Study On The Main Characters' Cultural Images And Cultural Attitude In The Novel Waiting

Ha Jin,an immigrant writer,has created many literature works which have achieved great success in America.Most of his works tell stories of Chinese or immigrants in the United States.As a writer with dual cultural perspectives,Ha Jin in his first novel Waiting narrates a story,depicting the cultural conflicts in China's social and political environment and the people confronting the cultural difficulties and moral dilemma.This work reflects Ha Jin's meditation on the ordinary individual's destiny and the traditional Chinese culture.Therefore,based on the exploration of Ha Jin's life experiences and his attitudes towards Chinese culture,this thesis makes detailed analysis of the three Chinese traditional images depicted in the story,trying to probe into their different cultural attitudes towards Chinese traditional culture and their personalities,to excavate the causes for their different fates.Beginning with the analysis of the cultural attitude of Ha Jin,this thesis studies the various factors that influence Ha Jin's cultural attitude towards Chinese culture,then further explores the relationship between the three main characters' attitudes towards Chinese traditional culture and their fate in the novel.In Waiting,the male hero Lin Kong is portrayed as an image of weak personality,being constrained by the traditional cultural and failed to break the old-fashioned marriage hedge.When faced with the bondage of the traditional culture,he holds an ambiguous attitude,which eventually leads to his marriage tragedy.Brave enough to challenge the traditional culture,the heroine Manna Wu is portrayed as a sensitive and changeable cultural image,who marries to Lin Kong in the end but their marriage life is not happy as expected.Though shackled by the traditional culture,the other heroine Shuyu adheres to the traditional culture all the time.After the divorce,she chooses to continue to wait for the return of Lin Kong.There is no doubt that she is portrayed as an obedient traditional Chinese woman.It is concluded that the three main characters in the novel show sharply different attitudes towards traditional Chinese culture,presenting diversified cultural images,which results in their different fates.This novel conveys that the author's views on cultural attitudes might be closely associated with the destiny of the novel's characters.