engleski

Defining identity between two cultures in the novels of Amy Tan

The article analyzes the relationships between ethnicity and identity in American ethnic literature from the literary opus of Chinese American author Amy Tan. American ethnic literature includes the works of authors who are not of Anglo-Saxon descent, and the authors of Asian descent have a significant role within such literature. The relationship between ethnicity and identity is one of the key issues in American society and literature, also because it greatly influences the shaping of American national character and its manifestations in literature. A specific Chinese American literature developed as a result of a particular position of Chinese Americans who are neither assimilated nor isolated in the United States. The must important characteristics of this literature is the influence of Chinese ethnicity in creating a new identity. The theoretical basis of my research reflects the ethnicity theories of Werner Sollors, Nathan Glazer, Daniel P. Moynihan as well as other prominent Chinese American theoreticians. By imploying the intertextual analysis I will show how the novels of Amy Tan reflect theories of ethnicity and forming identity through the lens of members of first and second generation of Chinese immigrants. The analysis enables me to describe the typical experience and conflict ethnicity while defining and creating identity of the members of the first and second generation of Chinese immigrants to the United States of America.

identity; ethnicity; conflict

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