放倒娃，来抬扛，哈哈，说明我的essay 很thought-provoking哈

来源: 非文学青年于 2011-09-26 23:39:57 [档案] [博客] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读：次 (2415 bytes)

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回答: In that case, if the American critic 由 jennea 于 2011-09-26 21:33:14

First, would the critic or readers of A Free Life be misled into thinking typical Chinese immigrants would want to squeeze the China out.

I think they know better. After watching Crutching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, would Americans assume a typical ancient Chinese man is a kongfu master? After watching Farewell to my concubine, would Americans assume a typical modern Chinese Beijing Opera singer is gay? Of course not. They should know Nan Wu is a fictional figure, although we do see his similarities with Hajin. A Free Life is a novel, not a documentary. Nan Wu’s actions or ideas were determined by his particular experiences.

“As for Nan Wu, because he could not identity with his old classmate, who must have become "rich and corrupted" after returning to China with a PHD, he concluded that he would identify more with American than Chinese? He might jump to conclusion a little too fast :-). “

No, I don’t think he concluded that. The fact that he and his wife keep to themselves and have only a couple of American friends means they can’t identify with the Americans either. Besides, identity is not nationality. Identity is about which group you think you belong to. Identity can change over time. There are factors like place, gender, race, history, nationality, language, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity and aesthetics (from wiki) that determine an individual’s cultural identity. By squeezing out the China, Nan seems to believe the China-ness couldn’t co-exist with letting the America in.

“When I am in China, I can't identity myself with farmers. When I am in America, I can't identity myself with farmers either. That doesn't mean that I am not a typical Chinese. haha. 这纯属抬杠哈.”

恩，纯属抬扛。Farmers 是中国社会阶层的majority，你不能identify with farmers，只能说明你不属于这个majority，跟typical Chinese 没关系。而且你说的typical Chinese是指什么呢？是Chinese stereotype吗？