Abstract: The Joy Luck Club is the masterpiece of Amy Tan, a Chinese-American female writer. The novel presents the growth experiences and the mental journey of Chinese-American females. This paper analyzes the awakening of these women from the ethnic, gender and cultural “other” to the “self” with ethnic and feminist consciousness and cultural self-identification. The Chinese-American women cannot be recognized in the white-dominated society and become the ethnic other. They gradually realize that only through establishing their typical ethnic identity and finding a balance between the western ethnic features and eastern ethnic features can they gain recognition in the white-dominated society. The mothers and daughters in the novel are facing gender discrimination in the male-centered society and become the gender other. Mothers’ resistance to the inequity in the husband-wife relationship inspires the daughters and they decide to rise up. The independent thoughts help them fight against the male-centered society for equal rights. The Chinese-American women are confused about their cultural identity since mothers and daughters grow up in different cultures and always have conflicts. Finally they realize that they are greatly affected by both cultures and learn to break the cultural boundaries to build their unique duel cultural identity. As marginalized Chinese-American women, only by finding a balance between races, genders and cultures can they find their own way out.

Key words: The Joy Luck Club; marginalized Chinese-American females; the other; the self

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction.1

2. The Awakening from the Other to the Self 2

2.1 The Awakening from the Ethnic Other to the Self with Ethnic Consciousness

2.1.1The Ethnic Other in a White-dominated Society

2.1.2 The Awakening of Ethnic Consciousness

2.2 The Awakening from the Gender Other to the Self with Feminist Consciousness

2.2.1 The Gender Other in a Male-centered Society

2.2.2 The Awakening of Feminist Consciousness

2.3 The Awakening from the Cultural Other to the Self with Cultural Self-identification

2.3.1 The Cultural Other in the Mother-daughter Relationship

2.3.2 The Awakening of Cultural Self-identification

3. Conclusions .8

Bibliography.9

Acknowledgements10