1989年版的《喜福會》在美國亞裔文學中起著劃時代的作用。這部小說被學者們認為是書寫從中國移民至美國的母親們與她們在美國出生的女兒們之間的關係。
讀者在閱讀這部小說時會同情小說中女性的悲慘經歷。她們因為受到丈夫的背叛，以及社會加諸在她們身上的道德約束，讓她們在戰事時遭受比男性更多的苦難。她們不僅淪落成“生育工具”，還得不到社會的尊重。但是，從佛家的角度出發，小說中的女性人物所遭受苦難的根源被社會中的不公所掩飾了。這部小說稱讚了在任何時代中女性所具備的堅韌性格以及她們對於他人的無私情懷和毫無保留的母愛。此外，小說還探討了母親們被他人所忽視的“自我”。根據詞典中的定義，“母親”指和小孩有養育或生育關係的女性。根據此定義，人們往往認為母親應該為孩子所活，應該為了孩子的美好生活犧牲自我。然而，母親“自我”的存在往往會破壞她對於子女的愛。
本文通過映射《喜福會》中母女關係和夫妻關係來揭示小說中人物悲慘命運的根源。同時，筆者通過對比中西方子女培養差異來探究在不同教育方式下孩童的心理特徵，並以此為今後子女培養提供建議。
The Joy Luck Club, published in 1989, marks a distinct growth of Asian American literature in the world. It explores the mother-daughter relationship in each particular case between Chinese immigrant mothers and their American born daughters.
In this novel, people may initially feel empathic with women, who endure husband’s betrayal, sustaining survival in wartime more difficultly than men do, easily entrapped into dilemmatic situations which result in social misjudgments on their virtues, and treated as “bearing-machine” without respecting their value. Nevertheless, under the Buddhist view, those unconsciously curtain the roots of miserableness for all the figures. This thesis appreciates honoring women’s perseverance in all times but lagging behind her selfishness and stubbornness perceived in loving others.
Besides, it discusses the ego in motherhood, which no one could believe in its existence. In Oxford dictionary, a mother refers to a woman in relation to a child or children to whom she has given birth. In real life, people always keep in mind that a mother lives for her child. A mother is consistently thought to sacrifice her whole life to better off her child’s life; however, maternal egoism turns out to spoil the love for her child.
This thesis intends to explore the human characteristics as reflected in mother-daughter and husband-wife relationship in The Joy Luck Club and attempts to clarify the reasons of the characters’ misery. It also highlights the comparison between Western and Eastern parenting practices and investigates children’s psychology under different parental nurturance so that the outcomes of raising children with full development ensured can be recommended.
