The Discrepancy In Amy Tan's Cultural Identity Constructing

With the publication of The Joy Luck Club in 1989, Amy Tan became world-famousbecause of the instant success of this novel. This founds her important position in ChineseAmerican literary circle. Tan's first literary debut caught the attentions of critics and won a lotof awards. Amy Tan's four novels were all praised by the critics. The Bonesetter's Daughter(2001) is Amy Tan's fourth novel. The mother-daughter relationship theme is repeated in thiswork. As the succession to Tan's first book, it shows Tan's maturity about writing and view ofmother/daughter relationship.Generally speaking, the literary circle mainly illustrates Tan's works from two aspects:one is mother/daughter relationship;the other is identity building. Talking about Tan'smother/daughter relationship themes, critics often comment on the cultural and generationalconflicts between immigrant mothers and native-born daughters without checking its deeprelationship with cultural identity building. About Tan's identity constructing, there are twointerpretations in the literary circle: one thinks that she is trying to identify with Chineseculture and claim the Chinese-ness in her identity;on the contrary, the other reckons she isrejecting and othering Chinese culture during the identity seeking. Drawing on RobertaRubenstein's theory on the dynamic interplay process of identity founding, this dissertationexamines the discrepancy (identifying with and othering Chinese culture) in Amy Tan'scultural identity creating by analyzing the mother/daughter relationship writing in her TheBonesetter's Daughter. Three points will be drawn on the discussions: firstly, the dynamicinterplays between mother and daughter make the discrepancy of Tan's cultural identitycreating. And this also leads to the two discrepant identities: one is Tan's intended identity;the other is Tan's real identity. The inconsistency exists between these two identities. Secondly,"memory" and "experience" play a significant role in Tan's mother/daughter relationshipwriting. The subjective and objective qualities of "memory" and "experience" are key factorsthat lead to the discrepancy of Tan's cultural identity. Lastly, Tan's intended identity isinventive, fabricated and unstable. She is conscious of the inventing process of culturalidentity.