Reconstruction Of Chinese American Identity In Face

In her novel Face, Aimee Liu tells a story about Maibelle Chung a Chinese American woman who searches for her Chinese American identity. Maibelle Chung cannot define "who she is" and is in perplexity of identity. With one-quarter Chinese blood, she grows up in Chinatown, but she is not accepted as a Chinese American. Though she has a Caucasian face and speaks English, she does not think that she is a Caucasian American. Moreover, suffering from double racial discrimination, she denies herself and lacks the sense of belonging. Her parents both keep secrets from her, which further leads to her isolation.In loss of identity, Maibelle Chung endures persistent and terrifying nightmares and suffers great pain, and reconstruction of her Chinese American identity is the only way to wake up from nightmares and to relieve her pain.This thesis looks at the whole process of Maibelle Chung’s reconstruction of her Chinese American identity through self-discovery, self-identification, self-empowerment and self-reaffirmation. The analysis focuses on how Maibelle Chung discovers "who she is" by unraveling her family secrets when disconnected with and cut off from both her Chinese and American roots and how she identifies herself with Chinese American identity in rebuilding relationships with both Chinese Americans in Chinatown and Americans in American mainstream society when feeling bewildered and lost caught in-between two cultures neither of which she feels she belongs.In analyzing how she empowers herself as a Chinese American when confronting double racial discrimination, this thesis highlights her strength in self-reaffirmation of her dual cultural identity. The analysis is framed in Homi Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space, which is an in-between space for coexistence of different cultures and diverse identities. This thesis illuminates the way Maibelle Chung reconstructs her Chinese American identity by building a third space where she finds a sense of wholeness in her cultural identity as she embraces both her Chineseness and Americanness. In reconstructing her Chinese American identity, Maibelle Chung finally transcends her pain and loss in the racially biased American society and finds a sense of belonging in both Chinese and American cultures.