《典型美国人》中的文化认同

《典型美国人》把儒家的人伦和个人主义看作是中国传统化和美国主流化的一对基本差异,并以此结构全篇,通过讲述华人移民张意峰及其家人由于语境的变化而在价值观、生活方式和思维方式上发生的改变及其后果,批判了“熔炉”模式下“典型美国人”的定义,提倡“美国色拉碗”式的多元化,主张华人移民在建构化身份的过程中,应该对东西化进行鉴别吸收,融合贯通两种化的优点。

Cultural Identity in Gish Jen's Typical American

This paper addresses Chinese American writer Gish Jen's much lauded novel Typical American,which explores the changes in values,lifestyle,and mode of thinking that Yifeng Chang and His family undergo after they have settled in the U.S. The basic difference between traditional Chinese culture and mainstream American culture,according to Gish Jen,is that the former emphasizes human relations while the latter,individualism.Revolving around this axis,the novel examines both the strong and weak points of the two cultures and probes into the problem of cultural identity faced by Chinese immigrants like the Changs.In posing a critique of the "Melting Pot" Model of assimilation and its concomitant definition of the "typical American",Gish Jen voices her strong support for American multiculturalism as symbolized by the "American salad bowl."Chinese immigrants,she insists,should try to develop their cultural identity by blending the best of Eastern and Western cultures.Her thinking also offers us some fresh insight into the broader issues of globalization and multiculturalism.