The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the figure of the kitchen god and the narrative as a whole in The Kitchen God's Wife (KG) by Amy Tan. The plan of the research will be to set forth the narrative context in which the kitchen god is explained in the novel, and then to discuss the role that the figure plays in elaborating the novel's underlying pattern of ideas and the means by which those ideas emerge.
The symbolic function of the kitchen god is established early in KG. The god is referred to in a more or less offhand manner by Winnie as "only a story," and then as the patron of luck. He is chiefly associated with living spaces--homes or shops--but his influence appears to permeate Chinese culture. As Winnie puts it, quoting the Jade Emperor of heaven upon providing the kitchen god with his divine mandate in the universe: "I make you Kitchen God, watching over everyone's behavior. Every year, you let me know who deserves good luck, who deserves bad" (Tan 61).
As the story develops, it becomes clear that luck can indeed be either good or bad--often bad, in Winnie's case, as it turns out. The story of the kitchen god's life very much parallels Winnie's own narrative, and the god's fate in myth serves as the symbolic frame for Winnie's experience. A number of specific parallels between the myth and Winnie's life can be identified. The kitchen god begins life as Zhang, a prosperous mortal with a comfortable home. Winnie, too, is born into a family of privilege. Zhang, however privileged, is nevertheless unsatisfied, and when he satisfies his lust for Lady Li, his fortunes progressively decline, until he gives himself over to his fate and prepares for death, only to be rescued by none other than his long-suffering wife Guo. Burning with shame at being discovered, he leaps into the fireplace to be burned to ash, the altruistic Guo's attempts to rescue him, despite everything she suffered be...