Identity is seen as multivocal, and multifaceted. Xu examines the connection between memory, narration, existential repeatability, and ethnic identity. Memory, for Xu, functions in narrative form. Matrilineage in Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club . Psychoanalytic and socio-historic in nature, citing Marianne Hirsch and Chodorow.
Identity is problematized, allowing the reader more active engagement of the text.
One of the more influential essays on Tan's works. An examination of the socio-political interactions between first and second generation immigrants of Chinese ancestry. She also looks at the literary and political tools Tan and Kingston use in their writing. Partly the basis for her further work listed above. Mitchell, David Thomas.