浅析《女勇士》中的跨文化观

次仁德吉

【摘要】本篇论文基于《跨文化交际》的理论知识来分析《女勇士》中的跨文化观点。本文将中美文化这两个具有差异的文化作为研究目标，按三部分包括对论文的总体介绍，中美文化多样性及论文的总结部分。本文着重从《女勇士》中美文化渗透出的多样差异到现实根源的分析来展现《女勇士》中的跨文化观点。

【关键词】跨文化观；跨文化交际；文化多样性；文化现实

I. Introduction

The book， The Woman Warrior， written by Maxine Hong Kingston， whose parents are Chinese immigrants is a fictionalized autobiography. She is the first generation Chinese-American girl born in America. Her autobiography， The Woman Warrior， is the best-known contemporary work of Asian-American literature. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle published in 1976. The book remains healthily in print and on the reading lists of numerous college students.

This paper extracts some excerpts among the five episodes to analyze the cross-cultural views between China and America of The Woman Warrior by using the theoretical knowledge of Communication between Cultures. This paper is going to analyze the cross-culture views of The Woman Warrior from the cultural diversity to cultural reality. The first part， the author begins with the explanation the meanings of beliefs and values， and then analyzes three important culture patterns. The second part， there are two main deep structures of culture explained to the further explanation of the cross-cultural views between China and America in The Woman Warrior.

II. Cultural diversity

Different cultures may have different responses to the same external objects， for they have different perceptions. Therefore different perceptions can greatly influences how we interpret and evaluate what we receive from the outside world.

1.Collectivism vs. individualism

In order to embody collective cultures in the book， The Woman Warrior， Mrs. Kingston uses many symbols， such as round moon cakes， round bowls， round doorways and tables which looks like round. In those common household things signifies that every people in a group should regard the group as the most important of all social activities from the family to the factory. Only in this way will we be acknowledged or praised by other people. In Mrs. Kingstons book permeates the individualism and collectivism， and the two views convert smoothly. In the second episode， White Tigers， Mrs. Kingston takes Fa Mu Lan， the girl who takes her fathers place in battle as an example and her mother expects her to grow up a warrior woman by teaching the chant of the Fa Mu Lan. When you look through the story of the White Tigers， you may say that the character Fa Mu Lan is thoroughly a representative of heroin which refers to individualism. Because the achievements of Fa Mu Lan are just like the American hero Chao Ren who could save the human beings by doing many good deeds. However， when we find the purpose of Fa Mu Lan whose goal is to avenge her village， we know that Mrs. Kingston is celebrating the Chinese collectivism. “You can avenge your village，” said the woman. You can recapture the harvests the thieves have taken. You can be remembered by the Han people for your dutifulness. ‘Ill stay with you， I said.” In this way， we could see that the interests of groups is more important than individual. Fa Mu Lan has bearded 15 years train to become a warrior. Finally， she made it！ She came back to her hometown， and she killed the baron. “I want your life in payment for your crimes against the villagers.” The aim of the author is not simply stressing the moving life story of Fa Mu Lan. Fa Mu Lan met her husband who was her young companion. They fall in love with each other， and become companions in misfortune and happiness， tears and laughers. she has her own life in the pursuit of happiness， and even gives birth to a baby. In the true Chinese story of Fa Mu Lan， she didnt dare to do it in the camp. Marriage is forbidden as a warrior， but it happens in the story of White Tigers. In mixing ancient Chinese stories with her own imagination， Kingston has created a new woman warrior with the interwoven views of individualism and collectivism. However the prototype of this story is Chinese， so the collectivism wins over individualism with the ending of loyal and filial satisfactory.

2.High-context vs. low-context communication

As the anthropologist Hall notes， “Culture hides more than it reveals.” There are two levels of culture， one is the culture that can be articulated， the other is that hided. “A high-context communication or message is one in which most of the information is already in the person， while very little is in the coded， explicitly transmitted part of the message. A low context communication is just on the opposite.” The Chinese mode of communication tends to be more aware of their surroundings and their environment and do not rely on verbal communication as their main information channel. However， members of low-context communication expect message to be detailed， clear-cut and， definite. Americans are more prone to make very explicit statements and have little capability with nonverbal forms of expression. In “White Tigers”， the two cross-cultural views fully embodies， this Chinese-American author masters the key point of the low-context communication and the high-context communication. “Have you eaten rice today， little girl？ They greeted me. ‘Yes， I have. I said out of politeness. ‘Thank you. ” From this extract， I dont agree that she thinks Chinese people are lying. But she gets it from the very superficial layer. As we all Chinese people known， if some other person invites us to eat something， they should ask us twice or more until we accept their invitation. In this way， we show ourselves politeness. So in the deep layer of our words， we think different. On the contrary， American people communicate with the message clear-cut and definite. They need not to hide their inner side intentions to show politeness. They express what they think loud.

A major theme in Mrs. Kingstons The Woman Warrior is the importance of articulateness. Finding ones voice and telling ones stories represents power just as having ones stories buried is powerlessness. From the first episode， “No Name Woman”， in which Kingston disobeys her mothers warning and tells the story of her aunt whom she calls her “forerunner”. At the last episode， “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe”， she accounts her own childhood that she believes that her mother had cut her frenulum， her silence in Caucasian school， her terrible bullying of a Chinese American classmate in an effort to make her speak-a act of self-hatred. In America， they are encouraged to speak out directly instead of keeping silence or saying euphemism. In this low-context country， the tradition Chinese way of articulation is not acceptable； therefore it may cause conflict or misunderstanding. We， Chinese people， agree with the Indonesian proverb， “Empty cans clatter the loudest”. We believe that silence often send a better message than words. It is a big mistake in America where Americans usually encourage people to “spell it out”， and place emphasis on sending and receiving accurate message directly by being articulate with words.

III. Conclusion

In this paper， the author extracted some excerpts among the five episodes to analyze Maxine Hong Kingstons the cross-cultural views between China and America of The Woman Warrior. Ones thought is the most invisible and inexplicit thing， and we can only read it by analyze ones action， words， and deep structure culture. The deepest things that hide in ones mind will come into being as long as we come into it.

There are many aspects for us to analyze the cross-cultural views. Firstly， we research the perception in cultural diversity which is cultural patterns. And then we should concentrate on the deep structure of culture like the world view， and family structure as the deep layer. Although the cross-cultural views are easily found in the The Woman Warrior， we could find Maxine Hong Kingstons understanding and acknowledgment of Chinese culture. The Chinese complex slides into the current of every immigrants blood. It is blood thicker than water. We hope that all the Chinese-American feel ease， peaceful and happy by finding their root. It serves you for tolerant， for delight， and for blessing.

【References】

[1] Kingston M H. The woman warrior： Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts[M]. Random House LLC， 2010.

[2] 汤婷婷. 女勇士[M]. 漓江出版社， 1998.

[3] 贾玉新. 美国跨文化交际研究[J]. 外语学刊： 黑龙江大学学报， 1992（3）.