《愛的痛苦》敘事者痛苦之源:身份協商視角

Matrices of the Narrator’s Pangs in Pangs of Love:An Identity Negotiation Perspective

摘 要：《愛的痛苦》是敘述華裔美國人經歷的短篇小說。小說的敘事者兼主人公是第二代華裔美國人，他飽嘗親情和愛情的雙重折磨。本研究試證明他的痛苦源于他各種身份的沖突。從身份協商視角對文本進行解讀，本研究進一步表明這些沖突既發生在文化身份之間，也發生在族裔身份之間。由于本研究關注的是文本所反映的少數族裔的身份問題，因而具有一定的普遍意義。

Abstract: Pangs of Love is a short story recounting experiences of the Chinese American characters. As a second generation， the narrator and protagonist， feels the pangs from his family and love affairs. The investigation argues that his pangs stem from confrontations between different identities. Through interpreting the text from an Identity Negotiation Perspective， the discussion further demonstrates that the conflicts occur between cultural identities， and between ethnic self-images. This study illuminates its rationality because the reflected controversies typify the ethnic minorities with identical problems.

關鍵詞：來源；敘事者；痛苦；愛的痛苦

Key words: matrices; the narrator; pangs; Pangs of Love

作者簡介：劉衍（1986-），男，云南大學外國語學院英語語言文學系2010級全日制在讀碩士研究生。

[中圖分類號]：I106 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-01-0014-02

Written by David Wong Louie， Pangs of Love has put in the spotlight a Chinese American narrator’s pangs， which could be interpreted from an Identity Negotiation Perspective (INP). Proposed by Stella Ting-Toomey， the theory approaches identity based on the assumptions – communications between people go with their self-images or identities， and it is though interactions in their cultures that they acquire their identities (Ting-Toomey 2007， 26). This viewpoint distinguishes between primary and situational identities， the former encompassing cultural， ethnic， gender， and personal ones respectively (Ting-Toomey 2007). From the INP， therefore， the narrator’s pangs mainly stem from the confrontations between different identities.

Part of the pains of Ah-Vee the narrator derives from struggling cultural identities. The INP deems cultural identity as “the emotional prominence that one renders to his affiliation with the larger culture” (Ting-Toomey 2007， 27). The generational problems between Ah-Vee and Mrs. Pang his mother are in fact clashes of the Chinese and the American self-images. Mrs. Pang， who was forced to leave China and has been in America for 40 years， is a mother of four children. The mother assumes a traditional Chinese culture identity. She is reluctant to learn English， and has a simple lifestyle. For her， “anything’s fine， but cheaper is better” (Louie 2008， 252). She tries to maintain conventional familial ties， having in her department Ah-Vee for accompany， and expecting her other children to invite her to their homes. Because love and marriage mean commitment and responsibility in China， it is no wonder Mrs. Pang would feel uneasy when she sees the son flirting with Deborah， who turns out not to be his true love. As a second generation of Chinese Americans， Ah-Vee displays two distinct cultural identities. Accustomed to the American culture， he is an American proper. He does not like to live with his mother. Nevertheless， the narrator is unavoidably bound to the Chinese culture. Though forced to be the mother’s apartment mate， he accepts and lives with her. He sometimes does not show respect for the mother， but in fact has a strong love for her. Once he has ambiguous feelings towards her - despite that he wants to protect her， he fantasizes that a bomb claims her life; but the illusion does not last long before he is fearful of losing her. When Mrs. Pang prefers Mandy to Deborah as her son’s wife， he buffers the inconformity between ladies to assure her. Generally speaking， the narrator is a focal point of two cultural identities constantly in disagreement with her mother’s unified cultural self-image.

The other part of the pains originates in fainted skirmishes between ethnic identities. According to the INP， Ethnic identities are related to one’s lines of ancestors， or beliefs of the origin of his ancestors (Ting-Toomey 2007). Under this umbrella， the dominant white Americans， the Asian Americans， or more specific Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans could be defined. The communicational impediments in the story also engage with such self-images. Ah-Vee， a Chinese American， and Mandy， a white， used to be lovers. Although Mrs. Pang regards the white girl who can speak Mandarin as a potential daughter-in-law， the love between the second generations does not get on very well. Owing to the narrator’s family problems， Mandy falls in love with a Japanese American， which constitutes a sore point for the narrator. The Chinese， white and Japanese Americans begin to diverge so that their ethnic identities are at odds. On account of disaccord between Mrs. Pang a Chinese American and Deborah a white American， the ensuing collisions as regards the ethnic self-images involve the narrator and Deborah. The mother feels comfortable with neither Deborah’s “most unladylike fashion” nor the fact of her being unable to speak Chinese (Louie 2008， 256). The two women are even skeptical of the other’s behavior when one of them is engaged in a conversation with the narrator. Though this intense relationship is in effect a commonplace in a Chinese family， it does not necessarily influence an American family. However， the family in the story has been vaguely blurred with interethnic prejudice.

As a whole， the narrator gets his sufferings from two major sources: his family and love affairs， which， from the INP， could be interpreted as frictions between cultural identities， and between ethnic self-images. Amid this controversy， the author winds the story up with everything unsolved. The issues presented in Pangs of Love are typical of ethnic minorities with similar problems， and thus are worth addressing.

References：

[1] Louie， David Wong. 2008. “Pangs of Love.” In An Introduction to Chinese American Literature， ed. Xu Yingguo， 248-72. Tianjin: Nankai University Press.

[2]Ting-Toomey， Stella. 2007. Communicating across Cultures. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.