美國華裔作家譚艾美的第一本小說「喜福會」,1989年出版後立即名列紐 約、舊金山、洛杉磯的暢銷排行榜,這本小說主要敘述四位中國母親及她 們四個美國出生的女兒的故事。由於譚艾美本身是美國出生的中國女兒, 由她詮釋華裔美國女兒自然具有說服力。然而,誠如林艾美所問的:「一個 在美國長大旳華裔美人,能夠知道什麼是中國女性嗎?」林艾美的疑問是引 發這篇論文的主要動機。小說中的四位中國母親,宿願(Suyuan),安美 (An-mei), 靈多 (Lindo),以及瑩影(Ying-Ying)都是在1949年中國內戰 末期從中國移民到美國的,由於宿願在美國重組其麻將俱樂部: 喜福會, 使得這四位中國母親得以相聚相識,在這俱樂部中打麻將並互相述說她們 在中國的經歷,以及在美生活的點點滴滴。透過故事的敘述,這四位中國母 親的性格逐漸從其扮演的角色: 女兒、母親、妻子、及朋友中顯露出來。 這篇論文的第一、二、三、四章,將分別討論分析宿願、安美、靈多、及 瑩影的性格,首先簡述個人的生平經歷,再就其生命中所扮演的角色個別分 析其性格特點。第五章則比較四位母親性格中的異同。孰為典型之中國母 親?孰為非典型?作為文學創作之產物,她們是否成功?她們在這本小說中的 功能為何?作者對這四個角色所採取的態度有何不同?這些問題都將在第五 章探討。四位中國母親性格之分析比較,只是這本小說所能探討的諸多問 題之一 ,惟願在女性主義、婚姻問題、母女關係等之觀點外,提供另一審 查之角度。 / Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club was published and hit the best-seller lists in New York, San Francisco and L.A. in 1989. This novel deals with the stories of four Chinese mothers and their four American-born daughters. Due to her American -born-Chinese identity Amy Tan is qualified to present American- born-Chinese daughters convincingly. What triggers the study of this thesis is a question provided by a critic. Amy Ling doubts: Can a Chinese American growing up in America ever know what is Chinese? Before answering this question, another critic's viewpoint reinforces the motivation of this investigation. Carole Angiec remarks that the four Chinese mothers "are cleverly planned to cover every sort of Chinese woman's character and experience...." The main concern of this thesis is the image of the four Chinese mothers: are they typical Chinese female or not? To verify the four Chinese mothers' image, the focus of this thesis will be placed upon two parts: one is the respective analysis of the four Chinese mothers' characters; the other is general comparison between the four Chinese mothers and typical Chinese woman with respect to their identity and character traits.