An Analysis Of Identity In Homebase And American Knees

Since the 1980 s, the Post-colonialism has been expounded by some renowned theoreticians such as Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha. Based on his own life experiences as a Chinese American, a distinguished professor and a pioneer of Chinese American literature, Shawn Wong published his first novel Homebase in 1979 and then the second novel American Knees in 1995. In these two novels, the changing experiences, identity evolution of Chinese Americans and reconstruction of identity in new age are considerably illustrated. This thesis attempts to analyze how different the identity pursuit is in different times, the thematic changes and reconstruction of individual and culture identity in these two novels from the perspective of Homi K. Bhabha’s Hybridity theory and the Third Space theory. The Hybridity theory and the Third Space theory are two great contributions to literature made by Homi K. Bhabha, which have a close relationship with one another. The Third Space theory is an effective way to solve the identity of Asian Americans who live in a world full of clashes between two cultures. Therefore, it is necessary and extremely significant for them to seek one way of constructing their own special identities based on the Third Space theory. Asian Americans can not only retain their traditional Chinese culture but also accept American living styles and values by choosing to make two cultures coexist and tolerate each other.Wong attempts to seek to “claim America” by tracing Chinese ancestors’ historical footmarks in Homebase which was published in the late 1970 s. In American Knees, published in the 1990 s, he tries to reshape individual identity and culture identity in a totally different age from the 1960 s by giving an account of an educated Chinese American’s life and psychological state. American Knees brings a visible switch in themes between these two novels. Based on The Hybridity theory and The Third Space theory, this thesis will analyze the identity construction and new times’ reconstruction from the changing environments including social and economic conditions. After settling down in America and being assimilated into the host culture, contemporary Chinese Americans rediscover their ancestries’ histories, national origins and cultural roots to deal with confusions and conflicts with the gain and loss of the identities, and the changes in Chinese Americans’ positioning of identities. Gradually Chinese Americans and Asian Americans construct a new identity: Americans with Chinese or Asian ethnic features after their original Chinese or Asian culture negotiating with the dominant American culture. This thesis aims to provide Asian American, especially Chinese Americans with a new vision of identity pursuit or affirmation in the environment full of multiculturalism.This thesis consists of an introduction, the main body and a conclusion. Its main contents are as follows:The first part is introduction, which mainly makes a brief summary of the researches on Chinese American literature at home and abroad, and then points out the view of research on it. Besides, in this part there is not only a detailed account of the specific topics or themes of Chinese American works but also an introduction to the researches on these two novels.The body of the thesis is composed of three chapters:Chapter One mainly introduces Shawn Hsu Wong’s life experiences as a Chinese American, his contributions to the Chinese American literature as a pioneer of Asian American studies and his his two excellent works Homebase and American Knees.Besides, it also introduces to the theoreticians and theories, of which are mainly about Homi K. Bhabha’s Hybridity theory and The Third Space theory. Based on the theory of Post-colonialism, Homi K. Bhabha has put forward many significantly postcolonial concepts such as “hybridity”and “third space”, together with Stuart Hall’s view on culture identity, which will be applied to this thesis. Besides, apart from Homi K. Bhabha and his theories, another one famous theoretician Frantz Omar Fanon and his psychological theories about colonial culture have been employed. Then this chapter also introduces the relevant studies of themes at home and aboard since their birth in Homebase and American Knees.Chapter Two mainly focuses on identity evolution from Homebase to American Knees. Firstly, it mainly analyzes how Rains-ford’s family struggle to live in America by taking his great-grandfather and grandfather as examples and gives a detailed account of Rains-ford’s attitude towards his changing identity different from his ancestors by giving a main review of Rains-ford’s experiences in this land. Then this chapter gives an analysis in detail of a young generation, Raymond Ding in the 1990 s, his psychological state and his process of reconstructing individual identity. From Homebase to American Knees, there exists an evolution of identity from individual to group, from material to culture, which is the reaction to the changing times. Besides, although there exist some limits in these two novels, they have some cultural implications for contemporary people such as Chinese Americans to settle culture identity.Chapter Three mainly analyzes the uniqueness of these two novels in the process of identity pursuit from four aspects. Their differences between these two novels mainly include the techniques of narration, identity evolution from Chinese Americans to Asian Americans. In American Knees, the implied author tells the stories of Raymond Ding while in Homebase, Rains-ford Chan is the main narrator who tells his family history. As to the identity evolution, in Homebase, the identity pursuit is limited to Chinese Americans and the individual while in American Knees, the identity pursuit stretches to Asian Americans, group identity and culture identity. The similarities mainly include reconstruction of masculinity, the ways to claim identity. Shaw Hsu Wong overturns the evil images of Chinese American men by depicting the heroic exploits of Rains-ford’s male Chinese ancestors in America and featuring heterosexual erotic relations between adult Asian Americans. As to the ways to claim identity, both of the protagonists employ different entities as ways to represent their identities. In Homebase, Rains-ford Chain names every place which his forefathers have been to, which is a process of self-identity affirmation while Raymond Ding associates his home with the places where his every girlfriend lives.The last part is conclusion, which makes a summary of the significance of this thesis. Based on Homi K. Bhabha’s Hybridity theory and the Third Space theory, this thesis analyzes the identity evolution from Homebase to American Knees, put forward some further topics for future works on Chinese Americans and make some suggestions for the contemporary Chinese Americans to deal with their identities in new times.