigrants with a humorous toneand a unique angle of view. Typical American was a New York Times notable book of theyear and a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award. This dissertation intends to explore the novel with the views of cultural identity,Confucian culture and multiculturalism. Through the evolution of the Changs to be thetypical American, I criticize the mode of "Melting Pot", model of assimilation and itsconcomitant definition of the "typical American". The dissertation voices strong support forAmerican multiculturalism symbolized by "American salad bowl". Consequently, Chineseimmigrants should try to develop their cultural identity by blending the best of Eastern andWestern cultures, which will offer us some fresh insight into the broader issues ofglobalization and multiculturalism. The dissertation is divided into five chapters as follows:Chapter One: Introduction. This chapter presents a brief introduction of author's life,literary career, the novel and Chinese immigrant history background.Chapter Two: The Typical Chinese and Their American Dreams. This chapter mainlyanalyzes the characteristics of the Chang's family as typical Chinese influenced byConfucian culture.Chapter Three: Cultural Identity and Culture Assimilation—Typical American. This chapterillustrates how the Changs transform to be typical American from typical Chinese by theway of cultural identity.Chapter Four: The Typical American with Chinese Heritage and American Values. Thischapter mainly tries to probe into the real essence of typical American and demonstratesRalph's family has bridged two cultures—Chinese culture and American culture.Chapter Five: Conclusion. This chapter summarizes the argumentation of this dissertationin terms of multiculturalism and draws the conclusion of the connotation of the concept"Typical American".