TRACING WOMEN’S STRUGGLES ACROSS BORDERS: A FEMINIST STUDY OF ASIAN AND AMERICAN SOCIETIES

Abstract

This study critically examines the lived experiences of the Chinese immigrant mother in Ken Liu’s short story “The Paper Menagerie,” foregrounding the pervasive influence of patriarchal power structures on her identity formation. Adopting a feminist critical lens, the research interrogates how gender norms operating within both Asian and American socio-cultural contexts shape, constrain, and ultimately silence the mother’s subjectivity. Drawing on the gender theories of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir, the study conceptualizes gender as a socially constructed and performative category through which the mother’s autonomy is systematically denied and her existence reduced to prescribed roles of obedience, sacrifice, and maternal labor. Methodologically, the study employs McKee’s textual analysis framework to conduct a close reading of narrative language, symbolism, and representation, revealing processes of commodification, objectification, and emotional isolation imposed upon the mother. The findings demonstrate that gendered oppression in the narrative is not incidental but structurally embedded within intersecting systems of patriarchy, race, and migration. By exposing how these forces operate across cultural boundaries, the study contributes to feminist literary discourse by underscoring the urgent need to re-evaluate and challenge culturally entrenched gender roles within immigrant narratives.