摘 要

谭恩美是一位著名的华裔美国作家。她的第一部小说《喜福会》自出版以来一直广受好评。《喜福会》讲述了二十世纪五十年代移民到美国的四个中国母亲和她们在美国出生的女儿之间因为不同的文化背景和经历而发生的冲突的故事。

本论文旨在分析《喜福会》中的母女关系，它经历了从冲突到和解的转变。通过分析《喜福会》中母女两代人之间的冲突，主要包括教育观、爱情和婚姻观、语言和价值观等方面的冲突以及这些冲突的逐步消解，本论文旨在揭示母亲和女儿之间的和解最终代表的是中美两种文化之间的和解。

关键词：《喜福会》；谭美恩；母女关系；冲突；融合

Contents

1. Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration-------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.1 Conflicts between Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.1.1Conflicts in terms of education -------------------------------------------------------2

2.1.2 Conflicts in terms of love and marriage ---------------------------------------------4

2.1.3 Conflicts in terms of languages-------------------------------------------------------5

2.1.4 Conflicts in terms of values -----------------------------------------------------------5

2.2 Ways to conciliate the relationship between mothers and daughters --------------8

2.2.1 Communication between mothers and daughters and the exchange of ideas---8

2.2.2 Daughters understanding and respecting their mothers ---------------------------9

2.2.3 Mothers making a concession and compromise-----------------------------------10

2.3 Reconciliation in progress -------------------------------------------------------------10

2.3.1 Mutual understanding between mothers and daughters -------------------------10

2.3.2 Reconciliation of two languages and two cultures -------------------------------11

2.3.3 The fusion of Chinese and American cultures in these mothers and daughters-12

3. Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

Works Cited-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Bibliography-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

From Conflicts to Reconciliation

• An Analysis of the Mother-daughter Relationship in The Joy Luck Club

1. Introduction

Amy Tan (1952- ) was born in Oakland, California in February, 1952. She was the second of three children. Amy Tan’s works explore mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese-American experiences.

Tan’s first novel was The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989, which became a best-seller. The novel consists of sixteen related stories about the experiences of four Chinese-American mother-daughter pairs. In 1991, The Kitchen God’s Wife was published. Tan’s second novel is critically acclaimed and also focuses on the relationship between an immigrant Chinese mother and her American-born daughter. The Hundred Secret Senses, published in 1995, was a departure from the first two novels, focusing on the relationships between sisters. The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2000), Tan’s fourth novel, tells the story of an immigrant Chinese woman and her American-born daughter.

The Joy Luck Club (1989) is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club known as The Joy Luck Club, playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods. The book is structured somewhat like a mahjong game, with four parts divided into four sections to create sixteen chapters. The three mothers and four daughters (one mother, Suyuan Woo, dies before the novel opens) share stories about their lives in the form of vignettes. Each part is preceded by a parable relating to the game. The stories told in this novel revolve around the Joy Luck Club. We can see these topics in the novel: the misunderstanding of love between the mothers and the daughters, the clash between the generations and cultures, and the struggle for the women to fight for equality. In addition, the novel also involves different living environments, different culture heritages as well as different values between the mothers and the daughters. More importantly, after a series of misunderstandings, the two generations are in harmony that means cultural compatibility between China and America. It brings hope to readers that contradictions or oppositions in our lives between the past and the present, between generations and between cultures can be possibly reconciled.

Chinese researches on The Joy Luck Club are more than those foreign studies on it. Most Chinese researches focus on the Chinese and American cultures and the American Dream. Some Chinese critics analyze The Joy Luck Club using the theory of high-context and low-context cultures; others analyze different family values leading to the conflicts between the two generations. Some foreign critics examine the issue of cultural identity represented in the novel, an issue inevitably problematized when the author Amy Tan emphasizes the conflict between Chinese culture and American culture. However, the motif of mother-daughter relationship in the novel is inadequately studied. Hence, my thesis will probe into this motif.

This thesis aims to analyze the mother-daughter relationship in The Joy Luck Club. The first part is to analyze different conflicts between Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters. The second part focuses on ways to conciliate the relationships between mothers and daughters. The third part analyzes the reconciliation in progress and sublimates the analysis from families to Chinese and American cultures.

Through analyzing the conflicts in The Joy Luck Club, including the conflicts in education, love and marriage, languages and values, this thesis undertakes to tell readers that after easing the conflicts, the reconciliation between mothers and daughters finally represents reconciliation between two cultures.