Images Of Chinese People In Jack London's Six Short Stories

Jack London was a famous American writer in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.Lived a short life though,he left the world a great many works.Among them,there are six short stories focusing on the characterization of Chinese people.They are“White and Yellow”,“Yellow Handkerchief”,“Chun Ah Chun”,“The Tears of Ah Kim”,“The Chinago”,and“The Unparalleled Invasion”.The six short stories represent three types of images of Chinese people.This thesis would analyze the six short stories with the Imageology theories,and explore what the images are like and why.Besides the introduction and the conclusion,there are four chapters in this thesis.Chapter One analyzes the inferior Chinese depicted in“White and Yellow”and“Yellow Handkerchief”.In these two stories,Jack London adds many negative stereotypes,such as Chinese people being greedy,vicious and unable to speak standard English,etc.Here the Chinese image is depicted as spiritually weak,morally degenerate,technologically and culturally backward.In a word,they are inferior to the white on all sides.Jack London here uses the uglified Chinese image to show their contrast to the brilliant Americans.Chapter Two analyzes the paradoxical Chinese in“Chun Ah Chun”and“The Tears of Ah Kim”.Jack London here creates Chinese image with both positive and negative characteristics.Jack London here praises them for embracing the new world,and criticizes them for sticking to old rules.Chapter Three analyzes the pitiful Chinese in“The Chinago”and“The Unparalleled Invasion”.They are the victim of capital—Chinese laborers who have become indifferent after long-term oppression,and the victim of colonization.Jack London here exposes and criticizes the crimes of capital and colonization.Chapter Four analyzes the reasons for the contradictory and complicated Chinese images.By comparison with Jack London's other works and other Chinese-concerned works of contemporaries,this thesis points out that the formation of Jack London's complicated view of China is the outcome of self-construction and other infiltration.By analyzing what the images are like in the six short stories and the reasons for that,this thesis makes it clear that rather than being simply hostile as many of the previous studies'standpoint,Jack London's attitudes towards China and Chinese people are rather complicated.Jack London is a complex,so the study of him and his works should be comprehensive.By studying the Chinese images in foreign literature could help us understand cultural differences better and recognize ourselves better.In a world that is witnessing an escalating tension of racial disharmony and clashes among civilizations,a study of the Chinese images in Jack London's writing may help us understand how complicated the situation is and has been,as in his short stories,help change our way of looking and seeing the world,and help contribute to the construction of a better future.