Picture of an essential and an unessential self in a comparative frame: A preliminary study on chinese and chicana literatures

Abstract

Comparative Literature which is defined as the study of the literatures of two or more groups differing in cultural background and in language, concentrating on their relationships to and influences upon each other, opens new fields to reframe the most controversial and complicated question of "cultural identity" in multicultural America. In this article, through the study of Chinese-American woman writer Amy Tan's four short stories: Two Kinds, Waiting Between the Trees, Double Face and A Pair of Tickets, taken from her work; The Joy Luck Club and four Chicano short stories:, written by Chicano writers; Lois Rodriguez, Sandra Cisneros, Rosario Magdalena, and Roberta Fernandez, we aim to draw a picture of an essential self and an unessential self in a comparative frame.