It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy
This paper explores how Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy (2013) recaptures the buried hi/stories of the 228 Massacre with a trauma narrative about Silk’s deep-kept secrets. It first delineates the evolution of trauma theory and trauma fiction highlighting the significance of articulating trauma and it...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Polskie Towarzystwo Retoryczne/ Polish Rhetoric Society
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Res Rhetorica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://resrhetorica.com/index.php/RR/article/view/535 |
| _version_ | 1818827124335706112 |
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| author | Pi-hua Ni |
| author_facet | Pi-hua Ni |
| author_sort | Pi-hua Ni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper explores how Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy (2013) recaptures the buried hi/stories of the 228 Massacre with a trauma narrative about Silk’s deep-kept secrets. It first delineates the evolution of trauma theory and trauma fiction highlighting the significance of articulating trauma and its relevance in healing, hi/storytelling and identity construction. This demarcation shall frame a critical lens to illustrate how Chow innovates distinct insulated narratives on the protagonists to mimic intergenerational ramifications of trauma in the Lu family, to represent their psychological healing and to express the association between silence-breaking, remembering and identity construction. This critical endeavor will also demonstrate that Silk’ story of survival promises the survival of hi/story. Thus, the novel proper not only portrays the traumatic impact, a nightmarish “legacy,” of 228 but also renders Silk’s trauma narrative as the “legacy” to connect with Taiwanese heritage and construct Taiwanese American identities. Given Chow’s innovative form and unique themes about trauma and Taiwanese American diaspora, the article situates her novel in the emerging Taiwanese American literature, Asian American literature, contemporary American diasporic literature and trauma fiction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T00:38:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2d88578a2b3b48edbd7941af1263abcf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2392-3113 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T00:38:34Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Polskie Towarzystwo Retoryczne/ Polish Rhetoric Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Res Rhetorica |
| spelling | doaj.art-2d88578a2b3b48edbd7941af1263abcf2022-12-21T20:44:41ZengPolskie Towarzystwo Retoryczne/ Polish Rhetoric SocietyRes Rhetorica2392-31132020-12-017410.29107/rr2020.4.7It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 LegacyPi-hua Ni0NATIONAL CHIAYI UNIVERSITYThis paper explores how Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy (2013) recaptures the buried hi/stories of the 228 Massacre with a trauma narrative about Silk’s deep-kept secrets. It first delineates the evolution of trauma theory and trauma fiction highlighting the significance of articulating trauma and its relevance in healing, hi/storytelling and identity construction. This demarcation shall frame a critical lens to illustrate how Chow innovates distinct insulated narratives on the protagonists to mimic intergenerational ramifications of trauma in the Lu family, to represent their psychological healing and to express the association between silence-breaking, remembering and identity construction. This critical endeavor will also demonstrate that Silk’ story of survival promises the survival of hi/story. Thus, the novel proper not only portrays the traumatic impact, a nightmarish “legacy,” of 228 but also renders Silk’s trauma narrative as the “legacy” to connect with Taiwanese heritage and construct Taiwanese American identities. Given Chow’s innovative form and unique themes about trauma and Taiwanese American diaspora, the article situates her novel in the emerging Taiwanese American literature, Asian American literature, contemporary American diasporic literature and trauma fiction.http://resrhetorica.com/index.php/RR/article/view/535trauma fictiondiasporaTaiwanese American LiteratureAsian American Literature |
| spellingShingle | Pi-hua Ni It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy Res Rhetorica trauma fiction diaspora Taiwanese American Literature Asian American Literature |
| title | It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy |
| title_full | It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy |
| title_fullStr | It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy |
| title_full_unstemmed | It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy |
| title_short | It is More than a Bunch of Numbers: Trauma, Voicing and Identity in Jennifer Chow’s The 228 Legacy |
| title_sort | it is more than a bunch of numbers trauma voicing and identity in jennifer chow s the 228 legacy |
| topic | trauma fiction diaspora Taiwanese American Literature Asian American Literature |
| url | http://resrhetorica.com/index.php/RR/article/view/535 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pihuani itismorethanabunchofnumberstraumavoicingandidentityinjenniferchowsthe228legacy |