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Smooth Space vs. Striated Space: Identity Floatability in Amy Tan’s Ethnic Autobiographic Novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter

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Online published: 2020-07-25

Abstract

Traditionally, space is conceptualized as partitioned field of homogeneity. According to Deleuze and Guattari, such space is striated. Static, hierarchical, bounded, and territorialized, striated space follows a starkly rational method of operation, a planned trajectory. With striated space, a society creates structures through which lines of flight can be manipulated; consequently, it harnesses energy and creates inequalities. By operating through the capture of movement and the partition of space, society can control migrations and more generally, to establish a zone of rights over the exterior. A static and closed structure like striated space has prevailed over American society for decades. American society striates space to build a hierarchical system of relations which places the occupants of each stratum at odds with those of other strata. In American society, ethnic identities are mostly framed in such striated space of hierarchies. Ethnic writers strive against the restrains for a breakthrough in identity construction. Applying the ideas of striated space and smooth space, the researcher intends to probe into the female protagonists’ life experiences in terms of space and identity in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

Cite this article

I-Hsin Kai . Smooth Space vs. Striated Space: Identity Floatability in Amy Tan’s Ethnic Autobiographic Novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter[J]. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 2015 , 15(07) : 64 -71 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2015.07.013

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