Asian American male identity - A review of the syllabus from a perspective of male studies

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Main Part
2.1 Identity
2.2 Theories of Male Studies
2.2.1 Psychological Approaches
2.2.1.1 Psychoanalytic Approach
2.2.1.2 Lacan´s Mirror Stage / Delimitation to Mother
2.2.2 Sociological Approaches
2.2.2.1 Social Role Theory
2.2.2.2 Social Relation Theory
2.2.2.2.1 Dependence on U.S. Foreign Policy
2.2.2.2.2Working Conditions, Social Status and Race
2.2.2.2.3 Relationships to Women
2.2.2.2.4 Relationships to Their Children
2.2.2.3 Conclusion
2.2.3 Cultural Approach
2.2.3.1 Importance of Family
2.2.3.2 Traditional Hierarchies and Arranged Marriages
2.2.3.3 Other Specific Cultural Norms
2.2.3.4 Conclusion

3. Conclusion

4. Works cited:

1. Introduction

Reviewing the syllabus and trying to sketch an overview of Asian American Literature its inherent problem of heterogeneity occurs, which shows that the term “Asian American” is only a makeshift and vague, but nevertheless necessary label. This heterogeneity especially complicates a revision from a view of male studies, because it applies to the authors as well as to characters of the texts and makes it difficult to state general explanations. In spite of this problem red thematic lines can be traced and analysed. They depict thoughts, emotions, needs and problems of Asian American men and shed a light on their identities and inner struggles. But is there really something that can be called an Asian American male identity as a common ground or do these men only share certain problems concerning their masculinity?

This paper will examine the topic of male identity within the syllabus including theories of male studies. Naturally its insights are not general, but dependent on and limited by the fiction of the texts. Nevertheless will it show that the creation of an Asian American male identity is subject to special problems which arise from the belonging to two social and cultural environments.

2. Main Part

2.1 Identity

Generally, the question of identity consists of two elements. Fist of all, what is the content of an identity, what ideas or ideals, values or traits, or experiences or hopes does it consist of?^[1] The second element touches upon the questions of individuality and agency^[2]. Is an identity constructed by an individual or is it a result of its circumstances? To what degree does an individual make own independent decisions or are its decisions determined by its social environment? Jonathan Culler illustrates this key problem by explaining the ambiguity of the word subject:

[…] the subject is an actor or agent, a free subjectivity that does things, as in the `subject of a sentence´. But a subject is also subjected, determined, ´her Majesty the Queen’s loyal subject´ or the ´subject of an experiment´.^[3]

Narrative literature gives explicit and implicit answers to these questions and can help to create models of identity formation processes.^[4] The fundamental identities of characters are results of actions that were caused by their conflicts with the world.^[5] Therefore identity struggles are conflicts between the individual and other individuals or groups, conflicts about social norms and expectations.^[6] Especially when dealing with group identities, literary representations have the advantage of combining singularity and exemplarity to show how the demands of groups restrict individual possibilities.^[7]

The syllabus is thus an excellent fund for an analysis of an Asian American male identity, which will exemplify social and cultural norms, and demands that influence the characters.

2.2 Theories of Male Studies

The texts in the syllabus cover a wide range of topics and most problems characters face can be considered common or general. In order to show the importance of these struggles for a male identity recourse to theories of male studies is necessary.

In male studies, several approaches to an account of a male identity can be chosen. Besides their aim to settle the questions of creation and content of a male identity, they also take a closer look on men’s affinity to power.^[8]

2.2.1 Psychological Approaches

2.2.1.1 Psychoanalytic Approach

A psychoanalytic perspective on men regards the childhood as the cradle of the male identity. It is said to emerge in the third psychosexual stage, which is called the “phallic” or “Oedipal” stage. Sigmund Freud claimed that in this time a young boy develops a sexual interest in his own mother and perceives his father as a rival for her love and attention. Encountering the incest taboo and beginning to fear that his father will castrate him, the boy identifies with his father and redirects his sexual desires towards other, more acceptable female figures.^[9] By this identification process the boy internalizes the values and standards of his father.^[10]

The syllabus gives no hard evidence for the validity of this theory, neither for identification due to the oppression of sexual desires, nor for the identity forming effect of the superior personality of father. Some stories only describe a weak relationship between fathers and sons^[11], or show that it is strongly weakened by the immigration to America.^[12] Other stories depict intact relationships and respect, if not even obedience to fathers^[13], but this does not imply that the sons´ identities correspond with the values of the fathers. The sons have their own different ideas and values, which are either concealed^[14] or expressed by disapproval or despise of fathers.^[15] Lahiri´s “Interpreter of Maladies” contains a relationship between a father and his sons which is based on some kind of equality, but which also hints at a lack of interest of the father as an explanation^[16]

Summing up, the Freudian approach is of no great use concerning the Asian American male identity. According to the syllabus the father figure influences to some degree the male identity, but it is not the main influence.

2.2.1.2 Lacan´s Mirror Stage / Delimitation to Mother

Another psychoanalytic account for the male identity is Jacques Lacan´s “mirror stage”. Lacan argues that the identity forming process begins when infants identify with their mirror image, perceiving themselves as a whole, as what they want to be.^[17] Furthermore is the self constructed by what is reflected back, by a mirror, by the mother or other social relations.^[18] It is a construct of partial identifications, in which acceptance or rivalry are the decisive factors.^[19] The role of the mother as a mirror is stressed by another theory, which regards the production of male identity as a process of disidentification with the mother.^[20] While the mother is the one that has to be transcended in order to create an own male identity, she is also the one who initiates this process by her behaviour to her son.^[21]

The stories “A Father” by Bharati Mukherjee and “The Disappearance” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni show the existence of a close persistent bond between mothers and their sons which transcends childhood and has a strong influence on the lives and marriages of adult sons.^[22] In John Okada´s “No-No-Boy” the strong bond between mother and son even became shackles for the protagonist Ichiro. Thus, he a prime example of the overcoming of the motherly influence in order to lead an autonomous life according to own ideas. Ichiro rejects the traditional Japanese ideals of his mother, in order to become something, what he has always been, but never was permitted to show: an American. His personal development shows the liberation from the non-autonomous self-oppression, which ends in the rejection of his mother and of her “madness”.^[23] Ichiro´s metaphorical cut of the umbilical cord in order to gain independence and self-reliance is the final step in the development of his own identity. It proves that the delimitation to the mother is one of the main obstacles in the creation of a male identity.

Summing up the fact can be recorded that the mother figure, the kind of relationship between mother and son, and the disidentification with the mother are of crucial importance for an Asian American male identity.

2.2.2 Sociological Approaches

Other theories of male studies try to explain male identities with sociological accounts, of which the social role theory and the social relation theory are the most prominent.

2.2.2.1 Social Role Theory

The social role theory emphasises the importance of gender roles in the creation of a male identity. It states that masculinity is defined by a set of attributes and rules of conduct, which prescribe male behaviour and which have to be learned and internalized in order to be regarded as a man.^[24] The internalization process is supported by important socialising “agents”, such as family, school and media, which function to encourage sex appropriate behaviour.^[25] Besides several stereotypical attributes, the quality of dominance is one important trait connected to the male role.^[26]

[...]

^[1] Culler, Jonathan: Literary Theory ( Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997), 109.

^[2] Culler, 109

^[3] Culler, 109.

^[4] Culler, 110.

^[5] Culler, 111

^[6] Culler, 111.

^[7] Culler, 111f.

^[8] Edley, Nigel / Wetherell, Margaret: ”Masculinity, power and identity”, in: Mac An Ghaill, M. (ed.): Understanding Masculinities: Social Relations and Cultural Arenas (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1996), 97

^[9] Edley/ Wetherell, 98; Culler, 114

^[10] Edley / Wetherell, 98; Culler, 114

^[11] Nunez, Sigrid: A Feather on the Breath of God (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 6f

^[12] Yamashita, Karen Tei: Tropic of Orange (Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1997), 15f

^[13] Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee: „Clothes“ in: Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee: Arranged Marriages (New York: Doubleday), 1995, 26,; Okada, John: No-No-Boy (Seattle: Washington UP, 1976), 32

^[14] Divakaruni Clothes, 28,30 concerning American life-style

^[15] Mori, Toshio: “The Chauvinist“, in: Hagedorn, Jessica (ed): Charlie Chan is Dead (Penguin, 1993), 329; Okada, 12 “spineless nobody“

^[16] Lahiri, Jhumpa: „Interpreter of Maladies, in: Interpreter of Maladies (Mariner Books, 1999), 49

^[17] Culler, 114

^[18] Culler, 114

^[19] Culler, 114f

^[20] Edley / Wetherell, 99

^[21] Edley, / Wetherell, 99

^[22] Mukherjee, Bharati: “A father“, in: Hagedorn, Jessica (ed.): Charlie Chan is Dead (Penguin, 1993), 345; Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee: “The disappearance” in: Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee: Arranged Marriages, (New York: Doubleday, 1995), 174f which also depicts a relationship of mutual dependency

^[23] Okada, John: „No-No-Boy“, 42f

^[24] Edley / Wetherell, 100f; Culler, 109; Klarer, Mario: An Introduction to Literary Studies (New York, London: Routridge, 1999), 98 with reference to Judith Butler

^[25] Edley / Wetherell, 101

^[26] Edley / Wetherell, 101f