ABSTRACT
The Joy Luck Club is the first novel of Amy Tan. It is a narrative about the conflicts between Chinese mothers and Americanized daughters. In the novel she mainly describes the relationship between the Joy Luck Club mothers and their daughters and cultural conflicts. The duality of the Chinese immigrants often makes the daughters fall into a bicultural dilemma and identity crisis. Both the bicultural dilemma and identity crisis make the mothers and daughters be in a loss and bring the conflicts between them. Through contextual analysis of the Joy Luck Club and the cultural conflicts and blending embodied in it, this paper demonstrates that in the age of globalization a balance should be kept among different cultures, and a right attitude towards cultural conflicts and identity crisis should be taken.
Keywords：The Joy Luck Club; Identity Crisis; Cultural Conflict; Bicultural Dilemma
Contents
1. Amy Tan and Her Novel the Joy Luck Club 1
1.1 Social Background of Amy Tan 1
1.2 Introduction of the Joy Luck Club 1
2．The Duality of Chinese Immigrants 2
2.1 The Mothers and Daughters in a Bicultural Dilemma 2
2.2 The Mothers with Chinese Traditions 3
2.3 The Daughters with American Value 4
2.4 The Mothers and Daughters in Identity Crisis 5
3. The Conflicts between American and Chinese Cultures Embodied in the Novel 7
4. A Correct Attitude towards Culture 9
5. Conclusion 10
Acknowledgements 12
References: 13
1. Amy Tan and Her Novel the Joy Luck Club
1.1 Social Background of Amy Tan
Amy Tan is a highly acclaimed American Chinese writer．She was born in Oakland, California. Both of her parents were Chinese immigrants. Her father, John Tan, was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister. In China, her mother Daisy had divorced an abusive husband but lost custody of her three daughters. She was forced to leave them behind when she escaped on the last boat to leave Shanghai in 1949. Her marriage to John Tan produced three children, Amy and her two brothers. Amy Tan’s family is a typical immigrant family. Her parents are the first generation immigrants, and she is the second-generation immigrant.
She has experienced the same kind of conflicts which she portrayed in the novel. She and her mother were in constant conflict when she finished high school in Switzerland. She and her mother didn’t speak for six moths after Amy Tan left the Baptist College which her mother chose for her to follow her boyfriend to San Jose City College. Tan further defied her mother by abandoning the pre-med course her mother had urged her to pursue the study of English and linguistics.
1.2 Introduction of the Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan’s first novel the Joy Luck Club is an international best selling novel published in 1989．It is enthusiastically received by the critics and the public. The Joy Luck Club is divided into four sections，in which the mothers and the daughters are telling about their lives. Each section is preceded by a short parable that introduces the major theme of that section. And each narrative stands alone，complete and self-contained, yet each narrative is also an essential pattern in the complex tapes of the novel．The reader gets to know about the mothers` tragic past in pre-1949 China，and how they had to build up a new existence in California，USA．After having met each other they decide to set up the “Joy Luck Club”．Therefore，the mothers meet each other weekly to play a Chinese game named mahjong，sharing their individual experiences in life and hoping to overcome their past.
The novel is a collection of four aging Chinese women bound together more by hope than joy or luck．The four women Suyuan Woo，Lindo Jong， Ying-ying St．Clair， and An-Mei Hsu came to America many years ago to escape China` s feudal society for the promise of American democracy．Now，however，Suyuan is dead and the three surviving members of the club invite her daughter Jing-Mei to take her place．Jing-Mei belongs to the Chinese immigrants．Haunted by their duality，they usually have this or that worry．They often feel that they are in a bicultural dilemma and in an identity crisis．
Amy Tan and the daughters in the novel have something in common. They are the second-generation immigrants. But the mothers, as the first generation immigrants, don’t totally integrate in the American culture. They cannot speak English with fluency. They never discard the tradition and never forget their lives in China.
2．The Duality of Chinese Immigrants
For many Chinese Americans，life in the United States is a series of dualities— two voices, two cultures, and two identities, which represent an uneasy stance somewhere between the traditional Chinese culture of their own or their parents` homeland and the contemporary American culture in which they have chosen to have or into which they have been born. To some degree，both the mothers and the daughters are also obsessed with the duality of the feeli
ng at home in modern American culture．They are the second generation of Chinese Americans who can not cast away their genetic connection with China．In this case，they fall into an in-between world．Like thousands of Chinese Americans，the daughters in the Joy Luck Club spend their childhood attempting to understand as well as to come to reconcile the contradictions between their ethnicity and the dominant Western culture in which they are being raised and educated．They live in the classic immigrant dual experience：at home，they are uneasy Americanized teenagers at odds with the expectation of their traditional Chinese parents；outside their home，they are the Chinese outsiders who look different from everyone else in the predominantly white American mother says：“It is written in Chinese，You cannot read and understand it．That is why you must listen to me.” As a matter of fact，they have to encounter with the bicultural tensions．
2.1 The Mothers and Daughters in a Bicultural Dilemma
The clashes between two cultures and the bicultural dilemma are best reflected in this novel. Despite their early life as changing decisions to come to America，the mothers in the Joy Luck Club continue to cling to a lot of elements of the culture of “new” generation with Chinese heritage and China as their homeland．They have an essentially insular life and grow up speaking English, learning American culture and socializing mainly with the members of Chinese custom．Also of roughly the same age are Waverly(Lindo’s daughter)，Lena(Ying-ying’s daughter)，and Rose(An-Mei’s daughter.). As the novel continues，it becomes obvious that the four daughters don’ t have easier lives than the lives their mothers had．Living in America as American-Chinese young women，they get confronted with their conflicting ethnical and cultural background every day．And at the same time，they have to fight for emancipation in life．They are trying to live like modern，self-confident women，without paying any attention to their cultural background．But after years of bold dreams of wealth and high paid jobs，daily quarrels with their mothers，American lovers and husbands, times of fear and animosity，and their ambitions for their children including a certain degree of Americanization, they still usually stick to the traditions of Chinese culture and throw doubt upon anything foreign．In contrast，their daughters are deeply influenced by American culture．They are accustomed to the ideas，values，customs and lifestyle in America．The daughters worry about their inability to reconcile their Chinese heritage with American surroundings. As the author of the novel，Amy Tan comments：“We should always think like a Chinese but we should always speak perfect English so we can take advantages of circumstances.” (Tan，1989：147)The daughters in the Joy Luck Club are genetically Chinese (except Lena who is half Chinese) and have been raised in unique chance of being attached to two different cultures of mostly Chinese households，but they identify with truth in a very personal way．They show their love for their daughters by planning the daughters’ future and interfering in their activities. To the mothers, they have the compulsory responsibility to train their daughters to become perfect persons. They want to make their daughters combine the “American Context” with “Chinese Personality” perfectly. Their daughters, however, are often born and grow up in America, and are deeply affected by the American moral standard and acting principles. They cherish their independent spirits and characters, and they are not willing to be interfered and controlled by others. Their narratives justify the puzzle, and the conflicts between two generations they face when they span the different cultures. They view their mothers as the fossils of the old society, because they fear and hate their mothers’ interference and negation on their activities. When their mothers tell their stories in China, they express their detestation on them. When their mothers want to pass their Chinese cultural tradition to them, they are against it firmly. With the clash of different cultures, the two generations have difficulties in communicating and understanding each other.
2.2 The Mothers with Chinese Traditions
According to the traditions of old China，mothers have absolute authority in family because Chinese have the faith in the philosophy of running a family, Mothers have the responsibility of helping and looking after their husbands and educating their children. They should be fully responsible for the cultivation of their children．As mothers，they have to teach their children how to behave properly and to be a good man．They have to teach their children how to inherit and carry forward the pride of their family．Especially，they have to teach their daughters how to be a good wife and a goo
d mother．In line with Chinese tradition，the mothers not only have the responsibility to educate their children but also have the right to educate the children in whatever way they believe perfect，for their children are considered their property．Chinese traditional culture also requires the mothers of lifelong responsibility for the daughters，and the daughters of lifelong obedience and filial attitude towards the mothers．Even the daughters’ marriages are arranged by the mothers or at least with the agreement of the mothers．So mothers mean the authority that the daughters must obey．Disobeying their mothers’ opinions is condemned as un-filial by public opinion．So the daughters should be obedient to their mothers．Suyuan Woo once says：“Only two kinds of daughters: those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house: obedient daughter!”(Tan，1989：87)
2.3 The Daughters with American Value
In America，everybody worships individualism．In 1841，individualism was defined as the driving force of American society，strong confidence in self-reliance upon one’s own exertion and resources and perceived as the source of all public virtues．Individualism is one of the dominant American values．The individualistic theory of human nature holds that the interests of a person are best served by allowing him maximum freedom and responsibility for choosing his objectives and learning for obtaining them，and acting accordingly．It is also based upon the assumption that the act of making these choices contributes to the development of the individual and to the welfare of society．So it is most important for individuals to be allowed full opportunity to achieve material success through their efforts．In the United States，individualism is highly valued．Children are educated to emphasize the qualities that make each of them specia1．They are encouraged to think for themselves，find answers on their own and come up with individual solutions．At an early age，children learn to form their own ideas and opinions and to express their ideas in public．They learn to take the initiative to make decision and take action without someone telling them what to do. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas and individual responsibility．Differing from their mothers， the daughters are usually called “Banana” i．e．yellow outside while white inside，because they think and behave in the American whites’ way though they are Chinese in appearance．They receive Western education，speak English fluently，make contact with white people and accept Western way of life as well．They are educated under the principle of individualism．They appreciate Western values of freedom and individuality，which go directly against Chinese tradition．When their mothers require them with different rules，they will naturally resist against their mothers．They will try hard with the spiritual weapon of American individualism to struggle for their personal independence and individual freedom to free themselves from Chinese mothers’ contro1．These daughters in the Joy Luck Club are unwillingly to listen carefully to what their mothers say．They intend to escape their mothers to gain their own autonomy．It is believed that the Chinese race is “one that cannot readily throw of its habits and customs．” In other words，unlike blacks and Indians， the Chinese have a culture that puts them at odds with American individualism，and it is a culture that cannot simply be pulverized．(Bercovitch，1999：579) Thus the American born daughters easily clash with their mothers who still cling to Chinese culture．In the Luck Club，the daughters have never succeeded in obtaining from their mothers the satisfactory stop of all their unfaithful action．Owing to cultural differences，the mothers appear to be stern disciplinarians，domineering and possessive women in their daughters’ eyes．Thus the mothers’ loving efforts with their authority only bring about resentment and rebellion from their daughters．In a word，to the mothers，their daughters are rebellious and unyielding．While to the daughters，their mothers are stubborn and embarrassing.
2.4 The Mothers and Daughters in Identity Crisis
In an essay entitled “Growing up Asian in America”, Kesaya Noda poses a series of crucial questions that can lead to a cultural analysis of Tan’s nove1．Beginning by asking how an individual might come to self-knowledge and self-definition，Noda posits two possible answers：From the inside—within a context that is self-defined，from a grounding in community and a connection with culture and history is that comfortably accepted? Or from the outside—in terms of messages, from the media and people who are often ignorant? Even an adult can still see two sides of my face and past．I can see from the inside out，
in freedom and from the outside in，driven by the old voices of childhood and lost in anger and fear．(Huntley，1998：71)
Noda’s questions suggest the existence of dual identity which is always haunting the mothers and daughters in the Joy Luck Club．The mothers are deeply influenced by Chinese culture for they grow up in China．It is hard for them to accept every thing American and to reconcile two cultures．For the American born daughters，they are accustomed to the American way of thinking．But their Chinese family background and their mothers’ persistence in their Chinese identity makes them fall into a dilemma of dual identity．They are anxious to define their identity，but their Chinese features and traditions seem to be always in contradiction with the values of America．Therefore, the identity anxiety or even identity crisis leads to the intensification of the conflicts between them: the mothers and the daughters．
Compared with their European counterparts，Chinese Americans and the Chinese language have hardly gained deserving status in the immigrant history of America．The immigrant mothers’ linguistic pride is coped with ruthlessly with general ignorance or casual reaction．Out of “the Joy Luck Club”，they have to keep silent in order to avoid being despised or misunderstood with prejudice．All of them emigrate from China when they are adults，so it is difficult for them to speak fluent English．When they talk with their family members，especially their daughters，they often use Chinese words．Although they try to use perfect English to communicate with their daughters， they have to use a mixture of English and Chinese in order to express themselves clearly．The immigrant mothers in the Joy Luck club mediate between China (the homeland of their birth) and America (their adopted country)．As first generation Chinese immigrants， the mothers in the Joy Luck Club tried to maintain their ethnic identity in America as Chinese．There are several reasons for their retaining identity as Chinese．
Firstly，the mothers did not leave China until they were grown up．Born and brought up in China，Chinese cultural values have been imprinted into their minds. It is very hard for them to change even when they live in another country．
Secondly，they encounter all kinds of cultures and fall into identity crisis．Unlike the mothers，the daughters seem to have of racism in America as the other Chinese immigrants been Americanized and assimilated．Understandably，owing to their different skin color and appearance，the daughters as second-generation Chinese Americans, were discriminate．The Education Act in Exclusion Law passed in 1886，Chinese could not enter American schools. They could not help to make a colonial land in America，nor could they get American citizenship．
Thirdly，the appearance of the Joy Luck Club，where they can talk freely in Chinese，makes it possible for the mothers to retain their Chinese identity．These Chinese mothers take best advantage of the Joy Luck Club to get together，and the traditions and customs are well preserved in the Joy Luck Club．The Chinese identity of these immigrant mothers is clearly shown in their observance of traditional Chinese values．They want to remain Chinese in America．China stays in their mind of the mothers in the Joy Luck Club although they are in America．To retain their Chinese identity，they form the Joy Luck Club．On the surface，they meet regularly to have dinner，to play mahjong，and enjoy themselves．Actually，by sharing their stories，they intend to keep contact with the lives，the people，and the belief that they have left behind to the other side of world．The Joy Luck Club is actually a social ritual that maintains the mothers’ last true thinks with a lost way of life in China，and is an effective way for them to counter cultural attacks from the mainstream culture．In the club，they stick to Chinese language，wear elaborate traditional Chinese clothes，dine on Chinese specialty dishes，and never relinquish the rituals and ceremonies of their past．The mothers never truly blend into American culture．Living in America，they have to face two different subjects．Social pressures to become like everyone else and not to be different motivate them to resent their ethnic identity．
The daughters are Chinese American youngsters．They try their best to become “Americanized”． Most of the Americanized daughters in the Joy Luck Club have spent their childhood trying to escape their Chinese identities：Lena would walk around the house with her eyes opened as far as possible so as to make them look European．Jing-Mei denies during adolescence that she had any internal Chinese aspects，insisting that her Chinese identity is limited only to her external features．Waverly would have clapped her hands for joy during her teenage after her mother had told her that she did not look like Chinese．Like so many y
oung second generation Americans who have little or no experience with their parents’ home countries, the daughters—to the dismay of their parents—completely embrace the American culture that dominates their experiences outside their home. At the same time，they cast away their heritage．They are ashamed of their un-mainstream backgrounds and eccentric parents．They tend to throw away Chinese ways and seek refuge in an American identity．The Americanized daughters blame their mothers because they are so “Chinese”．They feel frequently embarrassed at things their mothers do．The daughters were born and brought up in Chinese family．They cannot completely get rid of the impact of Chinese culture．No matter how Americanized the daughters are，they are the daughters of the Chinese mothers．They are inevitably influenced by Chinese traditions and customs．Of course，some of their Chinese features has succeeded from time to the second generation Chinese Americans．Waverly’s taking her boyfriend，Rich，to her mother is a good example to illustrate this．Waverly feels the necessity to respect her mother’s idea to some degree，though she is aware of the American notion of independence and democracy and is scared that her mother will spoil everything．She follows Chinese customs to bring her boyfriend under the scrutiny of her reluctant mother．And she has to face her mother’s stubborn dissatisfaction and coldness towards her marriage. Another example is that Jing-Mei can not refuse her mother’s offering her a crab on her birthday though she is not fond of crab because she knows that is the way the Chinese mothers show their love for their children．It is impossible for the daughters to erase their Chinese identity that the mainstream society labels them．Although they change their inside into white Americans to some degree，their appearance and their understanding of Chinese reveal the other face they possess．As Tan later realizes，“Bicultural identity cannot be reduced to two neutral，pristine，and equal linguistic domains that one simply picks and choose to participate in without personal，relational，social，and political consequences．” (Tyler，1995：48—49)After the daughters’ inexperienced attempt， they failed in finding their complete identity either in the English world or in the Chinese world．They are often criticized for their tendency to cater to the white orientation，and have to suffer the pressure from the white dominance．
The daughters in the Joy Luck Club have not experienced the cultural connectedness that sustains their m others．Thus，they are unable to connect with their mothers’ memories of a homeland that they have never seen． Because of their visible ethnicity，they cannot blend effortlessly into the American melting pot．As a result，they are caught between Chinese and American cultures．Torn in a world of two cultures，the daughters are always in a state of identity crisis．The daughters learn to think or behave like an American in order to assimilate to the American culture．But when they stay with their parents，they have to return to Chinese culture. Living between two worlds，they often feel confused about what kind of life style to follow．They have to bear great pressure from both their families and the society．When they can not reconcile the contradictions，they are to rebel against their mothers．How to exert the advantage out of the identity “between the two worlds” makes the mothers and the daughters in identity crisis．And the dilemma makes the mothers and daughters be in a loss and brings the conflicts between them.
3. The Conflicts between American and Chinese Cultures Embodied in the Novel
The Joy Luck Club presents many conflicts in the mother-daughter relationship. The conflicts are embodied in 3 aspects. First, the mothers and the daughters are in different cultural backgrounds, and the daughters cannot understand their mothers. At the beginning, Jing-Mei fears that she cannot tell her mother’s story to her half-sisters, which, in fact, reflects the fear of other daughters of the Joy Luck Club members. They have identified themselves with Americans. Jing-Mei’s fear also reflects the mothers’ common feelings. They offer their daughters the chance to go to America, and make them self-sufficient; they wonder whether they have their daughters away from tradition. So in the Joy Luck Club, Jing-Mei feels puzzled, “What will I say? What can I tell them about my mother? I don’t know anything.”(Tan, 26)The way in which the mothers express their love cannot be accepted by the daughters. Jing-Mei believes that her mother’s constant blame is the embodiment of lacking of affection. However, in fact, the mother’s severity and high expectations are expressions of love and faith in her daughter. Other mother-daughter pairs experience the sam
e misunderstanding. In some ways, this misunderstanding comes from cultural differences. The Chinese traditional concepts such as filial obedience, criticism-enveloped expression of love are all different from the American concepts such as the individualism, freedom, self-esteem and direct expression.
The mothers in the Joy Luck Club hope that their daughters can get close to them as they were so close to their own mothers in China. For instance, Am-Mei’s Popo tells her that her mother is a ghost to make Am-Mei forget her mother. Although Am-Mei hasn’t seen her mother for years, she gets to love her mother when her mother combs her hair, and all these things they do are as natural as they do them everyday. And Am-Mei says, “This is how a daughter loves her mother. It is so deep it is in your bones.”(Tan, 41)
But in America, children always do not follow all that their parents tell them and behave what they want to. They emphasis their individuality and do not think they have so deep relationship with their mothers. So when Lindo asks her daughter Waverly to finish her coffee, Waverly says: “Don’t be so old fashioned, Ma. I’m my own person.”(Tan, 227) However, Lindo thinks she is always beside her daughter, and she never gives her daughter up.
Perhaps Lindo experiences the largest crisis of cultural identity among the characters. She regrets having given Waverly the American context, at the same time, given her Chinese character, but the two can never be combined. In the story “Double Face”, Lindo says: “… I wanted my children to have the best combination of American circumstance and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught [my daughter] how American circumstance works: If you are born poor here, it’s no lasting shame…In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. She learnt these things, but I couldn’t teach her about Chinese character… How not to show your own thoughts, to put your feelings behind your face so you can take advantage of hidden opportunities? Why is Chinese thinking best?” (Tan, 227) She thinks since she gives her daughter the American name (the name of the road they live in), she lets her daughter be too American, and this becomes the barrier between them. But at the same time, she realizes the American character in herself. She knows that she is no longer Chinese. When she travels to China, the Chinese treat her as an oversea traveler. She is very sad, and she wonders, in the process of changing herself, what she has lost. Her strategies of concealing inner powers are like what Waverly says that it is related with her ability to maintain two aspects of character—American and Chinese.
Second, in the novel, the communication problems also arise because the mothers are from China, while the daughters are born in the United States, for their cultural backgrounds are different, and also because they speak different languages. For example, June says, “My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other’s meaning and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more.”(Tan, 27)June looks for meanings in what is stated and does not understand that her mother omits the important information because she thinks that her daughter knows it. Suyuan, on the other hand, looks for the meanings in what have not been stated and adds many things to what has been stated and comes up with the meanings that surprise her daughter June. Another example is that Rose cannot find the right English terms to meet with “Hulihudu” and “Heimongmong”. “A mother is best. A mother knows what is inside you,” she said, “A psyche-strike will only make you ‘hulihudu’, make you see ‘heimongmong’.” Back home, I thought about what she said… [These] were words I had never thought about in English terms. I suppose the closest in meaning may be “confused” and “dark fog”. (Tan, 172) Rose thinks “hulihudu” and “heimongmong” can’t be translated to English because they refer to the sensation only Chinese can have.
Third, the mothers and the daughters have totally different experiences. The mothers came to America during the World War Ⅱ, when China was intruded by Japanese army. They came to America with their American dream. They had suffered a lot before arriving America, and they came to America to search for a better life, but after having lived in America for many years, they feel that they have lost some of their Chinese tradition and they try to hold fast of the Chinese tradition and pass it to their daughters. The daughters are born in America; they don’t appreciate the Chinese tradition and view their Chinese history as a barrier to their dreams. T
hey resent their mothers pouring the Chinese tradition to them and their Chinese way of love, so they do things opposite to what their mothers told them to do to disappoint their mothers. In the story “Two Kinds”, Jing-Mei says,“It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her so many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didn’t get straight as I didn’t become class president. I didn’t get into Stanford. I dropped out of college.”(Tan, 124)
4. A Correct Attitude towards Culture
An unprecedented development happened in America during the 20th century. This rapid development on economy has accelerated a worldwide immigration. There were more and more people who put themselves into the totally new American context while leaving their homeland, being separated from the historical and cultural background they used to live in for political, economic, scientific and cultural reasons. As the living environment is gradually changing, these Chinese immigrants have something changed in their mind, in other words, they feel that their history is gradually fading away; especially their offspring lose the relation to their native culture. The second and third generation immigrants don’t keep their family tree anymore. They cancel the memory of their elder family members, and they always can’t understand the words of their parents and the legendary stories of their ancestry. They lose the memory of their own nation’s history and the cultural symbol which match with their figures and station. These people, such as Amy Tan and other Chinese-American writers as well as the daughters in the Joy Luck Club, are born and grow up in America, so they don’t realize the meaning of their yellow skin and dark hair. They feel confused and embarrassed to lose the relationship with history only when they are considered as Chinese by others, but they know nothing about their native culture. Although Chinese people are deeply affected by the Western culture, especially American culture, in the process of globalization, more and more people realize that Chinese culture has its own value, and it cannot be eliminated. Chinese culture can absorb other cultures’ essence and can keep pace with the world’s development despite the backward aspect of it.
Culture should be treated seriously, and anything that belongs to culture can’t be discarded easily. Chinese people should have confidence on Chinese culture while learning the excellent cultures from other countries; and our own culture should be transmitted to others so that there will be fewer difficulties in the process of communication.
The Westerners view China as a closed country and the people are conservative, lacking of creativity, so a correct attitude to our culture should be held. At the end of the novel, the understanding and reconciliation not only show the author’s inheritance of Chinese traditional novels, but more important, embody a correct attitude towards culture, that is, to inherit the mother culture and to absorb the new culture and to find balance between cultures.
Today, in the multi-cultural context, if the traditional Chinese culture is given up, there would be no bridge between tradition and new cultures, but if only the native culture is taken seriously and the differences between cultures is exaggerated, the conflicts between cultures will be more intense, and then, there will be no hope of peace, common development and prosperity.
In the novel the Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan describes the conflicts between the mothers and the daughters. The misunderstandings between the mothers and the daughters in the novel are caused by the different cultural backgrounds and experiences. Fortunately, through painful efforts, the mothers and the daughters begin to understand and communicate each other at the end of the story, which metaphorically demonstrates the transition of the relationship between Chinese and American culture from conflicts to blending.
5. Conclusion
The Joy Luck Club is a narrative about the conflicts between Chinese mothers and Americanized daughters．Like thousand of Chinese Americans，life of the mothers and the daughters in the USA is a series of duality．They are obsessed with the duality of the Chinese immigrants，which often makes them fall into a bicultural dilemma and identity crisis．Both the bicultural dilemma and identity crisis like the mothers and daughters are in a loss and bring the conflicts between them．
As to our Chinese culture, it faces many challenges in the context of globalization. Although learning new technologies from other countries and absorbing the essence of other cultures are necessary, Chinese culture should be protected. History and present interacts each other, and they inherit each other. There's no country in the world which can ignore t
he past with today’s prosperity. If anyone forgets his past, and loses his history, he will become a person without history and tradition, and he cannot really locate himself in the multi-cultural society, and he will lose the base of development. The Chinese nation has a long and old history; the Chinese-American's history which is bestowed by their nature shouldn't be ignored, and this is the real reason for the mothers to try to combine their history with their lives in American and pass them on to their daughters. In this sense, the aim of recalling the history is to grasp the present and the future better.
Acknowledgements
My initial thanks go to my supervisor Zhou Yansha, who patiently supervised my dissertation and was at times very willing to offer me illuminating advice or suggestions. Without his help, I could not have finished this dissertation.
I am also indebted to other teachers and my classmates who have not only offered me their warm encouragements but also shared with me their ideas and books. They are Yang Xue, Yu Danyang and many others.
My greatest personal debt is to my parents, who have cultivated a soul of sensitivity, hospitality, and honesty out of me, and offered a harbor of happiness and sweetness for me. The remaining weakness and possible errors of the dissertation are entirely my own.
References:
[1] Fukuyama, Francis. Identity and Migration [J]. Prospect-Magazine, 2007.
. Generation Dichotomy of Culture,1993.
[3] Taylor, Charles. Models of Civil Society [M].Public Culture,1991.
[4] 程爱民. 论谭恩美小说中的母亲形象及母女关系的文化内涵[J]. 南京师大学 报(社会科学版), 2001,(4).
[5] 陈谦红,刘明芳.走出“世界之间”困境——析《喜福会》中的母女关系[J]. 思想战线, 2008,(S1).
[6] 关晶.多元文化视阈下的母女关系——谭恩美小说《喜福会》的后殖民主义解读[J]. 长春工业大学学报(社会科学版) ,2008,(06).
[7] 洪秀芸.夹缝中的“他者”形象——论《喜福会》中的华裔美国人[J]. 湖北经济学院学报(人文社会科学版), 2009,(03).
[8] 刘亚龙.简析《喜福会》中美文化的撞击与交流[J]. 沈阳农业大学学报(社会科学版) ,2009,(01).
[9] 潘亚芬.试析《喜福会》中女儿们的对抗心理[J]. 作家, 2009,(08).
[10] 孙莹.《喜福会》的文本风格解读[J]. 重庆工学院学报(社会科学版), 2009,(02).
[11] [美] 谭恩美 著,程乃珊 译.喜福会[M]. 上海译文出版社, 2006.
[12] 谭恩美. 喜福会: 哈佛蓝星双语名著导读[M]. 天津科技翻译出版公司,2003.
[13] 王凤霞. 论《喜福会》中双重文化的冲突与融合[J]. 西南民族大学学报(人文社科版) ,2008,(S3).
