Comparing Beam And Maxine Hong Kingston

How often does one truly recognize the relevance of death? Christopher Beam focuses on the decline of serial killers since the '80s in his article "Blood Loss". Conversely, Maxine Hong Kingston centers her article "No Name Woman" on the constraints of traditional Chinese values. Despite their differences, however, the articles of both writers illustrate many similarities. The admirable differences in the approaches to morbidity by Beam and Kingston iterate their mutual concern for the well-being of society and their sheer fascination with death.
Beam argues that although the television fascination with serial killers has increased, the prominence of the killers themselves has not. The fascination with serial killers has increased drastically due to the absence of the real-life killers. “Serial killers just aren’t the sensation they used to be.” (Beam 2). Beam is suggesting that the decline in serial killers is due to better law enforcement and the increased incarceration rate. “...the decline in serial murders tracks with a dramatic drop in overall violent crime since the ‘80s.” (Beam 6).

Kingston’s belief is that Chinese beliefs and attitudes prohibit her family from being more understanding of her aunt's actions. “The Chinese are always very frightened of the drowned one, whose weeping ghost, wet hair hanging and skin bloated, waits silently by the water to pull down a substitute.” (Kingston 49). Kingston is suggesting that if her family developed a more liberal, or more American, perspective of her aunt’s actions then they might be more understanding of the situation. “The real punishment was not the raid swiftly inflicted by the villagers, but the family’s deliberately forgetting her.” (Kingston 48). Although Kingston's approach to her article is more imaginary, her article demonstrates remarkable similarities to that of