「華裔」身分的自我探索與認識－也斯〈使頭髮變黑的湯〉中的衝擊、焦慮與母女關係

＂Chinese American Identity＂ in America-Conflict, Anxiety and Mother-Daughter Relationship in Yesi's ＂The Soup that Turns the Hair Black＂

郭晉宜(Jinyi Guo)

華裔身份認同 ； 母女關係 ； 後現代性社會破裂感 ； 前伊底帕斯情結 ； Chinese American identity ； mother-daughter relationship ； sense of fragmentation in postmodernity ； female pre-Oedipus complex

人文研究期刊

12期（2014 / 12 / 01）

65 - 89

繁體中文

也斯（梁秉鈞［1949-2013））在《島和大陸》的序文中提到：「島的故事裏有大陸，大陸的故事裏有島，新大陸裏有舊大陸，舊大陸裏有新大陸呢！島和大陸是相對的，又是相連的，那裏有寫不完的故事。」也斯認為這種對故土既熟悉但又陌生的情結為文化身份的一種有力的比喻，象徵著個體對自身擁有權之得失，又涵蓋了傳承與變化等概念，可代表海外華人頑強的生命力和適應能力。以此為出發點，本文探討也斯〈使頭髮變黑的湯〉（收錄於《島和大陸》）裡一位年輕華裔美國女子對自己「華裔」身份的探究。文中的主角雖然是土生土長的美國人，但仍意識到自身華裔的身份其實還是無法完全融入白人主流社會之中。主角在美國白人主流社會中所面對著自己兩種人生的角色 － 「女性」（現在）和「母親」（未來） － 所產生的疏離與不確定感和自己與移民第一代的母親之間親子關係的糾葛，可歸因於後現代性社會中個人所經歷的破裂感和女兒對母親的前伊底帕斯依戀。主角生活中所經歷的衝擊與焦慮和主角與母親之間母女親情的糾結，可被解釋為主角對自身華人歸屬感的體現與領悟。透過文本中代表著融合東西方價值觀的敘述者的調和，主角嘗試著對母女關係和對自己「華裔」身份認同做自我探索與認識。

Yesi (Ping-kwan Leung [1949-2013]) in the Preface of Islands and Continents remarks that the stories of islands contain continents, and vice versa. Within new continents there lie old continents, while within old continents there lie the new. Islands and continents are opposites and yet connected, churning out compelling stories. Yesi believes this kind of so-close-and-yet-so-far-away sentiment is the metaphor for cultural identity, signifying a subject's autonomy while containing the concepts of continuity and change, and it represents the spirit and adaptability of the overseas Chinese. Using this as the point of departure, this paper examines a young Chinese American woman's search for her ＂Chinese American＂ identity in Yesi's ＂The Soup that Turns the Hair Black＂ (in Islands and Continents). Although the protagonist is a native-born American, she feels that her ＂Chineseness＂ precludes her from the mainstream white America. The alienation and uncertainty the protagonist faces and will face-as woman (now) and mother (future)-from the society and her ambivalent relationship with her immigrant mother can be attributed to the sense of fragmentation in postmodernity and the female pre-Oedipus complex. The conflict and anxiety the protagonist experiences in her daily life and her relationship with her mother can be viewed as the manifestation and realization of the protagonist's Chinese American consciousness. Through the story's narrator who reconciles the east-west divide, the protagonist attempts to come to terms with the mother-daughter relationship and the sense of Chinese American awareness.