The Hope in Disillusion of American Dream

The Hope in Disillusion of American Dream Abstract：Pangs of love written by David Wong Louie described the life experiences and various conflicts between the immigrant mother-Mrs. Pang and her children. By the text analysis of the communication and interaction between the mother and children，and the changes of the attitude of the son to his mother，this paper argues that the disillusion of American Dream brings the hope of emotional belongingness to the mother—Mrs. Pang. It illuminates that the disillusion of American Dream of immigrants may not only be a trauma or tragedy for them but can bring a sense of emotional belongingness after the disillusion of American Dream.
Introduction：All people who immigrate to another country or culture voluntarily or under compulsion are going to seek their dream in that place and culture. In the novel of Pangs of love，Mrs. Pang immigrated to America for pursuing her own American dream both materially and spiritually. However，as a person who was born and spent her early life in China，she showed a great attachment to the Chinese culture. Thus it seems to be very difficult for her to realize her American dream under such condition. Moreover，in the process of communicating with her children，due to different languages and culture backgrounds between Mrs. Pang and her American- born children，there are so many conflicts between them on different things. They hold different concepts，so conflicts between them are inevitable.
The Disillusion of American Dream materially
In order to seek a peace world and to avoid the destruction of the war，Mrs. Pang immigrated to American with her American dream hopefully. Maybe in her imagination，there is no war，no discrimination，and all the life here is peaceful and quiet. She came here to seek that clear place. So，at the beginning，her American dream was in her imagination. She hold great expectation to realize her American dream. She tried to embrace herself into the American society. Like most Americans，Mrs. Pang also watches hours of TV. Moreover，she doesn’t switch to cable for the Chinese channel until the broadcast day with the local news and Johnny Carson is over.（Louie 2004，248）However，because of her strong affection to her Chinese identity and her language and culture background，she refused to learn English and to some degrees，she cannot find a proper way to be totally assimilated into American culture and society. She is even in an existential dilemma that she refuse to learn the language but love to watch the American TV programme and laugh with the studio audience as if invisible wires run between her and the set.People who immigrate to other country and culture want to achieve their dream both materially and spiritually. Since Mrs. Pang ‘s incompetence of communicating with others and economic status，she has to live with one of her son. Even though she lived with her son in one house，there seems to be a long distance between two of them. The conflicts and different concept of them is the foundation of her disillusion of American Dream
spiritually. She came to America with the hope of having a harmonious family and she also hope she can get well along with all her children without difficulties. However，all of these are still in her imagination. In reality，because of different culture backgrounds，there are many conflicts between the mother and children. Even though Mrs. Pang has come to American and seeks her American dream here，she still cannot ignore her Chinese identity. To some degrees，according to this novel，the American dream of Mrs. Pang are also based on some Chinese value. She even cannot do the things she want in her own home. In the novel，when the mother feels the stab of the child--Ah-Vee’s glare，the mother has to hold in her laughter，hand over mouth schoolgirl-style，hiding those gold caps that liven up her smiles，eyes moist and shifty dancing.（Louie 2004，249）Even together with her son，Mrs. Pang still cannot have the freedom to do something she wants. In addition，according to the description of the son to his mother，there is an obvious gap between the mother and son，which upset the mother a lot. The son even said what he need is a spray that smells of mankind’s worst fears，something on the order of canned Hiroshima，a mist of organic putrefaction，that he’ll spritz whenever the audience laughs.
The Hope Rather Than the Trauma in the Disillusion of American Dream.
Even though the American dream of Mrs. Pang is dashed，it doesn’t mean there are only the trauma left with her and her family. From the process of the attitude of the son to the mother，and the end of the novel，it demonstrated that there are something hope in the mother and the son. In the process of disillusion of the American dream，the son gradually know and understand her mother. His attitude towards her mother also changes a lot from the beginning to the end of the novel. The distance between him and her mother was closer than before. This is also the same hope of the mother and son. Since different language and culture backgrounds between the mother and her America-born children，there are a lot of disagreements and conflicts. Even though Mrs. Pang and her son leaves together，in fact，there is a long distance from one to another. The mother had to be cautious when she was amused by the American TV programme. And the concept of marriage is also totally different.
Conclusion：Through the analysis of the text，even though the American dream of the immigrant mother-Mrs. Pang is disillusioned，it doesn’t mean that all the hope failed and there just remain trauma to the mother in the end. On the contrary，there are something valuable affiliating with the disillusion of the American dream. The distance between the immigrant mother and America-born children is also bridged，which is the hope of a intimate family. The mother lost her American dream but gained the understanding and intimacy of her son. The disillusion of the American dream is a hope rather than a trauma.
References：
[1]David Wong Louie.“Pangs of Love.”An Anthology of Chinese American Literature，edited by Yingguo Xu，248-276. Tianjin：Nankai University Press，2004.
作者簡介
凌丹霞（1992—），女，云南大学外语学院英语语言文学硕士，研究方向：英语语言文学和语言学。