Analysis of the Evolution of Culture Identityof Ulysses Kwan in Gunga Din Highway

赵红璐+崔越�オ�

Abstract：Frank Chin is one of the most important writers of contemporary Chinese American literature. Gunga Din Highway， reflecting the living conditions of Chinese Americans， has made great contributions to promote the Chinese American to establish their own cultural identity. The thesis mainly explores the evolution of Ulysses cultural identity， from Ulyssessalienation of Chinese culture and his confusion of cultural identity to fighting against the assimilation of identity and winning his own cultural identity.

Key words： culture identity； confusion； evolution

I. Introduction

Frank Chin was a Chinese American novelist， playwright and essayist， who was born on February 25， 1940 in Berkeley， California. Until the age of six， he was fostered by an elderly white couple in Placerville， California， and then his mother brought him back to Oakland， Chinatown， in San Francisco Bay Area. In 1965， he studied at the University of California in Santa Barbara， who later moved to Seattle working as a writer for KING-TV and King Screen Productions in 1966. Since then， Frank Chin produced some news pieces and documentaries as well as writing play series for Sesame Street.Currently， Frank Chin is living in Los Angeles. As the father of Chinese American literature， Frank Chin has created many works， whose works have always been devoted to the elimination of the prejudices of western society to ethnic Chinese and the distortions of the Chinese culture， and actively exploring the identity issues of ethnic Chinese.

Gunga Din Highway was a novel written by Frank Chin in 1994，whose odd title derived from a famous British writer Kiplings poem Gunga Din which was a story of an Indian who was accustomed to British colonialism so that he betrayed his motherland to save the British army. In Frank Chins eyes， Gunga Din was a national traitor， so Gunga Dins road was the road to hell. In Gunga Din Highway， the two different roads of Longman Kwan and his son Ulysses represented the different choices of ethnic Chinese in the process of building culture identity. The father Longman Kwan tried to integrate into mainstream society of white American people by seeking common ground and paying allegiance to them， while Ulysses emphasized his own identity as a Chinese and accomplished the self-construction as an ethnic Chinese by being himself to win respect.

II. Analysis of the evolution of culture identity of Ulysses Kwan in Gunga Din Highway

A. The bewilderment of the Ulysses Kwan culture identity

Most Chinese Americans were always confused about their double identities. At first， they wanted to get rid of the shackles of Chinese identity and Chinese culture， and melted into the American mainstream culture. They had a sense of alienation of the traditional Chinese culture and even knew nothing about Chinas history and culture. As a second-generation American immigrant， Ulysses was brought up by a white couple and accepted American education. He grew up in the American environment. And he knew nothing about Chinese culture. At the age of six，Ulyssess mother took him back to Chinatown. In his parents request， he went to Chinese school. Ulysses did not like Chinese. When the teacher called him up to answer questions， he did not answer the question in Chinese. He was naughty in Oakland Chinatown Chinese School andrejected both Chinese language and traditional Chinese culture.

The youth period of Ulysses was coincided with the period of turmoil in American political life in the 1960s. The education of Chinese school and the rising civil rights movement aroused Ulyssess Chinese ethnic consciousness. During that period， Ulysses became a real social rebel and challenger until a new Chinese teacher Mr. Ma taught him to know himself. In a class， Ulysses spent his time frivolously as before and confronted the new teacher， then Mr. Ma said to him， “I can teach you Chinese， so that you can read and write， but you will never become Chinese people. No matter how well you speak English， no matter you can recite many great Western civilization books， you will never become a honky. Chinese people abuse you， because you are not Chinese； whites abuse you， because you are not the Americans. Apparently， you are neither white nor Chinese.” （Chin 103） Mr. Ma woke him up that he was out of the commons. He suddenly knew that he was different from all the people in this world； he was neither Chinese nor American. Although their appearance and lineage was Chinese， but they couldnt speak nor understand the culture of Chinese. Although they had been educated in the United States since childhood，but they were not accepted by the whiteAmericansociety.

In addition， his father Longman Kwan also had a profound influence on him. Longman Kwan was a Cantonese Opera Star， who moved to America and got into the Hollywood. It was a matter of enormous pride for Ulyssessfather that he played “mortal Chinaman” and Chinese detective Charlie Chans fourth son in many films. In Ulyssess impression， his fathers character was always flatter on the whites. Ulysses hated and rejected his fathers image. He did not want to be a man like his father to cater to the Americans. In the process of growing up， he gradually realized that many Chinese popular movie stars， like his father， were just a joke in the eyes of the whites. Therefore， as a special American citizen in the United States， Ulysses began to think how to get rid of the double impact of the mainstream American society and the shadow of Chinese.

B. The reconstruction of the Ulysses Kwan culture identity

There was a special meaning of Ulysses name. Ulyssess surname “Kwan” was reminiscent of the Chinese God of War–Guan Yu. Chinese thought that Guan Gong was loyalty， bravery， perseverance and full of fighting spirit. Ulysses was easy reminiscent of the ancient Greek hero–Ulysses， who ruled out all difficulties to go home in Homers Epic poem. Just as Ulysses who had to avoid all kinds of demons and traps on his way home， he had to learn to recognize and avoid these sorts of errors and stereotypes as well as facing the exclusion of the white mainstream society when they were looking for their own cultural identity. Therefore， Ulysses Kwans name implied that it was a Chinese new aspect in the image， and it also contained Frank Chins hope for the construction of Chinese American identity.

In the novel， Ulyssess father Longman Kwan had always hoped that Ulysses could enter Hollywood. His father always said that he wanted to make his family to become a Chinese American Barry Moore family. He wanted Ulysses to have enough film to play and live a life of ease. But Ulysses was very disgusted； he did not want to accept the assimilation of American Society. However， in the process of continuous exploration， Ulysses realized that only refusing the assimilation would not help him win the social position or even the living space of Chinese American. He became confused again on the road of searching his own culture identity. He was silent， rebellious again. Ulysses also found that it was insignificant to fight against the western hegemony in violence. Only did they realize their own culture was strong， their identity would be found.

When he reached young adulthood， he began to love writing. He worked for a long time in the railway for making enough money to allow him to write in complete silence. He worked as a conductor. But he clearly knew that he still wanted to create a work to change the image of Chinese. Because of a determined beliefthat he wanted to change the distorted image which deeply rooted in white Americans mind， he insisted on writing. Then， periodical office liked the things what he wrote and hired him. They asked him to write a few film reviews every month. One day， he watched the movie called Anna May Wong in which his father Longman Kwan acted. This movie was Longman Kwans last movie before his death. And it was also the first time that he played a heroic role in the movie， which changed the submissive image. His role was a Chinese pilot who killed his own father. His father betrayed his homeland and sold out to the enemy. It was the first time he saw his fathers heroic image. “I deeply moved and excited. In my imagination， my father is like this before he killed by the actor. I began to cry. This is the best movie I've never seen” （Chin 417）. Ulyssess father wanted him to become an actor like him in Hollywood， but Ulysses did not want to play a submissive and menial role with flattery to Caucasian in the movie like his father. After he saw the movie， he was shocked by the heroic and courageous image that challenges white Americans in public as a Chinese. He wanted to change white Americans descent thoughts of Chinese by film and shaped a different image of Chinese.

Later， Ulysses starred in the play Fu Manchu whose interpretation of Fu Manchu changed the stereotype of Fu Manchu in the minds of Americans. Fu Manchu has been the image of Chinese people who was one of the most famous Chinese characters in Yellow Peril in the late 19th century. It was also a great symbol of the Chinese cunning tricks， and appeared in a lot of film and television works. He was a fictional cunning of the Chinese people， and established a dark Empire which was ready to subvert the western world in Chinatown. It was the incarnation of Yellow Peril that the Westerners feared. Ulysses aimed to expose and ridicule the false impression of this particular stereotype. “After Ulyssess drama performances， the play at San Francisco newspaper received bad reviews. They liked the images of Chinese like Charlie Chan. They said Ulysses wanted to put the Chinese portrayed an unrealistic image and accused him play the Fu Manchu into an anger black”（Chin 315）. Ulysses bluntly pointed out the reason why the white mainstream society， including the submission of white Chinese angry criticism the role of Fu Manchu： They were dissatisfied with the role because the character did not meet the criteria for the white. However， Ulysses did not give up. He began to learn writing and wanted to create movie script. He was determined to create a movie which could show the criticism of false in white American society and the distortion of Chinese.

In Gunga Din Highway， Ulyssess plays showed his heroic temperament and attitude of struggle， in order to expose and ridiculed the false impression of this particular stereotype.Ulysses sharply pointed out the reason why the whitemainstream society， including the submission of white Chinese angrily criticized the Fu Manchu， was because they are dissatisfied with the role which did not correspondent with the criteria of the white man. Ulysses wanted to make his own films and narrated his own nature. It showed that Ulysses strove to maintain his own personality. Finally， he made his own way in Hollywood. And he was about to create the night of the Hollywood of the living dead ， which was the imitation of the famous zombie movie the living dead night， and it implied that Hollywoods outdated image of the United States has really been destroyed. “All the singers and movie stars were dead. They crawled out from the grave. They dress dirty stumbled out of the churchyard. Elvis Presley and Crosby and other zombies saw a sign， which with a word ‘paradise. The zombies were full stop and they all sang “Heaven！ I went to heaven” （Chin 409）.

At the end of the novel， Ulysses openly opposed to the Hollywoods traditional cinematic demonized Chineseby creating a series of plays， showed the heroic spirit of Chinese， the unique personality and individuality of Chineseand achieved great success in Hollywood. After Ulysses experienced the ignorant and confused teenager， he finally soberly recognized the real situation of the Chinese. He presented to the white mainstream society what the real Chinese Americans were. Finally， he won his own cultural identity.

III. Conclusion

This thesis mainly analyzed the evolution of Ulyssess cultural identity from the two parts of the confusion and reconstruction. It dealt with the different interpretations of the construction of their cultural identity between two generations of Chinese Americans in different periods. And it also waked up the confusion of their cultural identity of Chinese Americans. Then they can face up to the real Chinese history and cultural identity.

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本论文为辽宁省教育厅科技研究项目资助项目；项目编号：lgw201601

（作者单位：沈阳理工大学，辽宁 沈阳 110159）