No name woman

Kingston made multiple books about her aunt and her secrets the one thing that her mother asked her not to do was not to tell anyone and she did it anyway. Kingston did it because she didn’t want he aunts ghost to haunt her. There will always be a substitute the nameless woman won’t be the last person to not be able to abide by the Chinese traditions. Her aunt will always be the nameless woman because Kingston never found out her aunt’s name. People should have to live under such strict rules because they are bound to be broken by someone.

She knows she can never break away from one culture without having to completely abandon the other. In the end, however, she realizes that she must leave home if she is ever to discover her purpose in the world, be it in China or America. The harsh criticisms and endless disapproval causes detrimental effects to the narrator, while at the same time giving her strength to overcome this lifelong struggle by facing her mother. Although the stories of her mother’s Chinese experiences and the insistence on her daughter living there push the narrator further away, it eventually causes an interest to discover what is really true. “Soon I want to go to China and find out who’s lying…” (205).

Lindo tries to instill Chinese qualities in her daughter while Waverly refuses to recognize her heritage and concentrates on American culture. The second bond is that of Jing-Mei Woo and her mother, Suyuan. In the beginning of the book Jing-Mei speaks of confusion in her recently deceased mother's actions. The language and cultural barrier presented between Jing-Mei and Suyuan is strong enough to cause constant separation and misunderstanding. The first and most important conflict in the novel is heritage.

The events viewed in retrospect through the eyes of the narrator's traditional conservative mother seem skewed and moralistic, delivered in an instructive voice. The mother's speech is purely didactic. She is telling this story to Kingston to teach a lesson; never do what your aunt has done and do not bring shame upon the family name. Instead of clearly accepting this tale, Kingston has a hard time believing and consenting to her mother's message. Although Kingston is to never speak of the aunt and pretend... ... middle of paper ... ...ry brazen act for a Chinese woman, but influenced by her Chinese upbringing, she was still reticent about her actions.

Despite her mother's wishes, Jing Mei played Jewish mah jong with her friend's (22). Another roundabout manner Suayan avidly sought to keep the Asian tradition in her daughter's lifestyle was Suayan's refusal to speak to her daughter in English. Jing Mei's rebellion was similarly apparent when she continued to speak in a subdued tone in English while her mother spoke in Chinese. Later on in the novel, Waverly and her mother, Lindo, are at odds with each other over a simple haircut. Lindo is annoyed by Waverly's haircut because it does not resemble a traditional Asian hairstyle; rather it looks "chopped off," and that Waverly should "ask for {her} money back (182).

This story was a well-kept family secret being that her aunt’s actions were of great disappointment to the family. The “no name woman” as the story names her, was forgotten by all her family because she had a child that was not from her husband. This story gives a clear example of women role in Chinese culture. As the author states “Women in the old china did not choose” (pg 6).Women back then did not had authority so speak their wills and wishes. They were only allowed to obey orders from their parents, husbands and mother’s in law.

Suyuan is trying to teach Jing-mei the Chinese culture when all Jing-mei sees is the American culture, that is on television and all around her. Jing-mei's friends do not even think that she is a true Chinese person. Suyuan wants her daughter to obey her and make her proud even if it means making Jing-mei do something that she does not want to do. As a Chinese women Suyuan knew her role to be a good wife and mother and to always stand by her husband's side. On the other hand Jing-mei does not want this, she wants to be independent, and to be able to make her own decisions because... ... middle of paper ... ... to teach her about her culture and where she was from, "And now I see"(Tan 331).

Instead of the circumstances improving, the mother is never able to achieve anything; her forcing and pushing her daughter to the Chinese culture goes to a waste. They are both similar in this sense because both are stubborn; the daughter learns to be stubborn through American culture and wants to keep herself the way she is, whereas the mother wants to remove this teaching from American culture and does not give u... ... middle of paper ... ... freedom which leads to disobedience; the point that English eventually leads to disobedience makes the mothers unhappy and becomes a factor that causes a difference between them. Hopes can lead to various outcomes; sometimes they are completed whereas sometimes they remain as wishes. A person may have the desire to do everything but it is only one or two things he can do in life. Especially today, although nothing is impossible, it is highly unlikely for one to be able to do all the desired things in life because of how there are too many people competing for the same thing or it takes a lot of effort and dedication to keep up and work hard until reaching the goal.

Because of this cultural conflict, the reader will conclude that Americans are selfish and we can see that in the story. Natalie wants her mother to help her in the house, babysit her daughter and do as much for her as she can, but doesn’t expect her mother to interfere with her way of discipline. This means that either Natalie has completely forgotten about her culture or that she simply moved on with the new identity second and third generation Chinese Americans were developing and also wants her daughter to follow the same

. How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289). Each of the Chinese mothers attempted to guide her daughters, yet they were ill equipped to translate their life experiences in China to the alien environment they found in America. It was their lives, not their language, that they were unable to translate.