Identification of the country

1
Identification of the country

• The definition of Country
• country ?mother country ?home
• ???? ?example ???
• The definition of Immigration
• ?principle race
• His parents the first generation of immigration
• His brother ???
• the second generation of immigration
• Himself immigration in a special way

2
The background

• The Chinese immigrated to Malaysia
• Reasons
• -The bad condition of Chinese politics
• -Chinese people have the courage to adventure
• -They would have the chance to be the rich
• Those Chinese people divided into two parts.
• -The rural-poor sector
• -The urban-commercial sector
• -Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army
• ?Malayan Communist Party

3
Second generations country
identification

• Three kinds of people v.s. China
• - have great expectation and affection
• ex ???.??
• ?the sons and daughters of revolution
• ?the young dragon of foreign land
• - try to escape from the historic burden
• ex ?
• - tonally indifferent
• ex some immigrants

4

• Brother ??
• Impression
• - rebellious, mysterious, ambitious
• Events
• - rebel against parents
• - concentrate on a pile of papers
• - go out at midnight secretly
• - brothers disappearance
• Quotations from ??? of brothers image
• - one hundred percent revolutionist

5

• Classmate ???
• Characteristics
• - considerate, warm-hearted, extroverted,
  capable
• Events
• - organize many organizations
• - provide him lots of books
• - tell him the history of China
• - try to give him a mission of being one of
  the
• members of the children of China
• - mention his brother
• - be arrested by the police and be deported to
  China
• Position in ?s mind
• - the extension and substation of his brother

6

• Churchs Influences
• Instill him the image of China
• - distant, old continent
• - has long history
• - images of Great Wall, Yellow River, wild
  grassland
• Teach him Chinese
• - his own name, family name, ??, etc.
• Assign him the mission
• - be proud of being a Chinese

7

• Influences on the main character ?
• Before
• - go back to the ancient, great land
• - carve the name on the stone of the mother
  land
• After
• - contradictory psychology
• ? love playing the turtle shell
• ? escape, be indifferent to his
  hometown,
• dislike social contacts with
  others
• - China the curse that led to the death of
  his brother
• and many other Chinese sons and
  daughters
• - enclose the previous memories
• ? the best way for living in this
  unstable time
• ? avoid arousing all the disputes

8
Lost of self, and national identity
Immediate Causes

• The influences that parents give him p.276 take
  away his chance to pursue national identity, but
  offer no identity for him to follow.
• Swimming-the desire to enter the depth of the
  wetland (after brothers missing) p.275
• Dreaming
• -p.259 fear of darkness
• -p.272 desire of coldness

9

• Leaving sperms
• - p.272-3 Oedipus Complex (father, country)
• chicken shit-his subconscious of
  desire
• - p.275 his expression of desire toward his
  brother
• a symbol of strong and clear
  national,
• identity, belongingness

10
     Subsequence Result

• ?????
• ?Characteristics found in Immigration
• - Placelessness-marginalization.
• -??????-????.
• - Mimicry.
• - Attitude toward family politics.
• - Experiment on killing the turtle.

11
Symbolic Meaning

• Turtle
• The connection
• - Between the narrator and his past
• - With china (the foundation of Chinese
  culture)
• Metaphor meaning (indication of turtle as
  himself)
• An exit to his physical and mental desire
• Concrete signifier
• a. ?? ????
• b. ??? ????

12
Symbolic Meaning

• Fishbone
• - Representative meaning of a bone
• - The bridge
• a.  The skull and the body
• b.  The mind/belief and the physical
  statement
• c.   The lies and the truth
• - The conflict between the turtle and the fish

13
Symbolic Meaning

• Oak tree
• A. Representing China
• Visual images (Green leaves) as its
  territory
• Invisible signified (root beneath
  earth) as its
• influences
• B. Implication