Identity Anxiety Of James In Everything I Never Told You From The Perspective Of Post-Colonialism

Everything I Never Told You is a debut novel written by the Chinese American writer Celeste Ng.Since it was published,Everything I Never Told You has won a lot of prizes and attracted a large number of readers.This novel begins with the story that a Chinese American girl Lydia gets lost,and then everything in the interracial family which family members never talk about is unraveled in a delicate way.As a matter of fact,all these family members encounter serious racial discrimination as the American minorities in the United States.At present,there are a few researches on Everything I Never Told You,the studies focus on identity issues about Chinese American family members including Lydia,Nath and Marilyn,and there are few specialized researches on James’ identity issues.Based on the post-colonial theory,this thesis aims to explore the identity anxiety of James in Everything I Never Told You,and tries to find out how James gets rid of identity anxiety.First of all,this thesis expounds gender anxiety,ethnic identity anxiety and cultural anxiety the Chinese American James is subjected to from the perspective of post-colonialism.Under the effect of American racial discrimination,after marrying white American female Marilyn,James shows a kind of feminized male status.On the contrary,while dating with an oriental female named Louisa,James shows his dominant role as a male.Because of racial discrimination,excellent as James is,but he still loses his ideal job.He has to be content with the second best,which shows James’ docility like a female.In order to dilute Chinese American identity,James marries Marilyn,gives preference to his daughter Lydia who resembles his wife,and alienates Nath and Hannah who take after him.What’s more,James tutors Lydia and Nath in making friends with white American classmates so that they can fit into white American society.Although James attempts to blend in with mainstream American society,he is marginalized.Then,this thesis explores fundamental roots why James displays identity anxiety.From the angle of the society,racial discrimination exists in the United States for a long time.From the view of culture,James is deeply affected by the traditional Chinese culture and American culture,and he can’t keep a splendid balance between the two different cultures.From the point of individuals,under the influence of double consciousness and model minority,James desires to comply with the mainstream American ideology.At last,James understands American social ambivalence,sets up a cosmopolitanism view and builds the third space by which he can get rid of his identity anxiety.Identity anxiety is the general problem with which American minorities are confronted.For minorities in the United States,they should awaken their subject consciousnesses to get rid of the oppression imposed by mainstream American society.The study on Everything I Never Told You from the perspective of post-colonialism is not only conducive to understanding the status of American ethnic minorities in the United States from different points,but profitable to a deeper understanding of the nature of racial discrimination in the United States.