| Amy Tan (1952—), is one of the most important Chinese American writers, whosefirst novel The Joy Luck Club is a great success since it was published. The novel wasawarded The National Book Award and The Gulf Novel Critics Award and otherawards. Ha Jin (1956—) is the representative of the new generation ChineseAmerican writer, the only one who won The National Book Award and The FaulknerAward at the same time. A Good Fall is Ha Jin’s fifth collections of short stories,which was published in2009. As the outstanding writers of Chinese Americanliterature, Amy Tan and Ha Jin belong to different writing styles and the livingenvironments but the conflict and fusion of Chinese culture and American culture arediscussed in their works. This thesis is aimed to make a cultural comparison betweenThe Joy Luck Club and A Good Fall, which will not only figure out the differentexpressions and attitudes about Chinese culture and American culture from Amy Tanand Ha Jin, but also analyzes the reasons for the difference.This thesis is divided into three parts.The first part introduces Amy Tan, Ha Jin and their woks.The second part is the main body which includes three chapters. Chapter Onepresents the different attitudes toward Chinese culture and American culture fromAmy Tan and Ha Jin. The Joy Luck Club mainly emphasizes the maintaining of theChinese culture, while A Good Fall focuses on the the accepting of the AmericanCulture. Chapter Two makes a comparison between The Joy Luck Club and A GoodFall from the respective of the cultural identity. The characters in The Joy Luck Clubare stuck in culture conflicts, however, the characters in A Good Fall are trying to findways for adapting to the American culture. Chapter Three analyzes the reasons forthe different attitudes toward the Chinese culture and American culture from theworks of Amy Tan and Ha Jin.The last part is Conclusion which sums up the different expressions and attitudesabout the Chinese culture and American culture in The Joy Luck Club and A GoodFall and reveals the reasons for the different cultural identity. |
