An Archetypal Analysis of “Death-rebirth” motif in The Hundred Secret Senses
Abstract: Amy Tan’s The Hundred Secret Senses has won international acclaim for its mystical and superstitious plot. From the perspective of archetypal criticism, this paper attempts to analyze the reincarnation and transmigration presented in the novel is the displacement of “death-rebirth” motif in the western tradition. Kwan, the heroine, makes up her last-life fault by helping her half-sister Olivia restore the racial memory and bring the spiritual regeneration and racial integration, thus showing the harmonious relationship of love and nature.
Key words: Amy Tan; “death-rebirth” motif; collective unconscious; displacement
摘 要：作为谭恩美第三部小说，《百种隐秘感官》以其诡秘离奇的故事情节取胜。本文运用原型批评的方法，揭示书中横亘阴阳两界的生命轮回是西方传统神话中“死亡-重生”主题的置换变形。小说主人公邝为弥补前世情缘，帮助妹妹奥利维亚重拾种族记忆，完成精神与族裔的回归历程，彰显了爱与自然的和谐关系。
关键词：谭恩美；“死亡-重生”原型；集体无意识；置换变形
I. Introduction
Having explored the dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship in her first two novels, Amy Tan turned to the sisterly bond in her third novel The Hundred Secret Senses. Reviews for the novel were mixed. On the one hand, it earned kudos from numerous reviewers. The Boston Sunny Globe described it as “the wisest and most captivating novel Tan has written”. On the other hand, many critics found fault with Tan’s focus on spirits and other unearthly phenomena. Michiko Katukani, wrote in the New York Times Book Review, “The sensational incarnation… makes the story unbelievable to the readers” (Giles & Giles, 1996, p.288).
Amy Tan’s personal experience enables her to have a great fascination with the world of the Spirit. Moreover, Tan herself also feels she owns “secret senses”. Tan defines this term in The Hundred Secret Senses through the heroine Kwan, “the secret senses are related to primitive instincts, what humans had before their brains developed language and the higher functions” (238).
This definition is in accord with the collective unconscious, which is coined by Jung. According to Jung, archetypes including universal characters, motifs and patterns which can make up the collective unconscious. In this novel, we can find the content of “secret senses”―“[It is] language of love. Not just honey-sweetheart kind love. Any kind love, mother-baby, auntie-niece, friend-friend, sister-sister, stranger-stranger”(238).
Thus, this thesis will attempt to approach Amy Tan’s The Hundred Secret Senses from the perspective of archetypal criticism to examine the “death-rebirth” archetypal motif, which is strung by Jung’s collective unconscious.
II. “Death-rebirth” Motif
The archetypal pattern that dominates The Hundred Secret Senses is death and rebirth. In archetypal criticism, this motif centers on “the theme of endless death and regeneration―human beings achieve a kind of immortality by submitting to the vast, mysterious rhythm of Nature’s eternal cycle, particularly the cycle of the seasons” (Guerin, 2004, p.165).
According to Frazer, he tells us through The Golden Bough that four seasons has a close relationship with some myths about death and resurrection of gods and rites. He points out that in different countries there exists a “divine king” whose life connects the life cycle in nature. They believe that their safety and that of the world connect with the life of one of these god-men or human incarnations of the divinity. But no care and precaution can prevent the man-god from growing feeble and dying. For if the course of nature is dependent on the man-god’s life, what catastrophes may not be expected from the gradual enfeeblement of his powers and their final extinction in death? (Frazer, 1922, p.265) The man-god has to be killed when he his powers are beginning to fail before it has been seriously impaired by the threatened decay. With the time, “the god who became dead once a year and reborn from the death” is created.
III. Displacement of “Death-rebirth” Motif in the Novel
Throughout The Hundred Secret Senses, death and rebirth are juxtaposed. To begin with, death is pervasive in the novel. It begins with Olivia’s father and ends with death of Kwan. With the exception of Jack Yee’s death, deaths in the novel are unusual (Huntley, 1998, p.145). Elza, Simon’s former girlfriend, dies in an avalanche; Big Ma dies in a bus crashes; years earlier, Buncake drowns in a flash flood while she and Kwan are playing.
Following the deaths is a series of rebirths. Due to Jack Yee’s death, Kwan becomes Olivia’s sister; Buncake must die so Kwan can “reborn”. A century earlier, Yiban Johnson grows up and falls in love with Nelly Banner, only to lose her because Nunumu fails to understand how Yiban can deduce Miss Banner’s thoughts; Kwan disappears in the cave so Olivia’s daughter is born to replace Kwan’s place in Olivia’s life.
The above rebirths or reincarnations balance the deaths and rebirths in the novel. Kwan appears to be at the center of the most mystical rebirths and connections. In the last existence, she unintentionally causes the separation of Yiban and Banner. She confines to Olivia,
First, I broke my promise to Miss Banner. I did so to be kind. I told Yiban the truth: “ Miss Banner was pretending with Cape. She wanted to protect you, make sure you were safe. And see, now here you are.” (364)
In this lifetime, she persists in providing unconditional love to Olivia to release her guilt. The “death-rebirth” archetypal motif highlights the durability of emotional bonds and illustrates the cyclical patterns of the universe.
The novel ends with the final juxtaposition of death and rebirth. After Kwan’s disappearance into the cave, Olivia admits to Kwan the undying and inclusive nature of love that encompasses worry and sorrow along with bliss. In place of Kwan, Olivia gives birth to a baby girl, whose birth symbolizes the continuation of life.
IV. Place of Death and Rebirth―Changmian and its Caves
The cycle of death and rebirth is echoed in the legend of Changmian. Changmian is a Rip Van Winkle atmosphere that derives from lack of communication. According to Kwan, it has two opposite meanings:
“Chang mean ‘sing’, mian mean ‘silk,’ something soft but go on forever like thread. Soft songs, never ending. But some people pronounce ‘Changmian’ other way, rising tone change to falling, like this: Chang. This way chang mean ‘long,’ mian mean ‘sleep.’ Long Sleep. Now you understand?” (308)
According to Jung, caves are the places denoting primal origin and rebirth (Jung, 1969, p.69). In The Hundred Secret Senses, Olivia and Kwan must travel to the caves that represent the traumatic separation of that earlier existence; in those caves, Yiban knows that he will never see Nelly Banner again; beside those caves, Nunumu and Miss Banner are killed by the Manchu soldiers. However in this lifetime, they are the place of rebirth. Simon gains his second life beside those caves; Olivia achieves a sense of spiritual regeneration; Kwan’s mysterious disappearance marks the accomplishment of her mission in this life.
To sum up, their story begins in the caves and is interrupted there. The “death-rebirth” life circle is sustained and completed in the caves. Because that is the place where they die together in the last existence and only by returning there, can Olivia’s unconsciousness be waken up. And Kwan can be relieved from the burden upon her mind, thus sacrificing her life for the spiritual rebirth of her sister.
Reference:
【1】Amy, Tan. (1995). The Hundred Secret Senses. New York: The Random House Publishing Group.
【2】Fortuna, Diana. (1995, May 4). Review: The Hundred Secret Senses. America, Vol.174, No.14, 27-28.
【3】Frazer, James G. (1922). The Golden Bough. Abridged ed. New York: Macmillan.
【4】Giles, James R. & Giles, Wanda H. (1996). Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol.173, Detroit, MI: Gale, p.288.
【5】Guerin, Wilfred L. (2004). A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
【6】Holy Bible (New Revised Standard Version). (2000). National TSPM&CCC.
Huntley, E.D. (1998). Amy Tan: A Critical Companion. New York: Greenwood Press, 31-32.
【7】陈蕾蕾，(2002, 第4期)：解析谭恩美《灵感女孩》中的迷信现象，国外文学
【8】陆扬(2000)：《精神分析文论》，山东教育出版社
