A Lacanian Reading Of Winnie’s Psychological Development In The Kitchen God’s Wife

Amy Tan, categorized as one of the most lauded contemporary writers in Chinese American literature, has made a significant impact on the Asian American literary scene. Her second book The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991) is renowned as the Chinese version of Gone With the Wind which mainly reveals how Winnie grows up from a naive girl to a mature woman in society. This thesis points out that Winnie’s psychological growth is also the process of Lacanian subject formation.Chapter1discloses the process of the establishment and collapse of Winnie’s ideal ego, which is also the process of Winnie’s move from the pre-mirror stage to the Imaginary Order. The abrupt and mysterious disappearance of Winnie’s mother deprives her of the sense of completeness which she feels while she still stays with her mother and pushes her into the Imaginary Order to start her long journey of searching for fullness and satisfaction. At uncle’s house, Winnie automatically identifies with her two aunts who are substitutes of the mother role in order to overcome the sense of loss. However, nobody cares about her and she is merely an outsider in the family. Driven by the strong desire of love and care, she identifies with proper wife image as her ideal ego so as to gain the future husband’s love and care someday. Unfortunately, the ideal ego gradually collapses for its imaginary nature and the lack of confirmation from the others. This failure drives Winnie to step on the way of self pursuit.Chapter2explores Winnie’s identification with others in the Imaginary Order. Mirror stage opens the door of the Imaginary Order. The others’ gaze and the relations with others function as mirror accelerates Winnie’s psychological maturation. The encouragement from mother’s experience confirms her decision to fight for her freedom. By identifying with Gan, Winnie starts to introspect on herself and steps on the road of self discovery. By identifying with Hulan and Auntie Du, Winnie realizes her cowardice and learns to survive the desperate moment. By identifying with Betty Wang and Min, Winnie learns the importance of self sufficient and discovers her inner strength. By identifying with the Peanut and other divorced women, Winnie totally awakes and decides to take actions to get rid of the feudal arranged marriage.Chapter3makes an analysis of Winnie in the Symbolic Order. Winnie encounters with Jimmy Louie who is the representative of American ideology. By identifying with Jimmy Louie, Winnie steps into the Symbolic Order and becomes a subject. Now, she has held the discourse power and has wholly controlled her life.This thesis points out that the arduous journey of Winnie’s psychological development is actually the process of Lacanian subject formation. Although the subject is enslaved by others’ desire and can never be an autonomous self, there is no deed to be pessimistic. Whether a subject will lead a happy life or not depends on his or her own choice. The novel hints that a positive attitude towards life helping people overcome difficulties and pursue happiness plays a significant role in the process of subject formation,.