On Cultural Identity Construction from the Perspective of Cultural Translation: Exemplified by The Joy Luck club
Abstract The thesis of this paper is focusing on The Joy Luck Club, talking about cultural identity construction of the main characters from the perspective of cultural translation. The paper is pided into four parts, namely introduction, explanation of main concepts, analysis of cultural identity construction of Jing-Mei and Waverly, and conclusion. Only Jing-Mei and Waverly are mainly discussed in the paper, because for them, cultural translation is the main factor which not only obstructs but also helps their cultural identity construction, while for Lena and Rose, the main conflict is with their husbands and closely relates with their behaviors, the impact of the cultural translation is too implicit to be considered. 48088
Key words: cultural translation; cultural identity construction; The Joy Luck Club
从《喜福会》看文化翻译中的文化身份构建
摘要 本文主要讨论从文化翻译的角度看《喜福会》一书中主要人物的文化身份构建。文章一共四个部分：引言、相关概念解释、精美和薇弗莱的文化身份构建以及结论。对于精美和薇弗莱而言，文化翻译对于她们文化身份构建的作用是双重的，有消极的影响，也有积极的影响。但是对于丽娜和露丝而言，他们的文化身份构建的主要矛盾来自于他们的丈夫，很大程度上是他们的行为造成的,文化翻译的作用非常的隐晦，因此不做讨论。 关键词：文化翻译;文化身份构建;《喜福会》
Contents
1、Introduction.1
1.1Thebackground1
1.2Thebriefintroductiontothebook..2
2、Literaturereview..3
3、Explanationofthemainconcepts5
3.1Culturaltranslation.5
3.2Culturalidentity5
3.3Therelationshipbetweenthetwoconcepts5
4、CulturalidentityconstructionofJing-MeiWooandWaverlyJong7
4.1AnalysisofJing-MeiWoo.7
4.1.1Thebriefintroduction.7
4.1.2Themainconflicts7
4.1.3FunctionsofculturaltranslationinJing-mei’sculturalidentityconstruction7
4.2AnalysisofWaverlyJong..9
4.2.1Thebriefintroduction.9
4.2.2Themainconflicts9
4.2.3FunctionsofculturaltranslationinWaverly’sculturalidentityconstruction.10
5、Conclusion.12
Reference13
1、 Introduction
1.1 The background It was around 1850s that a large number of Chinese people immigrated into United States because of the “gold rush” in California. Later, with the increase of Chinese and certain political reasons, Chinese immigrants in America lived in a very harsh condition. In such situation, a fraction of the community started to vent their pent-up feelings by writing. Since the first recognized Chinese American literature When I Was a Boy in China published in 1877, a growing number of Chinese American literatures have been emerging. As time goes by, the situation also changed. Although, the old generation has to accept the American culture so as to adapt to the new environment, they still reserve some Chinese traditions. However, as for second-generation immigrants, they have a burning desire to become real Americans and be accepted by the mainstream society, thus they resist everything related to China. But they are still regarded as “The Others” for their ethnicity, which results in those younger generations surviving in the dilemma between two cultures and struggling with cultural identification. This contradictory state becomes one of the common themes in Chinese American literature. More and more Chinese American writers have successfully aroused the attention from the public, and their works are widely accepted and have significant impact on literary mainstream. Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989, is one of the most typical representatives of the novels which portray the conflicts as well as the fusion of two cultures, and the relationship between two generations. After its publication, the novel became a hit and gradually be considered as one of the classics of Chinese American literature. Thus, this work deserves detailed study. Besides, there exist numerous papers related to this book. Some are about the cultural conflict which is reflected through two generations, while others discuss it from other perspectives such as cultural identity construction. Nevertheless, a few of papers refer to cultural translation and its impact on cultural identity construction. Therefore, this paper talks about cultural identity construction of the main characters, mainly Jing-Mei and Waverly, from the perspective of cultural translation, based on the book The Joy Luck Club. The reason is that, as for these two, the key conflict is caused by their understanding of their mothers’ behavior and words, which are the epitome of Chinese culture. But as for Lena and Rose, their conflict is from their marriages and mainly caused by their behaviors. The impact of the cultural translation is too implicit to be analyzed. 1.2 The brief introduction to the book The book The Joy Luck Club is written by Amy Tan, a Chinese American writer and also a typical second-generation immigration. The writer resists her mother’s opinion and majors in writing and linguistics which let her begin the writing career. Moreover, she has a very difficult relationship with her mother. It is this type of relationship that becomes one of the themes of the book. The Joy Luck Club contains four parts, namely Feathers from a Thousand LI Away, The Twenty-Six Malignant Gates, American Translation and Queen Mother of the Western Skies. Each part is consisted of four stories which are related to mothers and daughters, respectively. As being the first generation immigrating to America, four mothers in the book all have miserable experiences when they were in China and then came to America, wishing to have a new life in the completely different country. Besides, four daughters are growing up along with many conflicts. The main conflict is between Chinese culture and America culture which results in tense relationships between their mothers or husbands. It seems that all the stories are unrelated, but it is mothers’ stories that help daughters figure out how to keep a balance between two cultures so as to construct their cultural identities, and how to reset their lives. During this process, cultural translation plays an extremely vital role. 从《喜福会》看文化翻译中的文化身份构建:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_50428.html