本研究借用心理分析學派的創傷理論，剖析湯婷婷《中國男人》中 的傷痛記憶（traumatic memories）與傷痛敘事（trauma narrative）間之相 互關聯。首先，根據佛洛伊德的說法，傷痛記憶被壓抑在潛意識中，我們 不欲將之談論，因此也無法重建。湯婷婷在《中國男人》中，記敘她家 族中的男性如何在美國遭受傷痛。正因為他們不願重述這些傷痛經驗， 以至於湯婷婷在把這些故事從他們記憶深處挖掘出時，遭逢不少困難。 也因此，《中國男人》中的傷痛敘事充滿著象徵性（symbolic）與隱喻 性（metaphorical），也因為圍繞著次要，有時是不真實的細節，而顯得毫 無重點，甚或是向壁虛構。（湯婷婷過去因在書中描繪虛假的美國華人歷 史而飽受批評。從此方面觀之，這一點其實是無可厚非。）最後，學者茱 蒂斯．赫曼（Judith Herman）指出，傷痛的治癒，有賴於患者把自身的傷 痛記憶說出。湯婷婷有意藉著《中國男人》，幫助其他的美國華人打破沉 默，並促請美國社會傾聽他們的聲音。這也就是說，湯婷婷不但把傷痛記 憶寫成《中國男人》的傷痛敘事，她同時也在進行一場大型的心理治療， 尋求美國華人治癒傷痛的可能性。

In this paper, the psychoanalytical theorizations about trauma will be applied to dissect the interrelationship between the traumatic memories and the trauma narrative in Maxine Hong Kingston's China Men . First, according to Sigmund Freud, traumatic memories are repressed in our unconscious. We are unwilling to talk about them, and they can’t be reconstructed. Kingston's China Men describes how the males in her family have been traumatized in the U.S. Due to their reluctance to recount their traumatic experiences, Kingston has quite a bit difficulty digging up the stories from the depth of their memory. As a consequence, the trauma narrative in China Men is highly symbolic and metaphorical. Above all, it often seems coreless, or even untrue as it revolves around minor, and sometimes inaccurate details. (In a way, it can exonerate Kingston, who is often accused of giving a falsified history of the Chinese Americans.) Last but not least, Judith Herman points out that the healing of trauma depends on patients’ act of speaking out their traumatic memories. Kingston intends for China Men to help her fellow Chinese Americans break their silence and urge American society to listen to them. That is, as Kingston works the traumatic memories into the trauma narrative in China Men , she is conducting a massive psychotherapy, exploring the possibility that her fellow Chinese Americans might heal their trauma.