Emancipation of the Self in Amy Tan's Novel The Kitchen God's Wife: A Feminist Study

Abstract

Amy Tan, a Chinese American female writer, breaks off the limitations of male constructed literary tradition and attempts to establish a separate female literary sphere through her extremely influential novel The Kitchen God's Wife.Here she exposes her female protagonist, Winnie Louie, with violent spirit and actions to revolt against patriarchy, and the religion, culture and belief that are male made, and relegate women to an inferior and other sex, submissive and complementary to men. Winnie Louie aggressively distorts the male-made values of marriage and motherhood, religion and morality, and womanhood and sexuality. Driven by her strong desire for complete emancipation, she escapes her husband and society, and enters into wider space in America for her absolute freedom and full development of her individuality.