The Woman Warrior

1269 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Understanding of ethnocentrism and culture

Throughout the book, The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, the generation gap between the narrator and Brave Orchid is evident. The narrator feels that her mother's culture values have no relevance in America. In the chapter, At the Western Palace, Brave Orchid sends for her sister, Moon Orchid, to come to America and urges Moon Orchid to confront her sister's husband. The ideas that Brave Orchid has are bold and they conflict with Moon Orchid's nature. Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid are two Chinese women who live in two different countries. They are separated by a cultural gap rather than a generation gap. This gap between Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid has created two inimical viewpoints on the value of physical appearance, necessity versus extravagance, and modesty in manner. Physical appearance is very important in America's society whereas women in Asia only dress-up on special occasions. Most of the time, Asia's women are cooking, cleaning, and sewing, which is manual work. In America, when women go out in public, they try to look presentable, pleasing to the human eye. After Moon Orchid arrives, one of the first things that Brave Orchid does is point out that Moon Orchid is fat and looks very old. 'You're an old woman...your hair is white and your face wrinkled...you're so fat.'; In Asia, fat people are considered to be rich. Being fat is a sign of being rich because only rich people can afford to eat so much that it would make them fat. In America, obesity is often times something to be ashamed of. Americans seem to desire the body of a model. Brave Orchid also screams at her own children about their appearance but Moon Orchid always defends them. Brave Orchid is very concerned with physical appearance and how people view her and her family. When Moon Orchid's daughter points out that her children can speak both Chinese and English, Brave Orchid immediately points out that her children could do the same. Brave Orchid did not want her family to appear stupid or uneducated. Moon Orchid is just the opposite. She does not worry about her looks. After Brave Orchid meets the second wife, she goes to Moon Orchid and says, 'She's very pretty and very young...you need to sit up straight. Use my powder. Be as pretty as you can. Other wise you won't be able to compete.'; If I were trying to get my husband back, I would try to ... ... middle of paper ... ... America, one needs to let everyone know how good they are. This builds self-esteem and pride. In Moon Orchid's point of view, when complimented children should state that they are bad, or ugly, or dumb, contrary to the compliment. Moon Orchid has been taught to be humble and modest, never an arrogant show-off. Brave Orchid feels that her children should not be 'ashamed of the things they could do.'; She wants to let everyone know. Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid's opinion on modesty in manner do collide due to cultural differences and values. Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid's different opinions on the value of beauty, necessity and extravagance, and modesty have been influenced by their cultural upbringing. Even though they are both Chinese, one learned the lifestyles of China while the other learned the lifestyles of both China and America. Many of the values that China holds were altered and some ignored by Chinese descendants presiding in America. America's culture has influenced immigrants and therefore causing this clash between these two women. Brave Orchid and Moon Orchid's gap is a cultural one caused by the influence of the society each lives in.

Show More
Related

  • Mrs. Spring Fragrance Analysis

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although Mrs. Spring Fragrance has only lived in America for a short amount of time, her husband states “There are no more American words for her learning” (865). It is obvious through reading this statement that Mrs. Spring Fragrance has become quickly acquainted with not only the English language, but also with American customs and traditions. However, not every character in Mrs. Spring Fragrance adjusts to American culture as easily as Mrs. Spring Fragrance; some characters have a difficult time leaving their Chinese traditions of marriage and accepting that in America, love comes before marriage. Throughout Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Sui Sin Far describes the process that the Chinese characters experience as they slowly begin to alienate traditional Chinese culture and becoming Americanized through accepting American culture as their own.

    Read More

  • Identity Role in Pursuing the American Dream

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since people who have different identities view the American Dream in a variety of perspectives, individuals need to find identities in order to have a deep understanding of obstacles they will face and voices they want. In The Woman Warrior, Maxing Hong Kingston, a Chinese American, struggles to find her identity which both the traditional Chinese culture and the American culture have effects on. However, in The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros clearly identifies herself as a Hispanic woman, and pivots to move up economically and socially to speak for her race. Even though both Kingston and Cisneros look for meanings of their identities, they have different approaches of reaching the full understanding.

    Read More

  • Flapper The Fllapper Sparknotes

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another issue that the writer seemed to have swept below the carpet is the morality of women. First, women seemed to have been despised until they started excelling in mass advertising. Also, the author seems to peg the success of the modern woman to clothing and design. This means that women and cloths are but the same thing. In fact, it seems that a woman’s sex appeal determine her future endeavours, according to the author. It is through this that I believe that the author would have used other good virtues of women to explain

    Read More

  • Multiculturalism In Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amy Tan loved her Chinese culture. Her mom made her favorite meal every Christmas Eve dinner. She has grown up in America where it is considered a melting pot, the place of variety cultures. She liked the manners Americans had and the American look so much, that she had a crush on the Ministers’ son, Robert. Those would represent the positive vibes of multiculturalism. The negative part would be the feeling of being accepted by her peers or the shame she had of her culture during this special event. Amy was afraid of what the American’s would think of a Chinese Christmas Eve dinner. Also she wanted it to be more like an American Dinner because she thought that the Chinese food will be disappointing because the Minister’s family would be hoping for an American meal, like turkey and mashed potatoes. She knew her family’s manners were horrendous, so she was embarrassed about that as well. “Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the end of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into dozen or so plates of food” (Tan 185). This really shows a great struggling image of multiculturalism for Amy Tan had during her

    Read More

  • China Girl Stereotype Essay

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    Other research has devoted to unveiling the origins and the development of their stereotyping and put them among the historical contextual frameworks (e.g., Kawai, 2003, 2005; Prasso, 2005). Research has shown that those stereotypes are not all without merits. The China doll/geisha girl stereotype, to some degree, presents us with a romanticized woman who embodies many feminine characteristics that are/ were valued and praised. The evolving stereotype of the Asian martial arts mistress features women power, which might have the potentials to free women from the gendered binary of proper femininity and masculinity. Nevertheless, the Western media cultural industry adopts several gender and race policing strategies so as to preserve patriarchy and White supremacy, obscuring the Asian women and diminishing the positive associations those images can possibly imply. The following section critically analyzes two cases, The Memoirs of a Geisha and Nikita, that I consider to typify the stereotypical depictions of Asian women as either the submissive, feminine geisha girl or as a powerful yet threatening martial arts lady. I also seek to examine

    Read More

  • Gender and Its Relationship with the Joy Luck Club

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are obvious differences within our two cultures and the way we depict gender roles. These differences show themselves in the work force, the distinct tasks performed in the home, and the privileges one receives in society. In the work force, the women of America hold many positions of importance, relatively speaking (I know that's a whole other essay). They are usually treated as equals with men and there are few jobs from which they are excluded, again for the sake of argument. In China, women are expected to stay at home and are not permitted to be in a work force that is held exclusively for men. They are assigned the role of housewives and must stay at home to clean the house and raise the children. Women in America receive education that will prepare them for the high paying jobs of a professional, all while the women in China are obeying the orders from their husbands and culture. The films portrayal of these particular gender roles are very evident. We can't forget however, that this was a western made film and in my opinion I feel that it tends to exaggerate the gender roles. I'm not saying that they are not present, because there is a definite inequality. I just keep in mind that it is a film and has to have an audience appealing theme.

    Read More

  • Mothers and the Chinese Spirit in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    Living with their traditional Chinese culture in American society, these eight Chinese-American women suffer the problems of cultural conflicts in compliance with their gender. Asian women were looked at as being "positive, subservient, compliant, quiet, delicate, exotic, romantic and easy to please" (Mulan). They are nicknamed "China dolls" or " lotus blossoms", which are sexually loaded stereotypes of Asian women. These stereotypes discriminate against women by degrading their worth as people. By men taking advantage of their obedience and submissiveness they are showing that these women are not valued and that they have no voice. Judith Butler responds to these roles by saying, "Gender is an act, a performance, a set of manipulated codes and costumes rather than a core aspect of essential identity". By the middle of this century, Chinese women had been playing this manipulative, subservient role for m...

    Read More

  • Women and War

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Trying to hold the homefront together while there was a war waging abroad was not an

    Read More

  • The Patriarchal Nature of Confucian Philosophy

    2226 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poor people are always the victims. And through these two novels, we see that the leading female characters are both victimized because they came from poor households. I feel that Eileen Chang’s writing style has made her female characters seem too unrealistic. These situations are unfathomable. Her novel does not seem to depict the true struggle of traditional Chinese women.

    Read More

  • Culture Exposed In Amy Tan's Fish Cheeks

    113 Words  | 1 Pages

    Amy Tan’s “Fish Cheeks” describes Tan’s upbringing as a Chinese-American caught in between two cultures. In “Fish Cheeks” Tan’s crush Robert and his family were invited to Tan’s house for Christmas, Amy was embarrassed of Robert’s impression of her Chinese relatives, cuisine, and culture (Tan 110). Tan’s situation is not uncommon as millions of first generation Americans encounter similar situations while living within two cultures. Albeit the extreme embarrassment Tan endured throughout the encounter, she contends that her mother taught her a valuable lesson in appreciating her Chinese culture (111). Ultimately, Tan's purpose was to implore first generation Americans to embrace both of their cultures, in spite of its unique traditions (Tan

    Read More

  • Jade of Peony

    2075 Words  | 5 Pages

    Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. “If you want a place in this world ... do not be born as a girl child” (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in a family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth. Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are 118 little boys in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing (Baldwin 40). The parents from Chinese family had a preference for boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt to the new country and they were tryin...

    Read More

  • Mothers and Daughters in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Amy Tan’s novel, The Joy Luck Club, the reader can see the difficulites in the mother-daughter relationships.  The mothers came to America from China hoping to give their daughters better lives than what they had.  In China, women were “to be obedient, to honor one’s parents, one’s husband, and to try to please him and his family,” (Chinese-American Women in American Culture).  They were not expected to have their own will and to make their own way through life.  These mothers did not want this for their children so they thought that in America “nobody [would] say her worth [was] measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch…nobody [would] look down on her…” (3).  To represent everything that was hoped for in their daughters, the mothers wanted them to have a “swan- a creature that became more than what was hoped for,” (3).  This swan was all of the mothers’ good intentions.  However, when they got to America, the swan was taken away and all she had left was one feather.

    Read More

  • Women who Fought in Battle

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history women have been underestimated. Society as a whole is patriarchal, and even though women have mead great strides in gaining equality, there are still crimes and prejudice against women. Women are capable of great feats, if they are given a chance. Some women ignored all social standards and managed to accomplish incredible things that changed the course of history.

    Read More

  • The Themes Of Feminism In Amy Tan's Two Kinds

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    French feminist criticism concerns itself with the objectification of women, and examples abound in Two Kinds. From the beginning, Jing-mei’s mother pushes her to be a prodigy partially for reasons of pride and competition. Jing-mei’s Auntie Lindo has a daughter who is a national chess champion, and Auntie Lindo never fails to remind anybody of the fact. When discussing their daughters, both Auntie Lindo and Jing-mei’s mother make no mention of their character, only bragging about their level of “genius”. Ironic as it sounds, they are objectifying their daughters and using them as status symbols, no different from flaunting a new car or gadget. On the other hand, American feminist criticism focuses on the victimization of women, a victimization that is apparent in Two Kinds. Though at first glance, Jing-mei’s mother may seem like the antagonist in the story, when one considers her backstory it is apparent that she just wants her daughter to have the life she never had. The mother lost everything when she moved from China to San Francisco in 1949. In China she lost her family, her spouse, and she had to abandon her twin baby girls. She had a very difficult life in a society that was even more hostile to women than post-World War II America. Finally, there is the Female Subtext form of criticism, which focuses on minor female characters. The minor female characters in this story are Aunt Lindo and her daughter Waverly, two toxic characters that represent the opposite of what feminism stands for. Aunt Lindo drones on about how great her daughter and remarks about how she is obsessed with chess with mock disgust. Waverley herself is no saint, as she brags about her level of genius while belittling Jing-mei after her piano recital fiasco. This is strikingly similar to how men looked down upon women as subhuman for most of history. All in all, Two Kinds is

    Read More

  • Confucianism In China

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    The roles and normalities of women in Chinese society have remained fluid for centuries, influenced by changing dynasties, colonizers, and the presence other cultures. Politically, particularly through Confucianism, rigid expectations of women began to develop. Strong emphasis on morals, traditional values, and respect shaped the developing gender roles of the era. As Confucianism spread, trends such as foot-binding emerged amongst the elite, and Europeans began to discredit Chinese morality using cultural differences as a means of claiming authority. The validity of European moral superiority is brought into question when contrasted with actual experiences of Chinese women

    Read More

More about The Woman Warrior

Open Document