Maxine Hong Kingston's Feminist Reconstruction Of Male Heroism In China Men

This thesis aims at studying China Men written by Maxine Hong Kingston, and her reconstruction of male heroism of Chinese American men from the feminist point of view. The construction of male heroism in Chinese American discourse is quite a controversial issue. Mainstream American literature has produced stereotypical descriptions about Chinese American male images. Images in the white texts are that Chinese American men appear docile, passive, or evil, cunning. Male characters in novels produced by Chinese American female writers are always either absent or simplified into docile, incompetent roles.The Chinese American male writers represented by Frank Chin and his colleagues promoted a kind of male heroism based on the Chinese ancient chivalrous tradition. In Frank Chin's anthologies, the real hero is found primarily in traditional Chinese classics such as The Water Margin Journey to the West, and The Romance of Three Kingdoms. They endeavor to recover the distinct and specific social-historical and cultural legacies that are lost or appropriated in racist discourses and institutions. They initiate some heroic Chinese American figures, the loud, passionate, vengeful figures that are in every way antithetical to the images of the quiet, passive, and subservient oriental Chinese American househusbands.Kingston disagrees with this construction. She rejects the traditional Eastern/ Western models of manhood that link masculinity with violence, racism, and sexism. Also, she objects the perception that male heroism can only be displayed by leadership or some other qualities such as courage, conquering, and creativity in public places. So, in China Men, Kingston first points out the limitations of the predefined definition and understanding of male heroism established by the Anglo American writers. She then endows this definition with new scope and ideas from her feminist point of view.This thesis intends to study Kingston's reconstruction of male heroism from three aspects. The first aspect focuses on the content and themes of this book. China Men has revealed four generations' exploration of the western America and thus their tremendous contributions to the American society and the unendurable tortures they have undergone. The novel tells the familial stories in an annalistic and familial way. The second aspect studies the narrative techniques in China Men. Kingston...