Contents
1. Introduction . 1
2. Literature Review 2
2.1 Amy Tan and Her Works .. 2
2.2 Relevant Research on The Joy Luck Club .. 2
3. The Conflicts between American and Chinese Culture Embodied
in The Joy Luck Club . 3
3.1 Values of American and Chinese . 3
3.2 Family Ethics of American and Chinese . 5
3.3 Thinking patterns of American and Chinese . 6
3.4. Cultural Backgrounds of America and China .. 8
4. Comprehension and Identity of American Culture and Chinese
Culture .. 9
4.1 Comprehension between Mothers and daughters 9
4.2 Culture Identity .. 11
4.3 Implications.. 13
5. Conclusion . 14
Works Cited 16
1. Introduction The Joy Luck Club of Amy Tan mainly talks about the relationships between Chinese immigrant mothers and the new generation daughters born in America. In the history of China, women has never gain as much respect as man except in maternal society, especially during the war of liberation, China women live in a difficult society. The four mothers in the story are among those women, they went to America to find a new life which is totally different with other women who are just enduring to the end. They still keep their Chinese tradition. However, their daughters, who were born in America, are the second generation immigrants; they always misunderstand their mothers’ Chinese culture and way of thinking. To make their daughters understanding them and their Chinese culture, the mothers have made pain—striving to narrow their culture gap. They grasp every opportunity to tell their daughters their past experiences, demonstrate their courage to challenge the feudal society and keep on extending maternal love to their daughters. Thanks to their great efforts, their purpose is fulfilled; their cultural gap is narrowed. This thesis mainly talks about how the first generation of Chinese immigrants and their daughters treat with contradiction between Chinese traditional culture and American culture, as well as how they deal with the conflict. Viewing contradiction and conflict of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club from the cross-cultural perspective, persities caused by collision of heterogeneous culture can be specifically pided into four aspects: value、family ethics、thinking pattern、culture backgrounds, which are represented by Chinese immigrant mothers and Americanized daughters. Most importantly, after a series of misunderstandings, the two generations are in harmony, which means cultural compatibility between China and America. It brings hope that contradiction or oppositions in our lives between past and present, between generation and between cultures can be possibly even well reconciled. Nowadays, more and more Chinese immigrants pursue more physical or mental development. Such as a better education、 a better business、a better living environment、and pursuit of truth or personal happiness. 文献综述