UNDERSTANDING FRANK CHIN: THE TRAILS OF CHINESE AMERICAN IDENTITY IN “RAILROAD STANDARD TIME” AND “THE EAT AND RUN MIDNIGHT PEOPLE”

Year 2023, Volume: 24 Issue: 44, 393 - 405, 31.01.2023

Firuze Güzel

https://doi.org/10.21550/sosbilder.1192121

Abstract

In “Rail Road Standard Time” and “The Eat and Run Midnight People,” published in the short story collection titled The Chinaman Pacific and Frisco R.R. Co. (1988), Frank Chin focuses on several issues such as cultural heritage and transmission, identity, railroad narrations, food, and masculinity. In the first short story, Chin is going to his mother’s funeral, and during this journey, he jumps between his memories that help the reader to see the trails of his Chinese American identity formation. In the second story, Chin once more returns to his memories by taking up the role of the narrator and reveals the issues of double discrimination, masculinity, and the influences of American culture on his identity formation. The aim of this article is to analyze Chin’s selected short stories from a thematic and social perspective. The article also aims to reveal how the author tries to maintain his ethnicity and reflect his identity molded by two different cultures.

Keywords

Frank Chin, Asian American, Chinese American, identity, ethnicity

Frank Chin’i Anlamak: “Railroad Standard Time” ve “The Eat and Run Midnight People” Öykülerinde Çinli Amerikalı Kimliğinin İzleri

Abstract

Frank Chin, The Chinaman Pacific ve Frisco R.R. Co. (1988) adlı kısa öykü kitabında yayımlanan “Rail Road Standard Time” ve “The Eat and Run Midnight People” isimli öykülerinde kültürel miras ve aktarım, kimlik, demiryolu anlatıları, yemek ve erkeklik gibi çeşitli konulara odaklanmaktadır. İlk kısa öyküde Chin annesinin cenazesine gitmektedir ve yolculuk esnasında okuyucunun Çinli Amerikalı kimlik oluşumunun izlerini görmesine yardımcı olan anılarından bahseder. İkinci hikâyede Chin, anlatıcı rolünü üstlenerek tekrar anılarına geri döner ve çifte ayrımcılığın, erkekliğin ve Amerikan kültürünün şahsi kimlik oluşumundaki etkilerini gözler önüne serer. Bu makalenin amacı Chin’in seçilmiş iki öyküsünün tematik ve toplumsal bir bakış açısıyla analiz edilmesidir. Makalede aynı zamanda yazarın nasıl kendi etnik kökenini korumaya ve iki farklı kültürün şekillendirdiği kimliğini yansıtmaya çalıştığı da ortaya koyulacaktır.

Keywords

Frank Chin, Asyalı Amerikalı, Çinli Amerikalı, kimlik, etnik köken

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