The mother-daughter relationship and empowerment in the writing of Korean-American women

Abstract

This study examines how immigrant women writers, who are torn between the Korean traditional culture and that of their new location, America, portray the mother-daughter relationship within the intersection of nation, ethnicity, class and gender. Ronyoung Kim's Clay Walls, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Dictée, and Suki Kim's The Interpreter are quite different in their forms and content, but they are similar in that they focus on the mother-daughter relationship as the most important element in their Korean-American protagonists' lives. These show that they become strong women with a firm identity, not in becoming independent by separating from their mothers, but in being connected with others and by restoring their relationships with the former, pre-oedipal or social. They ascertain the value of their mothers and emphasize that when daughters rediscover them not only as strong mothers but also as weak persons, the first generation mothers and the one and a half or second generation daughters become mutually empowered subjects. All three works envision a community built upon the motherline either through mythical imagination based on Korean legends or by introducing various types of mother figures. © 2009.