As part of the first generation of Chinese-Americans, Maxine Hong Kingston writes about her struggle to distinguish her cultural identity through an impartial analysis of her aunt’s denied existence. In “No Name Woman,” a chapter in her written memoirs, Kingston analyzes the possible reasons behind her disavowed aunt’s dishonorable pregnancy and her village’s subsequent raid upon her household. And with a bold statement that shatters the family restriction to acknowledge the exiled aunt, Kingston states that, “… [she] alone devote pages of paper to her [aunt]...” With this premeditated declaration, Kingston rebelliously breaks the family’s cultural taboo to mention the exiled aunt. Because a strict Chinese culture fails to be practical in American society, Kingston defiantly acknowledges the existence of her aunt's life because she understands that her lost Chinese values as imposed by her family parallels her aunt's capital crime to her village. This argument would prove that Kingston did not write this chapter in veneration of her aunt, but with the intention to provide insight to her understanding of herself as a Chinese-American woman.…
2] The author describes the obstacles of expectation she overcame; being part of a Mexican American working class family. She introduces the ideological role of a woman in a Mexican American family as a person whose sole purpose is to find a husband. She then details how lonesome it is to be part of a family with 6 brothers. She explains how her father would often refer to his children as 7 sons, instead of 6 sons and 1 daughter. She comments on how this would make her feel invisible as part of the 6 male siblings. However, she soon realizes that through this isolation and expectation of finding a husband that she is free to explore all the awaiting pleasures that college holds without any criticism or urging to succeed academically. It is through this pressure less perspective that she develops her passion for writing. She explains how the isolation provided by her family would later on prove to be great for a would-be writer. She goes on to explain "the loneliness was good for a would-be writer-it allowed me to think and think, to imagine, to read and prepare myself”. Ultimately the time provided for her as a child allowed her to identify her passion, and…
13. In “ Only daughter,” Sandra Cisneros describes the importance of her father’s support of and appreciation for her writing career. Compare and contrast the theme of family support described by Sandra Cisneros, Russell Baker (“The Saturday Evening Post”), Tamala Edwards (“Multi-Colored Families”), and/or Mary Pipher (“Beliefs About Families’). Which author would argue that support from one’s family is most crucial to our development as a person? Why?…
Growing up with a family of five sisters and myself as first generation Korean Americans, The Women Warrior focuses on the author’s life were she struggles to find her voice. Maxine Hong Kingston’s writing of this book is an example of how ancient talk stories, myths, and beliefs help one find her voice in America. The Women Warrior takes us on an adventure through five main female characters and five chapters that helps us understand how she finds her voice in America. The five chapters integrate Kingston’s experiences through the five women brought to life throughout the book. The references in the book…
In "A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood," Judith Cofer accomplishes three powerful achievements: she gives details on the stories of her family experiences, shows her family stories in a strong imaginative language, and points out how family stories can take over a person's life. This essay seems to be very tricky because she goes from one story to another. Cofer's claim would be very difficult to understand if she started with one story; instead, she should finish explaining the initial story before moving on to the next one. Instead, Cofer shows how a woman can potentially go crazy if her man mistreats her.…
She mentions that “mixed cultural signals have spread certain stereotypes” and that these stereotypes have created a “media-engendered image of the Latina in the United States.” Cofer also feels as if this image is “partially responsible for the denial of opportunities for” Latinas to world “in the real world.” This point is interesting because it brings up the concepts of ethos, symbols, and pity. Cofer is a credible source not only because she is an educated woman that teaches at the University of Georgia, but also because her ideas are reasonable and come from her personal experiences and emotions, basically making her a primary source. The stereotype of a Hispanic woman created sort of an identity crisis for Cofer that made her feel as if she was just another “Maria” in the bunch, a foreign woman that could not be taken seriously or even respected in a professional matter. A key source example of this comes from the bus trip she made to London from Oxford University when she was taking summer classes. A man got down on one knee and sang her an Irish tenor’s rendition of “Maria” from West Side Story. It can clearly be seen why she would feel like just another fish in the sea and not like an individual because of the way others saw and treated her, as either a “Hot Tamale” that a man drunk man wanted or an uneducated foreigner. Cofer’s feelings about this come in a moving overview, “You can leave the island, master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, especially one like me who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool, the Island travels with you.” In this passage Cofer concludes that no matter how hard she tries, there will always be someone out there that will view her in a way she sees as…
The theme of family is everywhere in life, be it in books, television shows, and even in a person’s actual life. It is something that everyone comes in contact with, and reads about, every once in awhile. Family is a rather popular theme in people’s lives. It can be seen on the streets, on television shows, in movies, and even in books and stories, just like the four short stories in this paper. Family will be present in almost all of the American literature stories, so it is not hard to pick stories with this particular theme in it. However in “Desiree’s Baby,” Of Mice and Men, “Wagner Matinee,” and “The Lottery,” family seemed to be more prominent throughout the story.…
This is significant because the narrator associates family with love and happiness which reassures the reader that her childhood was special.…
In the short stories “Salvation” by Langston Hughes and “Who Will Light the Incenses When Mother is Gone” by Andrew Lam both writer are suggesting uncertainty in family cultural and traditions are believable, honorable. The theme of each authors work builds around family values and ethics. These stories written by different authors similarly present a deeper feeling of values in the family; that direct or pushes individuals in finding or growing into the person they are. The contents of the both authors writing the use of words are used to help give the reader a sort of vision to the culture; such as in the…
Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior novel, is a semi-autobiographical collection of short stories that chronicles her childhood in California. The main characters, Kingston, Brave Orchid, Moon Orchid, and an unnamed aunt, are all mentally and emotionally abused by the society in both America and China. Kingston is judged and ignore by the people at school because she is Chinese, and in turn blames her mother, Brave Orchid, for her problems. Moon Orchid moves to America with the help of her sister, Brave Orchid, to confront her ex-husband, who cheated on her with a servant and abandoned her. The unnamed aunt gives birth to an illegitimate baby, whom she decides to assassinate because she couldn't take care of her and had no support from the family; immediately after killing her baby she commits suicide. All of The Woman Warrior’s main characters passed through traumatic experiences caused by other people that devalued them, completely making their human minds crumble.…
In “No Name Woman,” Kingston writes about how her aunt was chased and almost killed by the people in her village, because they thought that she had gotten pregnant outside of marriage; after being chased and almost killed by the villagers, she commits suicide and kills her newborn baby also. Kingston writes about how women were supposed to follow certain rules imposed on them, without embarrassing their families. Her mother warns Kingston to not “humiliate” her family (9). Kingston’s mother warns her not to act the same as her aunt, because she…
Familial relationships can be quite complex when feelings are involved, and sometimes, people have the willingness and strength to re-adjust and end up with a strong and successful familial relationship. In Mark Haddon’s book, the curious incident of the dog in the night time the Boone family learns to adapt and alter their behaviour which allows them to go to great lengths in the near future as a family. Judy, Ed and Christopher Boone’s willingness to re-adjust to their surroundings enables them to repair their relationship with one another.…
Our textbook says: ”Stories also reflect culture. The term culture refers to common characteristics of a group or a region. Culture is never static; it is a changing phenomenon, constantly reconfigured by human behavior, language, laws, events, patterns, products, beliefs, and ideals. To put it simply, culture refers to a way of life, an ethos. Writers often reflect a particular culture through the setting of a story or the spirit of the characters ' lives—providing insight, for example, into Southern culture, post–World War I culture, or global culture. In this way stories preserve culture: they freeze moments in time and create cultural awareness.”(Clugston, 2010). I believe both of these stories reflect the culture of the late 1800’s, from very different viewpoints, male and female, but provide a similar morality lesson. Both are short stories and contain a set up, build up and payoff. Short stories have a plot with conflict–driven, tied–together actions and events, a setting, clear time frame, characters, point of view, a theme and features that include tone, irony, and symbolism. Knowing or not knowing the terms presented in this paper does not help or hinder a personal connection someone may have with a particular piece. I know for myself, the personal message I received from these stories, was a reflection on my life and personal experiences. I see people…
The attractiveness of stories to children is a powerful characteristic in relation to the ability to influence their lives. “Human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story” (Gottschall 3). Going off of Gottschall’s claim of the human mind, Smith supports this with the fact that humans “cannot live without stories, big stories finally, to tell us what is real and significant, to know who we are, where we are, what we are doing, and why” (67). Smith’s claim on the importance of story applies to children in many different ways. Stories impact children in ways that might be oblivious, such as in their daily habits, choice of words, and attitude. Expanding on Smith’s claim, stories are often read to children about their cultural background,…
When it comes to my family, the differences between our relationship with television and the ones mentioned in the reading, trump the similarities greatly. By explaining the background of my family, the ethnicity, and the roles played by each member, I have come to the conclusion that their differences surpass the similarities due to the circumstances of my family.…