I am having trouble writing a research paper. Every idea in this paper is essentially from my research of the novel. What makes a good research paper? How can I improve my paper? Can you proofread this paper? Thanks!
I split the conclusion to make it five sentences. I also made some changes to make the research paper flow. However, repetition was a big problem. For example, what is a good word(s) to replace "confirm" ? The final draft is due tommorow, so any last suggestions would be awesome!!
The pages of books are filled with words that reflect the authors' experiences, influences, or inspirations. Authors may write because another person inspired them or an incident affected them. They may also write to make a statement to society or portray society during that particular period. It could be simply that authors write for enjoyment. Amy Tan, the author of The Hundred Secret Senses, expresses a unique purpose through her novel. Tan's novel is written in response to her childhood experiences.
The plot of Tan's novel is influenced by Tan's life experiences. Tan, a Chinese American woman, was born in America and raised by her Chinese parents. Therefore, she became accustomed to their Chinese culture. According to Stephen Soitos, the "painful details" of China from Tan's mother influenced her novels (Soitos). Moreover, another source adds how Tan integrates the complications of maintaining two different cultures (Madsen 598). These complications not only embraced Tan's Chinese immigrant parents who live in America, but also herself, as an Asian American. In the novel, Olivia, who is half Chinese and half American, finds herself as Soitos states, "in her dislocated modern life with its unhappiness and lack of fulfillment" (Soitos). Olivia is about to be divorced from her husband Simon and is dissatisfied with her American life. Kwan, Olivia's half sister, however, is born and raised in China and full Chinese. She views life differently. Soitos notes, "Kwan's voice is strong and firmly rooted in her memories of China and her love of Chinese" (Soitos). Nevertheless, Soitos also indicates that Kwan still dwells on the past, as she continues to wish to change the damage she has done to Olivia's relationship a century ago (Soitos). Kwan, who was previously Nunumu, caused the separation of Miss Banner and Yiban, the reincarnations of Olivia and Simon. Kwan, as Nunumu, lied to Yiban when she told him Miss Banner does not love him as much as Cape, an American general. Soitos explains this pattern Tan uses throughout the novel of Olivia having to find herself while Kwan is hoping to fix what she did in the past (Soitos). Such complications in the plot of Tan's novel of Olivia's self-exploration and Kwan's troubling past can reflect Tan's complication as an Asian American and the impact of her parent's stories of the difficult experiences in China. Tan herself reveals, "Writing could be my salvation providing me with the sort of freedom and danger, satisfaction and discomfort, truth and contradiction I can't find in anything else in my life" (Tan). The difficulties of Tan's life, therefore, are expressed through her novel. As revealed, the plot of her novel was inspired through life influences of her upbringing and the impact of her parent's past.
In addition to the plot of Tan's novel, her characters are also influenced by her life experiences. Many sources confirm that Tan's relationship with her mother is similar to that of half sisters, Olivia and Kwan. According to Academy of Achievements, Tan and her mother constantly fought ("A Uniquely Personal Story Teller"). Another source confirms the similarity in Tan's relationship with her mother to Olivia's "...love-hate-guilt relationship with a mother figure," Kwan (Giles 288). Furthermore, Christina Chiu, author of Lives of Notable Asian Americans, notices Tan was embarrassed by her mother's Chinese practices (9). Moreover, as explained by Women Writers of Colors, Olivia is embarrassed by Kwan's belief that she can speak to ghosts ("Amy Tan"). Olivia explains, "A lot of the stuff [Kwan] says and does would strain the credulity of most people who are not on antipsychotic drugs" (Tan 20). Olivia, who is embarrassed by Kwan's belief in ghosts, thinks Kwan is crazy. Other than the comparisons drawn from Tan and her mother to the half sisters in the novel, there are also other incidents involving the characters in the novel that relate to Tan's life. Stephen Soitos comments how Tan's mother had left her children from her previous marriage behind in China (Soitos). In the novel, Olivia's father abandons his daughter, Kwan. Olivia explains, "He left Kwan in the care of his wife's younger sister, Li Bin-bin" (Tan 6). Similarities can also be drawn to Tan's father and Olivia's father. They both die due to some kind of illness. Christina Chiu reveals that Tan found out about her half sisters following her father's death (8). In the novel, Olivia also finds out about her half sister after her father's death. Olivia says, "Mom didn't even know Kwan existed until shortly before my father died of renal failure" (Tan 4). The characters of Tan's novel, therefore, are shaped from the impact of her parents in Tan's life.
Furthermore, Tan's themes and motifs are influenced by her life experiences. Biculturalism is one theme Tan uses in the novel. Tan's experience as a Chinese American causes difficulties in her life. Soitos explains the contradictions that existed between Tan's ethnicity and American culture (Soitos). Tan tells Newsweek's Dorothy Wang about the "painful awareness about her biculturalism" and how "there was shame and self hate" (Soitos). Soitos further states that this theme is established through Tan's use of different times and places. In the novel, Tan contrasts the present day with life a century ago, and she distinguishes the United States from China. As a result, Soitos explains, Tan brings the "states of mind and cultural realities" to existence (Soitos). Besides the theme biculturalism, Tan also uses the theme involving a mother and daughter like relationship between two half sisters. This theme is reflected by the difficult relationship involving Tan and her mother, which is similar to that of Olivia and Kwan in the novel. As noted in an article from Dictionary of Literary Biography, "Tan continues to concentrate on the conflicts and final resolution between mother and daughter figures" (Giles 287). After Kwan comes to live with the family, she cares for Olivia while Olivia's mom is away. Kwan, therefore, becomes a substitute mother to Olivia. Olivia explains, "She's been more like a mother to me than my real one" (Tan 23). Although Kwan is like a mother to Olivia, her unusual interest and belief in ghosts result in Kwan's and Olivia's differences. Despite the differences, Olivia is able to resolve the conflict in her mother daughter relationship with Kwan through understanding and acceptance. In addition to themes, there are motifs. Soitos lists these motifs. They include "present and past, the actual and the imaginary, this life and the afterlife, skepticism and mysticism" (Soitos). Tan explains that her painful childhood was the reason she wrote. Tan questions repeatedly to herself, "Why does my mother always talk about killing herself? Why did my father and brother have to die? If I die, can I be reborn into a happy family?" (Tan). Not only does she look forward to her afterlife, she says she writes to learn about the past. She explains that imagination allows her to express herself (Tan). Many critics agree with Dictionary of Literary Biography when it states that Tan "strains the reader's imagination to believe that the American yuppie couple Olivia and Simon are reincarnations of a nineteenth-century American woman, Miss Banner, and Eurasian interpreter, Yiban, a pair of unfortunate lovers slaughtered by war-hysterical Manchu soldiers" (Giles 288). Although Tan's novel may strain the reader's credulity, the author's rich imagination comes from the difficulties of her own life experiences.
Moreover, Tan's settings and symbols are influenced by her life experiences. The novel is mostly set in the United States, Tan's birthplace and China, her parent's birthplace. As Soitos explains, Amy Tan, as an Asian American, experiences "two identities, two voices, and even two names" (Soitos). The settings Tan chooses in the United States are identical to the college she attended and the place she lived. Academy of Achievements reveals Tan attended UC Berkeley to get her doctorate in linguistics ("A Uniquely Personal Storyteller"). In the novel, Olivia also attends UC Berkeley. Academy of Achievements also reveals that Tan and her husband, Louis DeMattei, lived in San Francisco ("A Uniquely Personal Storyteller"). In the novel, Olivia was born and raised in San Francisco. In contrast to the United States, Tan sets part of the novel in China. Academy of Achievements reveals that Tan's trip to China enlightened her and let her look at her difficult relationship with her mother in a different perspective ("A Uniquely Personal Storyteller"). Dictionary of Literary Biography acknowledges this and says, "Perhaps because of her own homecoming experience, Tan often uses China as a place to settle unresolved personal crises originating in the United States" (Giles 288-289). Soitos says, "China acts symbolically as a journey into the unconsciousness in search of wholeness. Unification can be attained only when the second generation recognizes and understands the ancestral landscape of the first" (Soitos). China, the symbol of wholeness and unification, is derived from Tan's complication with her mother and Tan's renewal experience in China, Tan's mother's homeland. Soitos also says that Tan reflects her "rebirth" experience in China through the characters that travel to China in her novel (Soitos). In the novel, Olivia, Kwan, and Simon travel to China. There, Soitos says, "Olivia and Simon are forced to confront the hidden resentments and disguised angers that have destroyed their marriage. Together, Olivia and Kwan embark on their shared journey toward wholeness" (Soitos). Not only are Olivia, Simon, and Kwan resolving their relationship with each other, there is the reunification of Miss Banner and Yiban, Olivia's and Simon's previous self a century ago, in Changmian, China. Olivia states, "I can see the world again, he'll be Yiban and I'll be wearing a yellow dress stained with blood" (Tan 385). Just as characters Olivia and Simon are able to connect to their past in China, Tan's trip to China, as Soitos exclaims was "...a turning point in Tan's expedition to understand her heritage" (Soitos). Tan is able to understand her Chinese culture and her mother. Tan, like the characters that travel to China, is able to experience wholeness and fulfillment in resolving their relationship with their loved ones. As is evident, Tan's settings and symbols are influenced by the places that she lived or became familiar with and her experiences as a Chinese American.
Thus, the content of the novel, The Hundred Secret Senses, reflects Tan's own experiences. Tan's novel, inspired by her childhood, is a great literary achievement. The themes of her novel are universal. Tan's novel is relevant to those from a bicultural background. It is also relevant to anyone who has ever felt defined by family issues.
