摘 要

华裔形象在美国文学中一直备受关注，美国文学中华裔形象的塑造也经历了一个漫长的转变过程。早期因主观因素的限制和客观因素的制约，美国文学中的华裔形象以负面居多，杰克·伦敦就曾因其在作品中塑造的华裔形象备受争议。但是随着时代的变迁，社会大背景发生巨变，华裔形象也随之发生了改变。汤亭亭在《中国佬》中塑造的华裔形象，被认为是对华裔形象的重塑，对华裔历史的重新书写。本文先介绍汤亭亭以及《中国佬》的主要内容，然后阐述关于汤亭亭的《中国佬》的相关研究，研究内容主要有三个方面:写作技巧、文化属性以及人物分析。在此基础上，本文对汤亭亭的《中国佬》中的主要华裔形象进行详细分析，分析的主要人物有曾祖父、祖父、父亲以及弟弟。通过分析发现汤亭亭塑造的华裔形象有两个明显特征:正派形象和反抗精神。最后从人物形象、人物性格、人物命运三方面对比分析汤亭亭的《中国佬》中的曾祖父和杰克·伦敦的《中国佬》中的阿卓，得出较之前的华裔形象，汤亭亭在《中国佬》中塑造的华裔形象是比较客观、全面、真实的。

关键词：华裔形象；《中国佬》；对比分析；人物塑造

Abstract

The images of ethnic Chinese have been given a lot of attention in American literature, and the creation of the images in American literature has also undergone a long process of transformation. Because of the limitation of subjective factors and the restriction of objective factors, the images of ethnic Chinese in American literature were mostly negative in the early stage, and Jack London has been a controversial writer for the images of ethnic Chinese he had created in his works. However, with the change of the times, the social background has changed dramatically, and the images of ethnic Chinese have also changed. The images of ethnic Chinese created by Maxine Hong Kingston in China Men are considered to be a recreation of the images and a rewriting of the Chinese American history. This thesis first gives a brief introduction to Maxine Hong Kingston and China Men, and then expounds the relevant researches on Kingston's China Man. Contents of these researches can be divided into three aspects: narrative features and strategies, cultural identities and analyses of the images. On that basis, this thesis makes detailed analyses of the images of ethnic Chinese in China Men. The main images are the great-grandfather, the grandfather, the father and the younger brother. After analyzing the images in China Men, two obvious characteristics of the images created by Kingston-decent images and rebellious spirit can be concluded naturally. Finally, this thesis gives a comparison of the images of great-grandfather in Kingston’s China Men and Ah Cho in Jack London’s The Chinago from three aspects: the images of the characters, the personalities of the characters and the fates of the characters. Through the comparison, we can draw a conclusion that compared with the previous images of ethnic Chinese, the images created by Maxine Hong Kingston in China Men are more objective, comprehensive and real.

Key Words: the images of ethnic Chinese; China Men; comparative analysis; character creation

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Maxine Hong Kingston and China Men 1

1.2 Jack London and The Chinago 2

2 Literature Review of China Men 3

2.1 Narrative features and strategies 3

2.2 Cultural identities 4

2.3 Analyses of the images 4

3 Images of ethnic Chinese 5

3.1 Images in China Men 5

3.2 Characteristics of the images in China Men 7

3.2.1 Decent images 7

3.2.2 Rebellious spirit 9

4 Comparison of the images 10

4.1 The images of the characters 10

4.2 The personalities of the characters 12

4.3 The fates of the characters 13

5 Conclusions 14

References 15

Acknowledgements 16

Analyses of the Images of Ethnic Chinese in China Men

1 Introduction

The creation of the images of ethnic Chinese has experienced a long historical process. At the very beginning, the archetype of the images is from imagination, not the author's real contact with the ethnic Chinese. At that time, the images of ethnic Chinese are basically timid, insensitive and stupid. It has formed a stereotype in American writers’ works, which is even accepted by the whole foreign literary world. Then there are some changes in the creation of the images since foreigners have learned more and more about China. However, the main images of ethnic Chinese in many foreign works are still negative. After the publishment of China Men written by Maxine Hong Kingston, the images of ethnic Chinese have been recreated.

The images of ethnic Chinese have been changing. In different periods, they have different implications. Both the images of ethnic Chinese in Maxine Hong Kingston’s China Men and that in Jack London’s The Chinago are typical. One represents the stereotyped images of ethnic Chinese. The other represents the new images of ethnic Chinese. Comparative analyses of the images in the two novels are helpful for us to correctly grasp the progress of the development of the images. Meanwhile, the comparative analyses have great significance for us to understand the efforts made by Maxine Hong Kingston in creating the new images of ethnic Chinese in China Men.

1.1 Maxine Hong Kingston and China Men

Maxine Hong Kingston, as one of the most popular Chinese American writers in American literature, is famous for excellent writing skills and profound cultural background. She is not very productive but most of her works possess high literary quality. Three of her most famous novels, The woman Warrior, China Men and Tripmaster Monkey, not only fight for the voice of the silenced unknown women, but also eliminate the discriminating stereotype of the images of ethnic Chinese in the American mainstream society. China Men is telling stories of my great-grandfather, grandfather, father and younger brother who struggled to survive in the United States but were never accepted by American society. They had done a lot for American history but they suffered a lot at the same time, because their contributions were ignored, even erased deliberately. In the face of unfair treatment, even though knowing that they would be punished, they still actively defended their rights and dared to struggle against violent repression.

1.2 Jack London and The Chinago

Jack London, an American realist writer, born in a bankrupt family of a peasant farmer in San Francisco. His early life experiences provided him with a wealth of resources for his later creation. His novels including The Chinago, The Unprecedented Invasion and several other works involving Chinese overseas immigration themes. In these works, the author did not hesitate to describe the Chinese as "inferior nation" and "yellow peril" that threatened the white in Europe and the United States. So when it comes to Jack London’s creation of the images of ethnic Chinese, people always hold negative comments that he showed too much racial discrimination in his novels. The Chinago is telling the story of Ah Cho, who worked as a laborer in a plantation, accidentally involved in a murder case, the murderer ran away, five China men on the scene were all arrested in prison. At the very beginning, Ah Cho was sentenced to 20 years in prison while Ah Chow was sentenced to death. But in the end Ah Cho’s head was cut off because the White misspelled the names of Ah Cho and Ah Chow by accident. But the white thought that both of them were Chinago, no matter whose head was cut off and they did not want to delay the work, so Ah Cho’s head was cut off.