Abstract: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, Mormon) has evolved from an American religion into a world-wide culture over the past 180 years, and has remained one of the hot topics in American literature. An intensive reading of abundant historical and literary materials contributes to a better understanding of the ambiguous relationship between the Mormons and mainstream culture in America. At the beginning, Mormonism challenged not only Puritan tradition and state of religions, but also the social and cultural divergences resulting from the overspreading of capitalist market economy and democratic politics at the time. The mainstream culture manipulated narrative mode and popular images of Mormons during the 19^th century, satisfying the ordinary American people's psychological needs for fear and anxiety, but it failed to recognize the significant message that Mormonism is an important social movement. In the following century, the Mormons continued inner self-adjustments to alleviate structural contradiction, and worked on balancing maintaining uniqueness and assimilation into the mainstream culture. Because of that and the social development, the mainstream culture and American literature changed their attitudes, turning from hostility to limited acceptance. Generally speaking, the study on the narratives of Mormon culture and the prejudiced images against the Mormons, all the conflicts and changes, is of a unique cognitive value, for it would promote the understanding of the nature of American culture and its future trend.

Key words: Mormon Culture, Mormon`s Image, Mormonism