에이미 판의 귀환 서사에 나타난 모범적 소수민 담론과 아메리칸드림의 탈영토화

Abstract

Aimee Phan’s works are often discussed with narrative strategy as refugee narratives or narratives of return, shedding light on the diverse traumatic experiences of generational Vietnamese Americans and their unstable national identity following the Vietnam War. However, her second novel, The Reeducation of Cherry Truong, shifts focus to a single family, exploring not only these experiences but also critically examining two core American values, namely the model minority myth and the American Dream. Phan challenges the traditional association of these values with success in America, suggesting that they can also be realized in other countries, such as Vietnam. By deterritorializing the American Dream as a universal ideal through the family’s transnational journey between America and Vietnam, the novel highlights Vietnamese Americans’ efforts to redefine their national and cultural identity as permanently American. In doing so, Phan positions Vietnamese Americans not as foreigners but as contributors to the global reimagining of these American values.