A study of disillusionment of American dreams in The Joy Luck Club

【Abstract】American dream has always been an overwhelming topic in American literature which attracts the attention of scholars and researchers.Unfortunately， American dream is not always realized by everyone as only a few excellent people are fortunate enough to achieve great success while the majoritys dream is doomed to disillusionment and turn into a nightmare.This paper is going to illustrate the disillusionment of American dreams of both the daughters and the mothers in The Joy Luck Club.

【Keywords】American dream； conflict； nightmare； culture difference

Every country and nation which owns its distinctive cultural heritage has its own culture complex.As for American literature， this kind of complex is known as American dream.Making a general survey of American literature in the 20th century， we are easy to find an ever-lasting major theme in American literature that is a kind of heavy loss of persistent pursuit of American dream.American dream can be understood from two aspects.In terms of personal aspect， it means that every American has his right to pursue individual value and happy life and achieve success both in work and emotion.On the other hand， it represents democracy， freedom and fairness in this country.Unfortunately， American dream is not always realized by everyone as only a few excellent and lucky people are fortunate enough to achieve great success while the majoritys dream is doomed to disillusionment and turn into a nightmare.This paper is going to illustrate the disillusionment of American dreams of both the daughters and the mothers in The Joy Luck Club.

In the first part of this book ‘feathers from a thousand li away， the author clearly describes the American dream of Chinese mothers： the woman and a swan she had bought sailed across an ocean many thousands of li wide.On her journey she cooped to the swan： “In America I will have a daughter just like me.But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husbands belch.Over there nobody will look down on her， because I will make her speak only perfect American English.”These Chinese mothers who came to America with the same hope that their daughters can no longer live a miserable life like themselves.It can be seen that their American dreams are still influenced by traditional Chinese concept of hoping their children can become dragon and phoenix.

For daughters in the book， it is also difficult for them to become acknowledged by American and realize their American dream.As they grow older， daughters come to realize their identity of being immigrants.In spite of the fact that they grow up in America， they are not regarded as American by native American people.They do their utmost to become American people such as eating Italian pancakes， drinking coca cola， accepting all life styles of American.Sadly， they can never be seen as true American by natives.

In the society of multi-culture， if we abandon our own national culture， we will lose the nostalgia to the past.But， if we cannot strike a balance between our own culture and the immigrant culture， we will not be able to adjust to the new environment and survive in a fresh society.That is the dilemma in which mothers in The Joy Luck Club struggle.Living in such a predicament， they are unable to realize their American dream in any given time.

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作者簡介：何霞（1992年- ），女，江蘇省鹽城市人，碩士研究生，研究方向：英語語言文學(xué)和翻譯。