Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior
Food strengthens us, without it we are weak. Eating has always been an important factor with families living in poor conditions. Often, those who could not help to produce more food are considered inferior or unworthy to eat. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is no exception, due to the relation it creates between eating and the strength of people. This is shown through the tale of Fa-Mu-Lan, the story of the eaters, and the references to the fellow relatives left in China.
In the tale of Fa-Mu-Lan, the narrator is given a survival test, where she has to survive a mountain trek without provisions. During that trek, the narrator finds herself weary from hunger. Hunger brings out her animal instincts, because she needs to stay strong to live. 'On the fourth and fifth days, my eyesight sharp with hunger, I saw deer and used their trails when our ways coincided. Where deer nibbled, I gathered the fungus, the fungus of immortality'; (25). The narrator is forced to search for her food to eat. The hungrier she becomes, the more feral she is. Meat also played a role in the connection between food and strength. During the beginning of her story she claimed she no longer needed meat. After she became starving, she breaks down and eats meat. '…I saw the rabbit had sacrificed itself for me. It had made me a gift of meat'; (26). Her will was eroded by the hunger because as her hunger increased, she became weaker and her resolve was easier to destroy. When the narrator was not starving she was in control of her faculties. Hunger however, strips her even of vision, as she imagines things that do not exist. The narrator says, 'Hunger also changes the world when eating can't be habit, then neither can seeing. I saw two people made of gold dancing the earth's axis'; (27). Viewing two gold dancers would be wonderful to witness, however the chances are very slim. The hunger had weakened her to the point of confusion, and possibly dilution. Just as hunger weakens a person so they cannot command themselves, eating will make a person powerful and the masters of others.
The stories of the heroes who ate heaping amounts of food illustrate that those who can eat have extraordinary powers. The narrator says before, that her mother is powerful';…because she can eat anything – quick, pluck out the carp's eyes, one for...
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..., yet Kingston continues to reference the topic throughout the book. In the chapter At the Western Place, Brave Orchid meets her sister Moon Orchid at the airport.
''…you're so skinny.'
'You're so fat.'
'Fat women are more beautiful than skinny women''; (118).
Brave Orchid's bitterness toward American culture influenced the narrator. Fat carried not only excess lipids, it carried wealth and power in Brave Orchid's opinion. Women were more beautiful with fat because wealth enabled them to achieve their 'beauty';. The incessant use of references between strength and eating throughout the book show the narrator was influenced is some manner. The product of the influence may not have been a fat woman, but a woman educated in two cultures.
Eating is vitally important in the memoir The Woman Warrior. It is regarded as a sign of strength in the book. That point is shown through Fa-Mu-Lan, the story of heroes, and through relatives in China. With those, Kingston became educated in two differing cultures, possibly influenced by both. The connection between hunger and strength is well known throughout the ages, as the old military adage states, 'An Army marches on its stomach.';
Neither life nor culture can be sustained without food. On a very basic level, food is fundamentally essential for life, not simply to exist, but also to thrive. A means by which carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, nutrients, and calories are introduced into the body, food is a mechanism of survival. However, on a more abstract level, food is also fundamentally essential for culture by establishing its perimeters and dimensions and in shaping its authenticity and character. Food becomes the carbohydrates and calories that maintain any culture. Food offers a dynamic cross-section of man's tendencies. "Nourishment, a basic biological need," argues anthropologist Sidney Mintz, "becomes something else because we humans transform it symbolically into a system of meaning for much more than itself" (7). By examining food consumption and preparation, much is discoverd regarding the intricacies of culture. The preparation and consumption of food in Puritan society are reflected in Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Rowlandson's view of food and admissions of hunger in the infancy of her captivity cast a revealing light upon the roots of her conceptions and ideas about food and, more generally, about her culture's conceptions and ideas about food. As the conflict between her soul and her stomach raged over food, Rowlandson's attitudes toward the Native Americans' preparation and consumption of food reflect the socialization of the Puritans to believe that every meal ...
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston portrays the complicated relationship between her and her mother, while growing up as a Chinese female in an American environment. She was surrounded by expectations and ideals about the inferior role that her culture imposed on women. In an ongoing battle with herself and her heritage, Kingston struggles to escape limitations on women that Chinese culture set. However, she eventually learns to accept both cultures as part of who she is. I was able to related to her as a Chinese female born and raised in America. I have faced the stereotypes and expectations that she had encountered my whole life and I too, have learned to accept both my Chinese and American culture.
Throughout the book, we go through several examples of how food can have an influence on people and how they are affected. The emotions range from joy to grief and sadness. We see this happen with Tita and Pedro and their communication through food and how their connection is strengthened through cooking and food. Nacha’s passing was sudden but it shows that food and depending on the situation and mood can have a great effect on a person. And although some of the events that took place in this book is over exaggerated, food can in some ways, have an influence on
Clashing swords, miraculous survivals, pain of loss, and heroic sacrifice are all terrifying yet thrilling moments in a battle. The strong possibility of death and the frailty of human life add into the suspense of battle. Yet the reasons behind the wars, death, and suspense can be overlooked. The stories behind the warriors who have died will not be told again, but the stories of warriors still alive are what give the men strength to continue fighting against impossible odds. Ultimately, the reason of why a man would risk his life in battle is for someone, or something, he loves. Like in Gilgamesh and the Iliad, women help encourage and influence the protagonists to be the heroes and protectors they are meant to be.
Throughout a person’s lifetime there are a few defining moments that determine the kind of person they become. In Margaret Atwood’s Weight marriage, careers, and children play significant roles in the lives of Molly and her friend the narrator. The narrator’s flashbacks provide insight into the highs and lows of her own life along with Molly’s. Weight is an enjoyable short story because the struggles and triumphs of the characters may resonate with the reader’s own life. Atwood’s Weight is an effective and thought provoking short story. A complex plot, point of view, setting, theme, and characterization deliver mechanisms to stimulate thoughts and feelings in the reader.
Food is something that all people have always and will always need to consume in order
In both “Hungry” and “On Being Educated,” Joy Castro uses “academic” prose through her use of emotional, descriptive, and explanatory words and sentences. It is through her experience and lense that she is able to connect such little things to such major historical occurrences and creations. When telling a story, Castro does not leave it at one short explanation, but she furthers the conversation. Instead of simply stating that when she moved in with her birth father she ate lots of food and bought lots of clothes, Castro chooses to say that she was “devouring tuna, wheat bread, peanut butter, putting on weight, putting on the clothes [her father and his wife] bought for [her] in bulk at the outlet store, since [she’d] run away with nothing”
In the novel The Woman Warrior Maxine Hong Kingston uses ghosts to represent a battle between American and Chinese cultures. The two cultures have different views of what a ghost is. The Chinese believe the ghost spirits may be of people dead or alive. Chinese culture recognizes foreigners and unfamiliar people as ghosts because, like American ghosts, they are mysterious creatures of the unknown. Americans view ghosts as spirits of the dead that either help or haunt people. American ghosts may or may not be real. There spirits are there but physical appearance is a mystery.
Food means different things to people in different countries of the world; pasta is common in Italy, hamburgers are a favorite in the US and tacos are a typical dish in Mexico. Human existence solely depends on this source of energy. A person’s fundamental need for food makes it a very important item, placing the people who control the food in a very high esteem. Consistency is also important in the delicate balance of life. Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet in the Western Front, and Elie Wiesel, author of Night, both use food in their novels to convey this idea. Many of their thoughts and “meanings” concerning food paralleled one another. Food, one of the quintessential elements of life, plays a significant role in wartime experiences around the world and even in different time periods.
HUNGER: An Unnatural History." Kirkus Reviews 73.12 (2005): 675. Literary Reference Center. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
But before we continue, a distinction must be made between two different types of self-denial. To fast, and to not eat do not constitute the same act. My own personal experience while exploring the topic of fasting has deeply colored my view of the practice of fasting. Many personal interests led me to pursue the question of fasting as a form of self-sacrifice. One was my personal engagement with and interest in the Roman Catholic tradition. Another, much more personal influence is my personal relationship with food. To stop eating is one of the (unhealthy ways) in which I personally deal with stress or depression. In reading Caroline Bynum’s book on the relationship medieval women mystics had with food I was able to identify on many levels. These women, in some cases, lived for...
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
...e, women are the weaker of the two sexes. Women are slaves and spoils of war, if they are valued for sex they are used for sex. The universal portrayal of women causes a reevaluation of modern day gender balances by the reader.
In the end, Walker emphasizes that these African women are not victims, but survivors. In the book, the women grow gardens on dry land and trade food, clothing and crafts in the marketplace. Whether a battered wife, a rape survivor or genitally mutilated woman, Walker concludes that a woman warrior learns that if she is injured, she can fight back. She closes by saying, “Your wound could be your guide.”
Food teaches, or illustrates, something meaningful about life, health, family, and culture. Although food keeps us alive there are many ways we misuse food. We can use the mistreatment of food to learn about our family, our health, and our culture. Abuse and mistreatment of food looks different for each person based on our culture and experiences in life. Ever since I was little, my family looked towards food for comfort. The most prominent time that sticks out to me was when my mom passed away. We were filling the void of our loss with the food we were deciding to eat. We weren’t eating healthy and we didn’t really care what was going into our bodies or how much we were putting in. Along with not eating healthy, we weren’t exercising or watching