ABSTRACT：Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club tells the stories of four Chinese mothers and their American daughters. The four mothers were all born and grew up in China. The Chinese traditional culture strongly influenced them. Their daughters, however, were born in the United States and even received education in the Untied States. This made conflict between the mothers and the daughters natural and inevitable. This article discusses language conflicts and value conflicts between the Chinese and the American culture. The Chinese language is different from the English language in pronunciation and the ways of expressing. These differences led to the conflicts between the mothers and their daughters. Besides, the mothers and the daughters ran into conflicts in marriage values and education values due to the huge differences between the Chinese and the American cultures. To both sides, an effective way to eliminate such conflicts is to foster an attitude of cultural relativism and show respect for both the Chinese and American culture.
Keywords: conflict; values; language; marriage; education
中文摘要：美籍华裔女作家谭恩美的小说《喜福会》主要描写了发生在四对母女之间的故事。小说中的母亲们出生在旧中国并从小受到中国传统文化的熏陶，而她们的女儿们出生在美国并从小接受美国式教育。因此,母亲和女儿分别代表着中国传统文化和美国文化, 母女之间的矛盾和冲突在所难免。本文主要是从语言和价值观角度来分析母女之间的冲突。一方面，汉语和英语两种语言不仅在发音有着差异,而且由于受不同文化的影响,两种语言有着不同的表达方式。这些语言上的差异导致了母女们在交流过程中产生冲突；另一方面，由于中国文化与美国文化的差异, 母女们在婚姻观念和教育观念上产生了不同看法和冲突。消除冲突的有效手段就是要培养文化相对主义态度和充分尊重对方文化。
关键词：冲突；价值观；语言；婚姻；教育
