Antagonism And Reconciliation: “Paper Sons”’ Construction Of Cultural Identity In Bone And Steer Toward Rock By Fae Myenne Ng

Renowned as the remarkable representation of Chinese Americans’ history and pain, Fae Myenne Ng’s Bone and Steer Toward Rock have received great responses since the publication. This thesis attempts to conduct more research on Chinese Americans’ constructing their identities under the context of Post-colonialism in Fae Myenne Ng’s these two remarkable books. This research may contribute to the study of Chinese American literature, especially in the field of Post-colonialism study. In addition, the discussion of Chinese Americans’ seeking their identities will be helpful to explore the forgotten history for early Chinese immigrants and cast a light upon the identity construction for Chinese Americans in globalization context.The two heroes in the two remarkable novels, Leon and Jack, were the representatives of the forgotten history of “Paper Sons” during the Chinese Exclusion Movements at 19 th and 20 th century in the United States. Through antagonism and reconciliation, “Paper Sons” broke the binary oppositions between Oriental/ Occidental,Self/ Other, Past/ Present, and served as the bridges to link the ancient Chinese culture and modern American culture. Furthermore, they accepted their fake identities as “Paper Sons” in the America and formed their new Chinese American identities, and eventually led their new lives there.This thesis will analyze the Paper Sons’ marginalization as the Other in American society and their identity crisis under western hegemony by applying Edward Said’s theory of the relationship between Self and Other. Besides, the thesis will further explore Paper Son’s alienation from traditional Chinese culture. Finally, the thesis will focus on Paper Sons’ construction of identity in the Third Space by applying Homi Bhabha’s theory of Hybridity and Third Space and draw a conclusion of identity construction in Post-colonial context.