Deconstruction and Reconstruction: How Did Shirley Lim Build Her Asian American Identity on American Soil

Abstract

Shirley Lim is an Asian American writer of multiple identities. By doing textual analysis of her book Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian-American Memoir of Homelands, this paper applies deconstructive criticism to analyze Shirley’s identity formation. The puzzling plural form of “homelands” in the subtitle of her memoir is unriddled by detailed demonstration of how Shirley’s wishful thinking about the U.S. was deconstructed and her American identity constructed on the one hand, and how her disillusion of Malaysia was deconstructed and Malaysia as her homeland reconstructed on the other. By taking the initiative to help, Shirley managed to assimilate herself into the American society; by taking the responsibility of her Malaysian family, she retained her Asian bond; on top of that, the two seemingly incompatible elements ---“Asian” and “American” are incorporated and reconciled by Shirley in her own identity building, thus she achieves in becoming an accomplished Asian-American with two homelands.