An Analysis of Different Family Values in Chinese and American Cultures in The Joy Luck Club_英语论文

摘要

《喜福会》是美籍华裔作家谭恩美的作品中最畅销的一部小说。通过描写四对母女间的代沟和隔阂，谭恩美在小说中反映了华裔母族文化和异质文化相遇而生的碰撞与兼容以及华裔们在两种文化的碰撞中对自我身份的艰难探索。本文基于《喜福会》的文本，从跨文化的角度出发，分析了存在于女性家庭地位、婚姻和家庭教育这三个方面中中国和美国的家庭价值观差异。本文首先简单介绍了《喜福会》的作者：谭恩美，然后介绍了小说中的主要人物和主要内容。接着开始阐述小说中体现的中美家庭价值观有何不同，并且从历史原因、社会原因、高语境文化和低语境文化原因以及集体和个人这四个方面挖掘了产生这些差异的原因。旨在加深中美两国之间的相互了解，促进家庭成员的互相理解，构建和谐的家庭和社会。

关键词：喜福会；家庭价值观；婚姻观；教育观；家庭关系

Abstract

The Joy Luck Club is the bestselling novel among the works written by Chinese American writer Amy Tan. Through the description of the generation gap and barrier between four pairs of mother and daughter, Amy Tan reflects the collision as well as the compatibility between indigenous culture of Chinese Americans and heterogeneous culture in the novel. She also gives an expression of Chinese Americans’ search for their selfidentity in the two cultures. Taking The Joy Luck Club as an example, this paper will focus on different family values in Chinese and American cultures from the intercultural perspective in three aspects: female status in the family, marriage and family education. This paper first introduces the author of The Joy Luck Club－Amy Tan briefly, and presents main plots and characters in The Joy Luck Club. Then, it begins to bring out the differences in family values embodied in the novel. This paper also explores the causes of such differences from four aspects: historical causes, social causes, high context culture and low context culture and group identity and individual standard. What’s more, the aim of this paper is to deepen mutual understanding between China and the United States, to develop a more harmonious family relationship and to build a sound family and society. 

Key Words: The Joy Luck Club, family values, marriage, education, relationship between family members

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Demonstration 2

2.1 An overview of The Joy Luck Club 2

2.1.1 The author of The Joy Luck Club－Amy Tan 2

2.1.2 Main plots and characters in The Joy Luck Club 3

2.2 The differences in Chinese and American family values 3

2.2.1 Difference in female status 3

2.2.2 Difference in marriage 4

2.2.3 Difference in family education 6

2.3 Causes of the differences 7

2.3.1 Historical causes 7

2.3.2 Social causes 7

2.3.3 High context culture and low context culture 8

2.3.4 Group identity and individual standard 9

2.4 Implications for developing a harmonious family 9

3. Conclusion 10

Works Cited11

Bibliography 12