【作者】 黄玲；

【导师】 蒋欣欣；

【作者基本信息】 湘潭大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2012， 硕士

【摘要】 任璧莲是当代著名的美国华裔女作家之一，与谭恩美、李建孙及雷祖威并称为美国华裔文坛“四人帮”。随着汤亭亭和谭恩美的小说获得成功之后，任壁莲的处女作《典型的美国佬》成为吸引美国人关注华裔世界的又一力作。该书获得1991年度“纽约时报年度图书奖”，并成功入围“美国全国图书评论奖”。《典型的美国佬》中，任璧莲讲述的是华裔主人公拉尔夫·张追寻美国梦的故事。以此展示少数族裔知识分子的无奈与抗争。受商品社会的侵蚀，拉尔夫在一切以金钱为中心的社会中迷失自我，逐渐抛弃对家庭与社会的责任。但最终在故土与新园之间，用中美两种文化下的双重视角重新定义和审视自己的社会角色并走向知识分子梦。本论文集中笔墨于“美国梦”这一主题，试图通过挖掘主人公拉尔夫美国梦的发展历程，探究少数族裔知识分子的双重视角对追寻美国梦的现实意义。论文共分为三个部分。第一部分分析主人公拉尔夫来到美国后的第一个梦想“学者梦”。刚到美国的拉尔夫为了成为父亲心中的“好儿子”，实现父亲对他的期盼，视博士学位和终身教职为学者梦的目标。但圆梦过程中，拉尔夫的个人权利和自由受到孝亲文化的束缚，使他最终放弃学者梦，同时宣告拉尔夫的孝亲观在美国迁移的失败。第二部分探析主人公的“商人梦”。为追求金钱与地位，拉尔夫转而追寻商人梦-即典型的美国发财致富梦。然而，在利益驱使下的商业投机致使拉尔夫的商人梦也以破灭收场，从而反映美国文化中极端个人主义和拜金主义的不合理性。第三部分探究主人公的“美国梦”。在经历重重挫折后，拉尔夫重回教学岗位，对家庭和社会的责任感使其走向一名真正的知识分子，最终能够运用中美文化“边缘人”的双重视角获得观察和思考的独特角度。最后，结论部分阐述任璧莲希望通过拉尔夫这一两种文化之间的少数族裔知识分子“边缘人”的视角来重新审视美国梦，反思美国文化不合理之处。更多还原

【Abstract】 Gish Jen is one of the famous Chinese American female writers in the Chinese Americanliterary circle. Gish Jen, with Amy Tan, Gus Lee and David Wong Louie, is labeled with “theGang of Four”. Following the success of the novels by Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan,Typical American, Gish Jen’s first novel, is one of the masterworks drawing the Americanreader’s attention to Chinese immigrants. It wins the New York Times Notable Book and isnominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award.Typical American is a story that tells how Ralph Chang, a Chinese American, pursuesAmerican dream. In this novel Gish Jen reveals ethnic intellectual’s helplessness and struggle.Under the corrosion of modern commodity society, the protagonist Ralph loses the initial selfand abandons the family and social responsibility in the money-oriented society. However,Ralph uses his dual perspectives of Chinese and American culture to redefine and reexaminehis social roles, and then become a real intellectual in the end.This thesis focuses on the theme of “American Dream”. Through the exploration of theprotagonist Ralph’s American dream, it expounds the practical significance of ethnicintellectual as the marginal who has the dual perspectives. It is divided into three parts. Thefirst part analyzes Ralph’s scholar dream. Ralph sets “doctoral degree” and “tenure” as theaims of his scholar dream in order to be his father’s “filial son”. However, during the processof pursuing scholar dream, his personal rights and freedom are extremely bounded by filialpiety, and the limited personal rights and freedom make him give up his scholar dream. At thesame time, the disillusionment of scholar dream indicates the failure of the culturaltransformation of Chinese filial piety of Ralph in America. The second part explores Ralph’smerchant dream. He turns to pursue the typical American dream-merchant dream for moneyand status. However, he is driven by the profits of commercial speculation which accounts forthe collapse of his fried chicken store, which declares the disillusionment of his merchantdream. The disillusionment of his merchant dream reflects the irrationality of individualismand money worship in American culture. The third part expounds Ralph’s American dream.After the disillusionment of his scholar dream, Ralph regains his tenure in university. Thefamily and social responsibility make Ralph become an intellectual who can apply dual perspectives to re-examine the social problems. Finally, the conclusion states that Gish Jenhopes to use the dual perspectives of ethnic intellectual to re-examine American dream andreflect the irrationality of American culture.更多还原