Preview

Analysis of Maxine Hong Kingston "No Name Woman"

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1677 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of Maxine Hong Kingston "No Name Woman"
Chapter I
Introduction
1.1. Background of study
Adultery defined as a sex relationship between a married woman and a man other than her spouse or a sex relationship that usually happened also between unmarried couples in their relationship. It is actually the same as stated in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary; adultery is a sex between a married person and someone who is not their husband or wife (18). Indeed, Adultery sometimes becomes something crucial in our society. As an addition, in certain societies or cultures, it considered as an illegal relationship or we can say forbidden against norm or belief in societies or cultures itself. Like what the writers have discussed above, that adultery has a strong relationship to the society in which individuals made up of woman and man, and culture found in the community. Further, the case of adultery not only finds in real life but we can also find them in literature where an author wants to express their ideas through their works. The writers would like to talk about adultery that is in their work, and the public's view of peoples who commit adultery. Thus, in this discussion for the writers interested in discussed about the woman taken in adultery, as seen in No Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston. In one of them and the society has viewed toward women in adultery.
A highly acclaimed memoirist, Kingston integrates autobiographical elements with Asian legend and fictionalized history to delineate cultural conflicts confronting of Chinese descent, particularly issues of female identity. Frequently studies in a variety of academic disciplines. Kingston often focuses on issues of cultural and institutional sexism and feminism as well as female autonomy and identity. Her first autobiographical volume, The Woman Warrior, which the first chapter is No Name Woman has been deeming an innovative and important feminist work. It viewed as a personal, unconventional memoir that seeks to reconcile Eastern and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    "In a time of destruction, create something." Was said by Maxine Hong Kingston. Maxine's background information on her life is very interesting. Some of Maxine's accomplishments were many awards and recognition from other upcoming authors. Maxine has some really interesting facts about her life and being an author.…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the beginning of written history, marriage is portrayed as a sacred vow by almost all religions and peoples throughout the Earth while adultery is almost always looked upon as wrong. Marie de France was one of the few female writers in medieval times which made her very influential and well respected. In her book titled “The Lais of Marie de France,” she gives the reader a look into the affairs and adultery that was going on in the medieval courts. It seems Marie de France does not particularly agree with adultery, but her style of writing leads the reader to see that it is not so bad, depending on the situation. It is almost as if she separates the lais into two distinct groups. The first of which are…

    • 1318 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The act of adultery is wrong, inexcusable, and most definitely immoral. As human beings, we all have impulses and desires and sometimes we fall victim to them, but adultery is in no way justifiable. The forbidden fruit that both Adam and Eve ate without reparations in their mind is similar to infidelity. To expand, Adam and Eve fell victim to temptation after witnessing the fruit in all its glory and so Adam and Eve ate the fruit of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Despite the warnings and commands by God to not eat the Forbidden Fruit, they still did because they simply couldn't resist. As the story goes, they ultimately opposed the words of God and indulged in immoral pleasure (“Adam and Eve”, n.d.). In the Book of Enoch in 1 Enoch 31:4,…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the second chapter of The Woman Warrior Kingston positions her hair into a bun fashion, wears the male armor and consequently portrays herself as a male to all the soldiers while still possessing feminine qualities just as Fa Mu Lan had. The Fa Mu Lan myth opens many windows of opportunity for Kingston’s personal imagination to engage in the story. According to Lanning and Macauley, when Kingston began thinking of including the story of Fa Mu Lan into her novel, “perhaps the first question” she should have asked herself is whether or not the story is able to “touch some sensitive spot” in her memory, feelings or beliefs (17). Kingston would most likely agree that the story of Fa Mu Lan does touch her memory, feelings and beliefs because the story revolves around one of the themes of the book: the role of women in Chinese society.…

    • 2152 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    5. Describe the nature of the No Name Woman’s sin. Was it a sin against the absent husband of her hastingly arranged marriage, against her extended family, against the village, against the…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Woman Warrior

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maxine Hong Kingston's novel The Woman Warrior is a series of narrations, vividly recalling stories she has heard throughout her life. These stories clearly depict the oppression of woman in Chinese society. Even though women in Chinese Society traditionally might be considered subservient to men, Kingston viewed them in a different light. She sees women as being equivalent to men, both strong and courageous.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “No Name Woman” is a work of literature that tells about Kingston’s upcoming in the Chinese-American culture. The core of the story is about a story that Kingston’s mother is telling her about her aunt. “In China, your father had a sister who killed herself… We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born.”(1507) Kingston continued to listen to her mother explain that her aunt was pregnant and accused of adultery because her husband had been away for some time. Kingston’s mother tells her this story solely to teach her a lesson about the responsibilities of becoming a woman. “Don’t let your father know that I told you. He denies her. Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you.” Kingston’s family wants her to participate in the punishment of her aunt; however, she interprets the story as a different lesson. She relates to her aunt because, like Kingston, her aunt did not want to conform to norms of society. Kingston relates to the spiteful acts of her aunt. She feels that in order for her to understand the moral of the story, then her aunts life must branch into her own. Kingston interprets her own judgement of her aunt. Instead of conforming to her family’s beliefs, she forms her own purpose of the story. Kingston shows great cultural growth by honoring her aunt using…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was May 1948 and outside Alex Steiner’s tailor shop, Liesel saw many people running towards the big streets of Molching. It had been exactly three years since the war in Europe had ended and everyone was gathering to celebrate finally being free of the oppressive feeling that the Nazi party had given them.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Kingston, Hong Maxine. “No Name Woman.” The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature. Mary K. Deshazer. New York: Longman, 2001. 308-315.…

    • 1901 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the novel The Edible Woman, author Margaret Atwood tackles the difficult subject of anorexia nervosa. Although this subject is often handled with kid gloves by many writers, Atwood’s novel candidly addresses how different food related stigmas affect the main character’s day to day existence. In the late 1960's, young women faced a society that expected them to conform to certain qualities in both appearance and demeanor. The portrayal of young women in popular movies, television and music of the time period led to internal conflicts among women who struggled to achieve the norm put forth by society. Young women everywhere were convinced they needed to look and act like Marcia Brady and turn into Carol Brady even if meant sacrificing their…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The New Woman Analysis

    • 556 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The New Woman was conveyed through the artists illustrations beginning in the 1880’s and continuing through the years, ending in the 1920’s. These images such as the works titled, “What Are We Coming To”, “In a Twentieth Century Club”, “Picturesque America”, and “Women Bachelors In New York”, all conveyed this idea of a “New Woman”. The qualities that a New Woman must have included a woman who pursued the highest education and made effort to move up in the professional world. “She (the New Woman) also demonstrated new patterns of private life, from shopping in the new urban department stores, to riding bicycles, and playing golf.” (pg. 374) The artists attempted to create this perfect all around woman who’s lives closely resembled what the men of that time were doing. Such as in figure 6.8 titled “In a Twentieth Century Club” which shows women dressed in clothing which closely resembled that of a mans attire for that era, at leisure, socializing with other woman. This “club” looked very similar to a men’s drinking and eating club. “ Although role reversal still provides the humor, the women waitresses and patrons are physically attractive, while the women’s unladylike posture and clothing would have been viewed as shocking equally significant is the cross dressing entertainer.” (pg. 374) Not only did artists attempt to convey a way that the New Woman should act, but they also created this popular physical image of what one should look like such as the Gibson Girls pictured in image 6.9. Most all of the illustrations showed a white woman of the leisure class, however African American women still envisioned and strived to become a New African American Woman.…

    • 556 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Monique Wittig was born in July 3, 1935 in the Haut Rhin department in Alsace. She moved to Paris in the 1950s, where she studied at the Sorbonne. Her first novel, L'Opoponax, published by Minuit in 1964, immediately drew attention to her when it was awarded the Prix Médicis by a jury that included Nathalie Sarraute, Claude Simon, and Alain Robbe-Grillet. Praised by such influential writers, the novel was quickly translated into English, where it also won critical acclaim.…

    • 1985 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Men have been called many names: dogs, liars, cheaters and even manipulators. “Till death do us apart” has long past due, the growing age of the millennium generation is slowly disregarding this part when making vows. Most men are going into marriages, with absolute disregard of commitment to their significant other. The story “Sexy” by Jhumpa Lahiri exemplifies the deceitfulness of some men in marriages.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The judges contended that whether the confession of adultery by wife of the accused did amount to any kind of grave and sudden provocation or not was a question of law. What the court had to keep in mind was whether a reasonable person placed in that similar position would have reacted in the same way or not. The test to be applied is the effect of provocation on a reasonable man. In applying that test, it is of utmost importance to check if sufficient interval had elapsed since the provocation to allow a reasonable man to cool. In addition to this the instrument that was used to commit the homicide is also to be taken into consideration. Mode of resentment must bear a reasonable relationship to the provocation if the offence is to be…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Zafiya Shamim UU200

    • 1562 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Love is patient, love never fails and adultery was understood to be destructive in the earliest days of civilization, thus earning its own ‘Thou Shalt Not’. Adultery literally refers to married persons having sexual intercourse with someone other than their lawful spouse. Adultery is hurtful and affects psychologically, spiritually and emotionally. Philosophers who teach an ethical theories of conduct named utilitarianism, state that hurting people is wrong, period. In this essay I will discuss why should there be a law against adultery.…

    • 1562 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays