Abstract:Literature is the vivid reflections of a country’s culture. Last century witnessed a large number of excellent novels written by Chinese-American writers concerning the subject of Chinese and American culture conflict and integration. One of the most outstanding novels The Joy Luck Club, written by Amy Tan, has received tremendous popularity and good reviews worldwide and has been adapted for Hollywood movies multiple times. The novel tells the stories of four Chinese-American families, with a particular focus on the mother-daughter relations. In the novel, the process of the conflict and integration of Chinese and American culture is demonstrated through mother-daughter relationships from misunderstanding and conflict in communication and understanding. So this paper, from the perspective of mother-daughter relationships, is intended to give a detailed interpretation of the conflict and confrontation of the two cultures as well as their communication and integration process for the purpose of achieving a harmonious coexistence of Chinese and American culture.

Key words: novel; the Joy Luck Club; cultural conflict and integration mother-daughter relationships; harmonious coexistence

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review.2

3. Cultural Conflicts between Mothers and Daughters-4

3.1 Different ways of education-5

3.2 Different viewpoints on marriage and love-6

3.3 Different Language..7

4. Cultural Understanding and Integration Reflected in the Harmonious Mother-daughter Relationships-8

4.1 The communications between mothers and daughters and changes of education style-8

4.2 Daughters’ understanding and respect of their mothers-9

5. Exploring the Methods for the Harmonious Coexistence of Chinese and American Culture-10

5.1 To preserve and promote traditional Chinese culture-11

5.2 To seek commom ground while shelving differences-11

6. Conclusion-13

Works Cited-14