Learn from the Stories Having two considerably different cultures can cause a strife with one’s identity. In “No Name Woman,” Maxine Kingston’s mother tells her a story of her aunt that committed adultery which therefore led to her segregation from her own family and villagers. Kingston’s mother asserts that the story should not be told by anyone and the story’s purpose was to strike fear in her daughter. Then, Kingston explores the different scenarios that could have led to her aunt’s suppressed
Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior - No Name Woman The excerpt, "No Name Woman", from Maxine Hong Kingston's book, Woman Warrior, gives insight into her life as a Chinese girl raised in America through a tragic story of her aunt's life, a young woman raised in a village in China in the early 1900s. The story shows the consequences beliefs, taught by parents, have on a child's life. Kingston attempts to figure out what role the teachings of her parents should have on her life, a similar attempt
Maxine Hong Kingston's No Name Woman "A highly fictive text [whose non-fiction label gives] the appearance of being an actual representation of Asian American experience in the broader public sphere." (Gloria Chun, "The High Note") Such a disparaging remark about the misleading nature of Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior has been readily refuted, notably by Leilani Nishime, who proposes in her essay "Engendering Genre..." that it is a text that transcends genre confines; it challenges
The Symbolic Role of the Ghost in Morrison's Beloved and Kingston's No Name Woman The eponymous ghosts which haunt Toni Morrison's Beloved and Maxine Hong Kingston's "No Name Woman" (excerpted from The Woman Warrior) embody the consequence of transgressing societal boundaries through adultery and murder. While the wider thematic concerns of both books differ, however both authors use the ghost figure to represent a repressed historical past that is awakened in their narrative retelling of the
“No Name Woman”, by Maxine Hong Kingston is the first chapter from Kingston’s collection of memoirs in “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts.” Kingston ceases the family-imposed silence that surrounds the secret of an aunt, whom she names No Name Woman. This no name aunt of hers became pregnant by a man that was not her husband. She committed the crime of adultery. The No Name Woman declines to make public the name of the man of who impregnated her. Thus keeping her silence. Her
choices that we make everyday greatly define the type of person we are. Everyone has their own opportunity costs, but what is someone willing to give up to achieve more of something else? This is exactly what Maxine Kingston does in her essay “No Name Woman.” She openly defies her traditional Chinese culture in order to write about her aunt, which would normally be extremely taboo in her family. She wishes to achieve a greater understanding of her aunt and the struggles she had to face being a defamation
Gish Jen, Gail Miyasaki, and Amy Tran highlight numerous instances where pride becomes affected, instilling a variety of emotions; shame or joy become evoked by the speaker or a family member(s) in these instances. Maxine Kingston’s short story No Name Woman depicts several examples where pride is a crucial theme to understanding the emotions expressed by the speaker. Firstly, the speaker is addressed as a young Chinese American girl whom listens to a story, told by her mother, about her extravagant
can be difficult to connect with a mother when one grew up in a completely different society and holds drastically different values. In the story “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston, Kingston tells the story of a Chinese-American mother telling her daughter an unspoken tale about her secret aunt who committed suicide. Throughout “No Name Woman,” Kingston provides themes of sexuality, gender, traditionalism, and family. Most importantly, she discusses the theme of motherhood and how this role
judge a book by the cover or made a bad first impression without getting to know the person first? Human beings need to come to the realization that everyone come from different walks of paths. We need to stop labeling people as "the other." No-Name Woman, Kingston 's aunt experienced Edward Said 's concept through the people in her village by them looking at her situation through a one-sided lens. The village that Kington 's family lived in had a preconceive notion on what the people should behave
organizations that supports them, and revolutions against their own government. Maxine Hong Kingston, the writer of “No Name Woman”, is a Chinese American author, who lived in a patriotic society where men
Chinese setting of Maxine Kingston's "No Name Woman". For thousands of years women have been looked down upon, seen as fragile and rotten. In this short story, the reality of some women's vulnerability is represented through a young Chinese-American girl's supposed aunt. Numerous roles such as inner weakness, culture and personal hardship all unite to create a negative reaction to unwanted oppression. No Name woman gives readers an example of an overly passive woman who ultimately gave in to condemnation
Silence and Secrecy in “No Name Woman” “No Name Woman” by Kingston opens with the phrase “You must not tell anyone” which shows that whatever the narrator has to say is a secret and the reader must remain silent about it (3). The fact that the narrator is telling this story when they were supposed to keep it a secret and never speak of it is hypocritical because she warned he reader to never speak of it. The Chinese culture frowns upon he telling of this story because it is involves adultery. Since
The term “woman” is defined in the dictionary as an adult female human being having characteristics such as courtesy, kindness, gentility, and nurturing abilities. They are bearers of children and so forth on. Women are considered the opposite sex of men and in past times as slaves of men. Women have many rights in these days. Women can work, vote, and handle things just as men can. In the past, women were seen as just mothers and just housekeeper. Women were always taught to respect, listen, and
“No Name Woman”. Both essays deal with power, identity, control and ownership, while “Mary” focuses more on naming and “No Name Woman” focuses on un-naming. One’s power and position in a society can give them the “right” or ability to name or un-name a person. Someone can gain this right by his or her status socially, financially, and even racially. If it’s their own child, of course, they have every right in the world to name him or her. But in some cultures, as is evident in “No Name Woman”, they
Identity and Culture Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American. In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides
The theme of “voiceless woman” throughout the book “the woman warrior” is of great importance. Maxine Kingston narrates several stories in which gives clear examples on how woman in her family are diminished and silenced by Chinese culture. The author not only provides a voice for herself but also for other women in her family and in her community that did not had the opportunity to speak out and tell their stories. The author starts the book with the story of her aunt. This story was a well-kept
first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fit in solid America." Maxine Hong Kingston is a native of Stockton, California, born in 1940. The essay, "No Name Woman", was taken from her book ,"The Woman Warrior" (1976). Kingston is , in her everyday life, surrounded by "ghosts" from her past cultural heritage. The role identity concept parallels Ms. Kingston's essay. In the role identity concept, factors surrounding us in our
The essay “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston, first published in 1975, is about the narrator’s parental aunt who committed suicide after she had given birth to an illegitimate child. She reflects upon her identity as a Chinese-American woman when she remembers the story her mother told her 20 years ago, right after she reached puberty. The mother told the narrator that she had a parental aunt, whose name remains unknown. This aunt lived in a Chinese village and became pregnant, long after her
these early teachings. In our society, young women continue to face the central issue of being inferior to men through social prejudice, stereotypical obligations to the home, and scientific assurance. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman,” Kingston shows that disgraceful women are better off having “never been born” (Kingston 190). Kingston’s aunt, who had been long separated from her husband, was cast out by her small village for her mysterious pregnancy. The act of adultery
seemingly mourning more for his mother’s premature wedding than for his father’s passing. His mother’s lack of faith to his father’s memory upsets him greatly, leading him into a state of disenchantment towards all women. His exclamation “frailty, thy name is woman” mirrors this sentiment (Hamlet 1.2). Hamlet acts upon this sentiment when Ophelia confronts him in the lobby of the castle. In this anger fuelled rant, Hamlet expresses his disenchantment with marriage. He first denies that he ever loved her